BEIJING (AP) - A university classmate of China's vice president has been sentenced to two years in a labor camp for his involvement with the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a human rights group reported Thursday.
Zhang Mengye, an assistant professor at an engineering school in the southern province of Guangdong, was arrested in Beijing in January, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.
It said that at the time of his arrest Zhang was visiting Beijing, hoping to appeal to his former classmate, Vice President Hu Jintao, for an end to the government's crackdown on Falun Gong, which was banned last July.
According to officials at Zhang's school, his sentence to labor re-education indicates he has been deemed a ``backbone element,'' or organizer, within Falun Gong, the Information Center said.
Falun Gong claims members within the Communist Party, army and academic community. The widely popular movement, which Chinese leaders fear is a threat to Communist Party rule, has proved difficult to eradicate despite a massive eradication campaign and jail sentences of up to 18 years for people accused of being key organizers.
Both Zhang and Hu entered the Water Conservancy Department of Beijing's elite Qinghua University in 1959, the Information Center said. Hu, 57, is the youngest among the Communist Party's inner circle and is considered the most likely candidate to succeed President Jiang Zemin when he steps down in 2003.
In a related development, the Information Center said police in the southern city of Shenzhen were holding in custody one Hong Kong member of Falun Gong and three members holding Australian passports. The four were among seven people seized on March 4 by police in Shenzhen, a boomtown just across the border from Hong Kong.
Unknown numbers of Falun Gong members holding foreign passports have traveled to China since the government ban was announced in July. Some have been arrested after attempting to protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square or elsewhere. Most have since been deported.

A Guangdong professor who graduated from the same school as Vice-President Hu Jintao has been given a two-year "re-education through labour" sentence for practising Falun Gong, a Hong Kong-based human rights group reported yesterday.
Zhang Mengye, an assistant professor of the Guangdong Institute of Electrical Power, was given the sentence by Guangzhou police early this month for joining the banned sect.
According to the Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China, Zhang was held by police in Beijing when he attempted to petition Mr Hu to drop the ban on Falun Gong.
Under Chinese law, police can sentence any individuals to labour re-education without trial.
It is also customary that the suspects are handled by police of the city where they reside.
Zhang and Mr Hu both entered the hydro-electrical engineering department of Qinghua University in 1959.
The centre said a spokesman of the institute had confirmed Zhang's sentence and said he was a "core member" of the banned sect.

BEIJING (AP) A university classmate of China's vice president has been sentenced to two years in a labor camp for his involvement with the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a human rights group reported Thursday.
Zhang Mengye, an assistant professor at an engineering school in the southern province of Guangdong, was arrested in Beijing in January, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.
It said that at the time of his arrest Zhang was visiting Beijing, hoping to appeal to his former classmate, Vice President Hu Jintao, for an end to the government's crackdown on Falun Gong, which was banned last July.
According to officials at Zhang's school, his sentence to labor re-education indicates he has been deemed a ''backbone element,'' or organizer, within Falun Gong, the Information Center said.
Falun Gong claims members within the Communist Party, army and academic community. The widely popular movement, which Chinese leaders fear is a threat to Communist Party rule, has proved difficult to eradicate despite a massive eradication campaign and jail sentences of up to 18 years for people accused of being key organizers.
Both Zhang and Hu entered the Water Conservancy Department of Beijing's elite Qinghua University in 1959, the Information Center said. Hu, 57, is the youngest among the Communist Party's inner circle and is considered the most likely candidate to succeed President Jiang Zemin when he steps down in 2003.
In a related development, the Information Center said police in the southern city of Shenzhen were holding in custody one Hong Kong member of Falun Gong and three members holding Australian passports. The four were among seven people seized on March 4 by police in Shenzhen, a boomtown just across the border from Hong Kong.
Unknown numbers of Falun Gong members holding foreign passports have traveled to China since the government ban was announced in July. Some have been arrested after attempting to protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square or elsewhere. Most have since been deported.

