The wife of an activist Chinese lawyer missing for more than a year challenged claims by authorities in China that he was working in a remote western region of the country and had been in touch with relatives, a human rights group said yesterday.
The case of Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), one of China’s most daring lawyers, has drawn international attention for the unusual length of his disappearance and for earlier reports of torture he said he faced from security forces.
Gao, a self-trained lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, took on highly sensitive cases involving the banned Falun Gong spiritual group and advocated constitutional reform.
“For a very long time I have not heard from him, and I do not know where he is now,” Gao’s wife, Geng He (耿和), said in a statement released by the New York-based group Human Rights in China.
Her statement comes after a San Francisco-based human rights group, the Dui Hua Foundation, said last week it was told by the Chinese embassy in Washington that Gao was working in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang region, and had been in touch with his wife and relatives.
Dui Hua did not say what kind of work Gao was allegedly doing or where he was staying. Urumqi is about 2,900km west of Beijing.
“Unless the Chinese government truly makes good on what it is declaring to the outside world and allows my husband to get in contact with me directly, I have no way of verifying his current whereabouts and whether he is safe and free,” Geng said.
Gao’s brother, Gao Zhiyi (高智義), has said he doesn’t know where his brother is and had no luck getting information from Beijing police.
Geng and her two children now live in the US after being accepted as refugees.
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CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
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