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BEIJING - A court dismissed charges against a Chinese researcher for The New York Times yesterday, a month before President Hu Jintao visits Washington.
Zhao Yan, who worked in the Times' Beijing bureau, was detained in September 2004, prompting activists to urge President Bush to lobby Hu for his release.
The government has not disclosed details of the charges against Zhao, but he was believed to have been detained in connection with a Times report in 2004 on former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin's plans to step down from a key military post.
Hu's trip to Washington in April will be his first since becoming president, and the Zhao case threatened to add complications to a visit that comes amid tensions over trade and Taiwan.
Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
