Sixteen dissidents in two provinces asked Jospin in an open letter to discuss freeing Tang Yuanjuan during his meetings with Chinese leaders tomorrow and on Friday.

``We hope, Mr Prime Minister, that whether meeting high-level leaders or talking trade, when principles of human rights and economic interests conflict, please don't forget you come from the birthplace of the declaration of human rights,'' said the letter, a copy of which was released by a Hong Kong-based human rights group.

Tang's arrest last Friday came amid renewed suppression of supporters of the would-be China Democracy Party and carried portents that Communist Party leaders planned to ban the group outright.

Police in the northeastern city of Changchun accused Tang of having contacts with an illegal organisation. The accusations were the first indication the China Democracy Party had been branded unlawful since dissidents began trying to register the group in late June.

Democracy campaigners in five provinces plus this metropolis and Shanghai have applied to register the party or held meetings to organise applications. Police have detained at least 20 of them, eight of them in the past week.

Dissidents preparing to launch the party in those seven areas said in a statement that they and Tang had done nothing illegal but were merely availing their constitutional rights.

``If the authorities outlaw the group, dissidents everywhere will not fear, but one after another will oppose dictatorial violence and lead China toward an era of respect for human rights and law,'' said the statement, released by the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.

The current government clampdown has not been restricted to China Democracy Party supporters. New York-based Human Rights in China reported today that veteran democracy campaigner Jiang Qisheng was taken away by police here yesterday afternoon and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Jiang and an elderly couple whose son was killed in the military crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy demonstrators in 1989 were preparing to release a ``declaration on freedom and civil rights,'' Human Rights in China said.

Zhu Rui, a labour rights campaigner detained on Saturday and released yesterday, was questioned exhaustively about the planned declaration, the group reported.