The daughter of the military doctor who blew the whistle on China's SARS cover-up last year fears her father's disappearance is no temporary muzzling but that he has been detained and is about to be charged.
Jiang Yanyong (蔣彥永), who disappeared on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, upset the authorities after writing a letter to top leaders in February asking for a reappraisal of the 1989 pro-democracy protests crushed by the army with heavy loss of life.
"The authorities were gradually building up to their final retaliation against him, possibly in the form of connecting him with overseas hostile organizations and charging him with subversion," daughter Jiang Rui (
Analysts said authorities fear if Jiang Yanyong, a hero to many Chinese for exposing the SARS cover-up, is not silenced, others might dare to speak up about the student-led Tiananmen Square protests.
Jiang and his wife disappeared on June 1.
"The public interpretation of my parents' disappearance has been that they were rounded up with the many other dissidents in Beijing, but would be released again as soon as June 4th had passed," Jiang Rui said.
"However, while others were being released, the authorities were asking my brother for my father's dentures," she said, suggesting the semi-retired surgeon may be held longer.
"Now it seems that they merely used the June 4th event as a smokescreen to buy time, perhaps for interrogation purposes, using ... time to wear down my 72-year-old father without too much public pressure," the daughter said.
She said it was "inhumane" to detain her parents without letting her and her brother know their whereabouts.
A government investigation has focused on how Jiang's letter was leaked to foreign media, she said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese