Aucklander could be sentenced to death over protest plans

By SCOTT MacLEOD

In the foyer of a United States airport, an Aucklander grappled with heavy luggage that would later be used to accuse him of terrorism.

Sun Gang and his American friend, Benjamin Lan, boarded the flight from San Francisco for Beijing on May 6, intending to make the boldest statement against Chinese communism since the Falun Gong protests of 1999.

In their suitcases were a 27kg blimp, a radio control unit, two propellers and two electric engines.

They planned to inflate the 7m-long blimp with helium until it was the size of a minibus, fly it over the Chinese capital and detonate explosives that would scatter hundreds of pro-democracy leaflets around Tiananmen Square.

But Chinese undercover police caught the pair and accused them of "violent terrorism" - for which Mr Sun could be sentenced to death.

That account was given to the Weekend Herald yesterday by Peng Ming, leader of the US-based China Federation Foundation which claims it is willing to use violence to topple the Chinese regime.

But Mr Sun's startled relatives in Auckland and Christchurch cannot believe the man they call "Sunny" would be capable of such a plot. The devout Buddhist has been framed, they say.

Mr Sun, 44, left his job as a coal-mining engineer in China's Henan Province in 1992 to study English in Auckland. He became a resident, obtained a New Zealand passport and, in 1996, married a local woman with whom he had a daughter, now 7, and a son, 4.

Mr Sun owned an Auckland lawn-mowing business and later a bakery. He bought a house in Glen Eden where he has been living with his parents and another daughter, 18.

According to Mr Peng, Mr Sun read about his activities in a newspaper, got "real excited" and flew to San Francisco in March to meet him.

The pair hit it off, and Mr Sun became one of five members of an executive committee on the Foundation, which claims to have 10,000 members.

Mr Peng said through an interpreter that Mr Sun volunteered for the mission to Beijing. He rented a house 3km from Tiananmen Square from which to launch the $4300 blimp with "we will overthrow the Chinese Communists" written on its side.

Mr Peng said a famous but "goofy" dissident revealed details of the plot on the internet on May 9. Mr Peng phoned Mr Sun to alert him, but Mr Sun pledged to go ahead with the mission.

But Chinese authorities also read the website. Mr Sun, Mr Lan and six other activists were arrested on May 12 - the day before the mission was to take place.

Mr Peng suspected that Mr Sun would be sentenced to death, but would be jailed for life instead if he "changed his mind" about communism.

Mr Sun's brother, Jian, said it was "not possible" his brother could be involved in such a plot. Perhaps the Chinese arrested him simply because he knew Mr Peng.

Sun Jian said he would sell his butchery in Christchurch so he could afford to visit his brother in jail and pay legal fees of up to $20,000. His family were "upset and weak", and his mother had been weeping.

Sun Gang is being held in a jail 30 minutes south of Beijing. and has had little contact with the outside world.

His New Zealand lawyer, John Richards, has already paid Chinese authorities a $200 "toilet-paper fee". He was trying to arrange legal help for Sun Gang in China but was hitting bureaucratic delays.

Staff at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing have visited Sun Gang in his cell to check his health.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff's office referred calls about Sun Gang to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A spokesman there said there was no update on when specific charges would be laid.