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US man jailed in China is freed

China released a US businessman it jailed more than three years ago on charges of illegally obtaining state secrets and bribery and sent him to the United States yesterday, apparently in an attempt to address US complaints about its human rights record. Fong Fuming, 68, of West Orange, N.J., an electric-power consultant who often acted as an agent for American and other foreign companies seeking power-related contracts in China, was among a handful of prisoners that the Bush administration had put on a priority list and repeatedly pressed the Chinese government to release. China routinely frees political prisoners before or after important summit meetings with the United States, and the decision to reduce Fong’s prison sentence by nearly two years and deport him comes just days after President Bush met with President Hu Jintao of China at a regional economic conference in Bangkok. Full Story