China is once again engaging in human rights diplomacy. This week the government in Beijing released dissident Xu Wenli, one of the country's most famous human rights activists. It is tempting to applaud this long-overdue development, but the truth is that Mr. Xu should not have been in jail in the first place. Worse, his release is more proof of China's readiness to use human beings as pawns in its attempts to forge better relations with the United States. This practice must stop.

Mr. Xu, now in his late 50s, has spent more than 16 of the last 21 years in prison as a result of his political activities. He was first jailed in 1982 after being convicted of "counterrevolutionary activities"; in fact, his crime was advocating more political freedom for Chinese and participating in the Democracy Wall movement of 1979. He was in prison for 12 years and was released in 1993.

Unbowed, Mr. Xu continued to campaign for more freedom. He was arrested again five years later, this time for "the crime" of helping to organize an opposition democracy party. The Chinese government moved quickly to crush the fledgling movement and arrested and imprisoned its founders and supporters. He was charged with "secretly planning the founding of the so-called Beijing and Tianjin regional Party Committee of the China Democracy Party, with the purpose of subverting state power." His trial lasted only 3 1/2 hours.