GENEVA, March 24 (Kyodo) - The United States on Thursday called for support for its planned submission to the U.N. Human Rights Commission of a draft resolution denouncing China for its repression of the Falun Gong sect.
In her address at the commission, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said China's human rights situation has drastically worsened over the past year, citing China's detention of several thousands of Falun Gong members and tightened control over minority races such as Tibetans.
She criticized China for its alleged restrictions on the expression of political will by peaceful means.
China is expected to react strongly against her remarks since the country is now trying to win votes to prevent the U.N. resolution from being adopted, diplomatic sources said.
Albright, who has been accompanying President Bill Clinton on his South Asian tour, was in Geneva to attend the commission session.
China sees Falun Gong as a dangerous cult on par with Japan's AUM Shinrikyo.
It has been labeled an illegal organization and its meetings have been banned and its followers arrested.
Falun Gong is a mixture of Taoist, Buddhist and folk religions preaching the attainment of health and morality through special exercises.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has arrived in Geneva to deliver a 15-minute speech blasting the mainland for human rights abuses and lobby for a resolution condemning Beijing at the UN Human Rights Commission.
Ms Albright's brief presence at the commission's annual meeting, is believed to be the first time a US secretary of state has addressed the body.
In her speech, Ms Albright is expected to note a ``sharp deterioration'' in Beijing's rights record over the past year.
Areas of concern expected to be raised include: continued repression of political dissent, crackdowns on religious groups, including the Falun Gong spiritual movement, restrictions on freedom of expression and the situation in Tibet.
``Other people could give the speech but I thought in order to really make clear the importance to us (of human rights) that I should make it,'' Ms Albright said en route to Geneva from New Delhi.
Her address comes as US officials have expressed cautious hope that a resolution on China could succeed this year.
Beijing has managed to defeat all such previous resolutions and since 1995 has stymied attempts to get them even debated.
Chinese officials have vowed to smash this year's US-sponsored effort, which Washington announced in January well before its release of a highly critical report on the human rights situation in China.
``They always fight it,'' Ms Albright said dismissively of China's vehement opposition to the resolution that is expected to be formally introduced to the commission in mid-April. ``They would do better to fight their problems on human rights.''
Changes in the composition of the 53-member UN commission, combined with heavy and earlier-than-usual lobbying, have led US officials to believe that this year they may be able to at least defeat the Chinese effort to kill the resolution with a ``no-action motion'' before it reaches the floor.
``We have the best chance since 1995 to defeat the (Chinese) no-action motion,'' Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Democracy and Labour Harold Koh said.
Success on this front would be a great victory for the Clinton administration which faces a tough battle in Congress for passage of a bill granting China permanent normal trading status. Meanwhile a group of 30 exiled dissidents, many of them former prisoners, pressed US lawmakers to reject the trade pact. Zhou Jianhe, leader of the Free China Movement, said congressional approval would make a ``mockery of America's claim that it holds dear fundamental freedoms and universal rights for everyone'' .

Beijing has condemned US plans to criticise its suppression of the Falun Gong movement at the main United Nations human rights forum, saying US officials were only trying to score points in a presidential election year.
Qiao Zonghuai, China's Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said any country which presented a resolution on China in support of the "evil cult" would be humiliatingly defeated.
Mr Qiao was speaking at the mainland's diplomatic mission in Geneva a day after the UN Commission on Human Rights opened its annual six-week session to examine violations worldwide.
"The US decision to table a draft resolution is purely for internal reasons. As you know, this is a US election year," Mr Qiao said.
Portugal's Foreign Minister, Jaime Gama, addressing the 53-member forum on behalf of the European Union, said the EU was committed to its dialogue on human rights with China.
But he expressed concern over China's "use of the death penalty, restrictions on fundamental freedoms, harsh sentences imposed on political dissidents, persecution of religious minorities, non-ratification of the UN human rights international covenants and insufficient co-operation with UN human rights mechanisms".
