Protester at China summit has no regrets

Washington (dpa) - A protester who faces a possible six months in US prison for shouting at Chinese President Hu Jintao during a White House welcoming ceremony says she has no regrets.

Federal charges of intimidating a foreign leader were filed Friday against Wenyi Wang, 43, news reports said, a day after the Falun Gong supporter disrupted Hu's opening speech to President George W Bush at a US-China summit.

Wang screamed in English that Falun Gong, the spiritual movement banned in China, "is good" and told Hu in Chinese that his "time is running out," according to court documents.

She faces up to six months in prison if convicted on charges of intimidating, coercing, harassing and threatening a foreign official, US media reported. A federal judge in Washington freed Wang pending a court hearing expected next month.

Asked Friday on Cable News Network (CNN) whether she had regrets, she said no.

She said her protest was "a personal act" meant to call attention to "unspeakable crime" she said Falun Gong was suffering in China.

Wang, a naturalized US citizen who reportedly lives in New York, entered Thursday's summit ceremony with a press pass for The Epoch Times, a Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper.

US administration officials say Bush expressed regret to Hu after the incident, but that Wang's press credentials were legitimate and no one knew she would use the occasion as a stage for protest.