The Singing Nun Finally Gets Her Freedom

China's leaders have raised hostage politics to a high art by cynically releasing political prisoners before leadership summits. With President Jiang Zemin set to visit the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas this week, his people needed advice on whose freedom would sweep the most burrs from under the U.S. President's saddle. In rode American businessman and human-rights advocate John Kamm, who offered Beijing a list of prisoners to pick through. "They wanted to know things like which members of Congress are most interested in what cases, and which unions are most interested in releasing labor leaders," he told TIME. "They don't know these things, and I do."

Beijing selected a name from the top of Kamm's list—a prisoner known as the singing nun. First sentenced in 1992 at age 15 for protesting Beijing's rule in Tibet, Ngawang Sangdrol proved an irrepressible dissident. A year later while still in a Tibetan prison, she and 13 other nuns secretly recorded songs about their love for Tibet. Authorities extended her sentence by six years. After a cellblock demonstration against Beijing's interference in choosing Tibet's religious leaders in 1996, they extended Sangdrol's sentence to 2013, making hers the longest of any female Tibetan political prisoner. She was released on parole last Thursday.

Hostage politics does have a hidden upside. Prisoners on Kamm's lists tend to get better treatment from wardens, such as nourishing food or more frequent visitations. That's why the Bush administration recently began handing over lists of prisoners it considers a priority to the Chinese government as well, something the Clinton administration stopped. Unfortunately, the lists are always incomplete. China has about 10,000 political prisoners, and Kamm knows at most 15% of their names. That means the supply of potential hostages won't run out soon.