But the 15-member state bloc, seven of whose members have voting rights at the main UN rights forum this year, stopped short of endorsing any resolution criticising China.
The United States has announced it will present a resolution criticising China for "deteriorating human rights conditions", including its repression of the Falun Gong, banned last July.
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected to seek support for the US resolution when she addresses the UN forum today.
"If some people will use Falun Gong as an excuse to table a draft resolution on China in the Commission on Human Rights to support the evil cult, they will only end up with ruined reputations and an indecent result," Mr Qiao said.
Beijing denies it is repressing political and religious groups.
It banned the Falun Gong, which combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and meditation, after members held a series of protests to demand official recognition for their faith.

GENEVA (AP) - China claimed Tuesday that it had the support of a majority of nations for its treatment of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in the face of a possible U.N. human-rights resolution condemning the crackdown.
Chinese Ambassador Qiao Zonghuai dismissed U.S. plans for an anti-China resolution in the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission as an election-year ploy.
``If some people will use Falun Gong as an excuse to table a draft resolution on China in the Commission on Human Rights to support the evil cult, they will only end up with ruined reputations and an indecent result,'' Qiao said.
A top U.S. official said in Washington on Monday that there is a ``significant possibility'' that the resolution would succeed this year after a number of years in which China has been able to use its influence with developing countries to block condemnation.
The United States has singled out the treatment of Falun Gong as one of the reasons for its resolution plans.
Chinese leaders banned the multimillion-member group last July. Thousands of practitioners have been detained and leaders given jail terms of up to 18 years.
The movement has attracted millions of Chinese with a combination of slow-motion exercises and blend of Taoist and Buddhist cosmology and ideas drawn from founder Li Hongzhi, an ex-government clerk who now lives in New York. Practitioners say it promotes health and morality.
In a presentation to diplomats and reporters, Qiao showed a video documentary on the movement, which compared it with suicide cults in recent years whose followers have perished in Guyana, Switzerland and California.
``The evil cult is a phenomenon in many countries,'' he said, noting the death Friday of several hundred members of a Ugandan sect. He said Falun Gong brainwashes followers, harms society and creates public disturbances.
``The outlawing of the Falun Gong by the Chinese government has won the support of the majority of countries and their governments. We appreciate this,'' he said.
Falun Gong representatives are in Geneva to urge the commission to address their plight. On Monday they protested silently during the body's opening session. Some 350 practitioners performed meditative exercises on the square in outside the compound of the U.N. European headquarters.

GENEVA (AP) China claimed Tuesday that it had the support of a majority of nations for its treatment of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in the face of a possible U.N. human-rights resolution condemning the crackdown.
Chinese Ambassador Qiao Zonghuai dismissed U.S. plans for an anti-China resolution in the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission as an election-year ploy.
''If some people will use Falun Gong as an excuse to table a draft resolution on China in the Commission on Human Rights to support the evil cult, they will only end up with ruined reputations and an indecent result,'' Qiao said.
A top U.S. official said in Washington on Monday that there is a ''significant possibility'' that the resolution would succeed this year after a number of years in which China has been able to use its influence with developing countries to block condemnation.
The United States has singled out the treatment of Falun Gong as one of the reasons for its resolution plans.
Chinese leaders banned the multimillion-member group last July. Thousands of practitioners have been detained and leaders given jail terms of up to 18 years.
The movement has attracted millions of Chinese with a combination of slow-motion exercises and blend of Taoist and Buddhist cosmology and ideas drawn from founder Li Hongzhi, an ex-government clerk who now lives in New York. Practitioners say it promotes health and morality.
In a presentation to diplomats and reporters, Qiao showed a video documentary on the movement, which compared it with suicide cults in recent years whose followers have perished in Guyana, Switzerland and California.
