Chinese authorities yesterday barred the wife of an imprisoned human-rights activist from leaving the country to accept a humanitarian award on her husband's behalf, a friend of the woman said.
Yuan Weijing's (袁偉靜) passport and telephone were confiscated as she attempted to pass through security at Beijing airport to fly to the Philippines, said Hu Jia (胡佳), an advocate for people with AIDS.
She had planned to fly to the Philippines to accept a Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel Prize, for her husband, Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠), a self-trained lawyer who helped farmers with grievances file court cases.
Chen, who is blind, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison last year after he documented forced abortions and other abuses by family planning officials in Shandong Province.
Yuan called Hu to let him know her passport had been confiscated but the call was quickly cut off. Attempts to reach her again failed. It was not immediately clear whether she had been detained, although Hu said Yuan called him later to say her luggage had been taken and she had been ``kidnapped,'' although she was unable to say by whom.
In an interview on Thursday, Yuan said, "I haven't done anything wrong, so I'll give it a try, and if they stop me then it's not my problem."
Yuan said authorities in Shandong had attempted to prevent her from coming to Beijing and were blocking her from leaving Hu Jia's apartment where she had been staying. Police blocked her yesterday, but she was eventually able to leave after about 45 minutes.
Hu said Philippines Airlines personnel told his wife that Yuan's baggage had been taken off the plane by police -- a likely sign that she was being forcibly returned to Shandong.
"The biggest loser here is not Yuan Weijing and not the Magsaysay Foundation but the Chinese government," Hu said.
"This just really shows how bad the human rights situation is here," he said.
China also blocked two previous winners of Magsaysay prizes from collecting their awards, including Jiang Yanyong (蔣彥永), who embarrassed the government by revealing the true scale of the 2003 SARS outbreak.
Also blocked was crusading AIDS activist Gao Yaojie (高耀潔), who has been repeatedly harassed by officials seeking to squelch news about the epidemic and government malfeasance that aided the disease's spread.
Hu said Yuan told him authorities cited a statute blocking people who may harm the nation from leaving the country when they took her passport.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique