Twenty months after he disappeared, China's leading dissident, Wei Jingsheng, was formally charged Tuesday with trying to overthrow the government.

The formal arrest and charge, reported by the state-run Xinhua News Agency, was the first official explanation of why authorities had detained Wei.Beijing's Public Security Bureau found Wei had "conducted activities in an attempt to overthrow the government" between September 1993 and April 1994, Xinhua said. The report provided no details of the activities.

Attempting to overthrow the government is considered a political crime, which could be punished by death. China, however, does not

usually execute high-profile dissidents.

"As far as we know, Wei Jing-sheng has not been involved in any criminal activities by international standards," said Arlette Ladguie, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International in London. "All he did was make public his views on human rights and political issues."

China has moved aggressively against its tiny dissident community in the past two years as its economic power has grown and the threat of economic sanctions from Western governments receded.

The charge against Wei is likely to draw condemnation from the United States just as relations between Washington and Beijing seem on the mend.

Disputes over Taiwan and China's arrest of activist Harry Wu, a naturalized American, pushed relations to their lowest point in years this summer. Wu was deported after being sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying.

Wei, who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, first drew international attention in 1979 during the short-lived "Democracy Wall" movement. In essays, he questioned the credibility of China's leaders, criticizing senior leader Deng Xiaoping by name.

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Deng was known to have personally intervened in Wei's case, and the former soldier and electrician was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He served most of that sentence and was released in September 1993 as China tried to polish its international image while bidding to stage the 2000 Olympic Games.

He quickly ran afoul of the law, speaking openly for democracy and human rights, granting interviews to foreign reporters and writing essays for overseas publications.

Wei was taken into police custody on April 1, 1994, and has not been seen or heard from since. His family has not been allowed to see him, and requests from foreign governments and international rights groups for information on his case have gone unanswered.

After repeated inquiries by his sister, the Public Security Bureau acknowledged in April that Wei was under a form of house arrest.

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