A Taiwanese publisher reported missing while visiting Shanghai is under investigation for suspected national security crimes, Chinese authorities said yesterday.
Li Yanhe (李延賀), the editor-in-chief of Gusa Press (八旗文化), is “under investigation by national security organs on suspicion of engaging in activities endangering national security,” Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) told a news conference.
“The relevant parties will protect [Li’s] legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law,” she said.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
Activists and Taiwan-based journalists had raised the alarm on Li’s disappearance, with dissident Chinese poet Bei Ling (貝嶺) writing in a Facebook post last week that Li was believed to have been “secretly detained” in Shanghai while on a visit to see family last month.
Li’s Gusa Press has published books on history and politics critical of the Chinese Communist Party, including a history of alleged Chinese oppression in the western region of Xinjiang and a title on Beijing’s global propaganda efforts.
Chinese authorities had previously jailed Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲) for five years on a national security conviction before his release last year.
Beijing’s confirmation of Li’s detention came a day after Chinese authorities formally pressed secession charges against pro-independence Taiwanese National Party vice chairman Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵).
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) yesterday warned of “long-arm jurisdiction” by Beijing.
“There is the smell of intimidation in this and it’s a show of suppression by them,” Chiu said at a legislative session, adding that Taiwanese authorities were “offering necessary assistance” to Li’s and Yang’s families.
Local media also quoted Chiu as saying that Li’s mother, sister and wife have been “warned” by Chinese authorities, without elaborating.
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