''The evil cult is a phenomenon in many countries,'' he said, noting the death Friday of several hundred members of a Ugandan sect. He said Falun Gong brainwashes followers, harms society and creates public disturbances.
''The outlawing of the Falun Gong by the Chinese government has won the support of the majority of countries and their governments. We appreciate this,'' he said.
Falun Gong representatives are in Geneva to urge the commission to address their plight. On Monday they protested silently during the body's opening session. Some 350 practitioners performed meditative exercises on the square in outside the compound of the U.N. European headquarters.

GENEVA (Reuters) - China condemned U.S. plans to criticize its suppression of the Falun Gong movement at the main U.N. human rights forum, saying on Tuesday that American officials were trying to score points in a presidential election year.
Qiao Zonghuai, China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said any country that presented a resolution on China in support of the ``evil cult'' would be defeated.
Qiao was speaking at a news conference at China's diplomatic mission a day after the U.N. Commission on Human Rights opened its annual six-week session to examine violations worldwide.
Portugal's foreign minister, Jaime Gama, addressing the 53-member forum on behalf of the European Union, said the European Union was committed to its dialogue on human rights with China.
But he expressed concern over China's ``use of the death penalty, restrictions on fundamental freedoms, harsh sentences imposed on political dissidents, persecution of religious minorities, non-ratification of the U.N. human rights international covenants and insufficient cooperation with U.N. human rights mechanisms.'' But the 15-member state bloc, seven members of which have voting rights at the main U.N. rights forum this year, stopped short of endorsing any resolution that criticized China.
Swiss Foreign Minister Joseph Deiss said in a speech that Switzerland ``remained very concerned about the severely repressive measures taken against minorities and religious groups, including the Tibetans, whose most fundamental rights are regularly restricted and even flouted.''
The United States has announced it will present a resolution criticizing China for ``deteriorating human rights conditions,'' including its repression of the Falun Gong, banned last July.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected to seek support for the U.S. resolution when she addresses the U.N. forum in Geneva Thursday.
CHINA SAYS RESOLUTION WILL FAIL
``The U.S. decision to table a draft resolution is purely for internal reasons. As you know, this is a U.S. election year,'' Qiao said.
``Once again the decision to table a draft resolution is a typical action to politicize the work of the commission. We think this will poison the atmosphere of this session,'' he said.
Qiao said Beijing's outlawing of the Falun Gong had won the support of most countries.
``Like many cults, Falun Gong practices sect-leader worship, spreads fallacies, exercises mind control, collects money and resources illegally, organizes secret associations and endangers society.
``If some people will use Falun Gong as an excuse to table a draft resolution on China in the Commission on Human Rights to support the evil cult, they will only end up with ruined reputations and an indecent result,'' he said.
China has defeated western resolutions at the forum condemning its human rights record every year since 1990, after the killings of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing by troops in June 1989.
Beijing denies it is repressing political and religious groups. It banned the Falun Gong, which combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and meditation, after members held a series of protests to demand official recognition for their faith.

GENEVA (Reuters) - China Tuesday accused the United States of using the issue of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement to politicize the main U.N. human rights forum and score points in a U.S. presidential election year.
But Qiao Zonghuai, China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said that any country which presented a resolution on China in support of the "evil cult'' would be humiliated.
Qiao was speaking to a news conference at China's diplomatic mission a day after the U.N. Commission on Human Rights opened its annual six-week session to examine violations worldwide.
The United States has announced it will present a resolution criticising China for "deteriorating human rights conditions,'' including repression of the popular Falun Gong, banned last July.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected to seek support for the U.S. resolution when she addresses the 53-member forum in Geneva Thursday. "The U.S. decision to table a draft resolution is purely for internal reasons. As you know, this is a U.S. election year,'' Qiao said.
"Once again the decision to table a draft resolution is a typical action to politicize the work of the Commission. We think this will poison the atmosphere of this session,'' he said.
