Rights groups have condemned China after a Beijing-based journalist went missing, linking his disappearance to an unusual open letter calling for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) resignation.
Freelance journalist Jia Jia (賈葭) has not been seen since Tuesday, his lawyer said, without giving further details. Amnesty International said a close friend of Jia told the group he disappeared some time after going through customs at Beijing Capital International Airport when about to board a flight to Hong Kong.
“He went missing on the 15th,” lawyer Yan Xin (燕薪) said, citing the journalist’s wife.
The City University of Hong Kong also confirmed that Jia had not turned up to a seminar he was due to give on Thursday.
“We are deeply concerned by Chinese journalist Jia Jia’s disappearance,” said Bob Dietz, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “If he is in police custody, officials must disclose where they are holding him and why. If anyone else knows where he is, they should step forward and clarify this worrisome mystery.”
Under Xi, the Chinese Communist Party has tightened controls over civil society, detaining or interrogating more than 200 human rights lawyers and activists last year in what analysts have called one of the biggest crackdowns on dissent in recent times.
Both Amnesty and the CPJ have linked Jia’s disappearance to an open letter published earlier this month on the news Web site Wujie News calling for Xi’s resignation. The letter, which was quickly removed, was signed “Loyal Communist Party members,” but little else is known about its authorship.
“His going missing is most likely related to the publishing of the letter and perhaps the authorities’ implication of his involvement or knowledge of the letter,” Amnesty China researcher William Nee said.
“Journalists and activists are forced all the time to ‘drink tea’ with the authorities ... but it generally does not last this long,” he said, adding that officials usually try to extract information during such meetings.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu