A former Democratic Progressive Party staffer and human rights advocate is missing after traveling to China on Sunday, sparking concern among family and friends that he might have been kidnapped by the Chinese authorities following Taiwan’s crackdown on Chinese spies.
Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who works at Taipei’s Wenshan Community College, was first reported missing on Monday by the US-funded news outlet Radio Free Asia (RFA), which said Lee went to the Chinese mainland through Macau on Sunday morning, where he made a last telephone call to a friend, Chinese writer Liu Ermu (劉爾目).
The RFA quoted Liu as saying he was worried that Lee had been “put under the control” of Chinese authorities because Lee is known to have been closely following Chinese human rights issues.
Lee’s wife said he had planned to go to Guangdong Province to seek medical assistance for his mother-in-law.
Lee was scheduled to stay at a hotel in Guangzhou on Sunday night, but did not check in and his telephone has since been turned to voicemail mode, Liu said.
Lee has made various exchanges with Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs), his friends said.
Some of his friends said they are afraid he has been arrested by Chinese authorities on fraudulent charges or that it was a countermove by Beijing following Taiwan’s arrest of a former Chinese student on espionage charges.
Cheng Hsiu-chuan (鄭秀娟), the president of the community college who has maintained close contact with Lee’s family, on Tuesday said that the Beijing government has stepped up its surveillance and control over representatives and employees of workers of Chinese NGOs this year.
Cheng said Lee’s family and friends, who have been trying to ascertain his whereabouts with the help of Chinese NGOs, are bracing for the possibility that Lee has been detained for “political” reasons.
The Mainland Affairs Council said it had sought assistance from Macau’s government and police, which said Lee entered the mainland from Zhuhai, Guangdong, at 11:51am on Sunday, but there is no record of him checking in at the hotel or being arrested.
The council said that as of Tuesday night, it had not received any report about Lee being detained.
Straits Exchange Foundation spokesperson Lee Li-jane (李麗珍) said the foundation had contacted China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, as well as the local government, police and Taiwanese businesspeople associations in China for help locating Lee Ming-che.
The foundation has also asked the Criminal Investigation Bureau to seek the Chinese Ministry of Public Security’s cooperation in locating Lee Ming-che, the spokesperson said.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
New Taipei City prosecutors yesterday indicted nine entertainers over their alleged connection to a fraud ring that produces falsified documents to help people evade military service, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and show host William Liao (廖威廉). Twenty-eight people were charged with contravening the Punishment for Violation of Military Service System Act (妨害兵役治罪條例) and Article 214 of the Criminal Code for “causing a public official to make a false entry in a public document.” Prosecutors alleged the fraud ring was ran by a man, Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), and his three assistants, and that they were paid to help people dodge compulsory
RSS