Qiao said Beijing's outlawing of Falun Gong had won the support of most countries.
"Like many cults, Falun Gong practices sect-leader worship, spreads fallacies, exercises mind control, collects money and resources illegally, organizes secret associations and endangers society.
"If some people will use Falun Gong as an excuse to table a draft resolution on China in the Commission on Human Rights to support the evil cult, they will only end up with ruined reputations and an indecent result,'' he said. China has defeated Western attempts to rebuke it every year since 1990, the first Commission session held after student protesters were killed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989.
Beijing denies it is repressing political and religious groups. It banned Falun Gong, which combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and meditation, after members demanded official recognition for their faith in a series of protests.
U.S. SAYS MOOD HAS SHIFTED AGAINST CHINA
But Harold Koh, Assistant Secretary of State and the top U.S. human rights official, was upbeat Monday about the prospects for putting China in the Commission's dock.
Koh, speaking to a news briefing in Washington, said the mood had shifted against China in the past year, creating the best chance in years for a vote on its human rights record.
In recent years, China has managed to quash all critical Western resolutions by winning a vote on its own "no-action motion,'' which prevents debate on the resolution itself.
"We believe that now there is a very significant possibility that a no-action motion can be defeated,'' Koh told a briefing.
"Therefore there will be, in our expectation and hope, a vote on the merits of China's human rights conduct in late April.''
European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels on Monday, criticized China's record but did not say what the bloc's stand would be at the Geneva forum.
The EU, seven of whose 15 states are members of the U.N. rights body this year, is facing American pressure to back a resolution.
The EU ministers expressed concern about "continuing and widespread restrictions on fundamental freedoms,'' singling out freedoms of assembly, expression and association.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement Monday accused China of persecuting their banned movement and called on the main U.N. human rights forum to take action.
Hundreds of Falun Gong followers meditated in silent protest outside the U.N. building in Geneva to mark the opening of the annual session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
Spokesmen for the popular movement, which claims between 70 million and 100 million adherents, accused Chinese officials of arresting more than 35,000 people since the ruling Communist Party banned Falun Gong last July.
At least 5,000 members had been sent to labor camps without trial and others have been sentenced to up to 18 years in prison after ``show trials,'' according to Gail Rachlin, a U.S.-based spokeswoman. Some detainees have been drugged in mental clinics.
``Eleven cases of death by torture have been reported thus far, and tens of thousands have lost their homes, jobs, schools, pensions and even Party membership,'' she told a news briefing.
``The only 'crime' these people have committed was their attempt to exercise their rights to freedom of belief, conscience, assembly and speech; yet these rights are enshrined in China's own constitution...,'' she added.
The United States has announced it will present a resolution criticizing abuses in China, but it is not clear whether the European Union will endorse the motion at the six-week session.
Beijing denies it represses political and religious groups. China banned Falun Gong, which combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and meditation, after members demanded official recognition for their faith in a series of protests.
China is again expected to marshal enough votes to prevent any serious debate on its record, according to diplomats.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson opened the annual forum with a speech calling for investigations into allegations of gross violations around the world, but she did not refer to China in her speech.
Asked about the omission, she told a news conference she had expressed concern during a recent visit to China about freedoms of expression, religion and assembly. ``It was important to speak out there,'' she said.
Robinson, a lawyer, added: ``I was very struck not only by progress in economic, social and cultural rights in China, but also that they are making significant changes in the criminal procedure code, they are seeking support for access to legal aid and they are addressing issues of justice. It will take time.''
The U.N. rights chief, who will travel to Moscow and Chechnya from March 31-April 4, also said she would look into allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention camps in the region.
``Naturally I will wish to follow up on the serious and documented allegations of human rights abuses and the situation in filtration camps and also the humanitarian situation of the civilian population,'' she said.
Robinson said she intended to report her findings to the main U.N. rights forum, which could order a full investigation.