A police report showing that a Chinese influencer deported from Taiwan was arrested by Chinese national security officials in Guizhou Province on suspicion of subverting state power was fake, a Taiwanese official familiar with national security affairs told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) in an article published yesterday.
The influencer, who goes by the pseudonym Xiaowei (小微) and whose real name is Zhao Chan (趙嬋), was deported from Taiwan in April after her residence permit was revoked for repeatedly advocating for China to annex Taiwan by force.
After being deported, she was reported to have returned to her hometown in Guizhou Province and was posting about her life as a farmer on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Photo: Screen grab from Douyin
On Thursday, Zhao released a video in which she accused the local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary of not distributing compensation to residents affected by floods caused by heavy rains.
She later posted a video about an alleged argument she had with people in their local administration office demanding that they conduct an investigation. The next day, she said in a live stream that she was terrified because the police had allegedly called and threatened her.
She said she was being persecuted for defending her rights.
Later, a police report, allegedly issued by the Tongren City Public Security Bureau, began circulating online, saying that Zhao had been detained for allegedly colluding online with anti-China operatives and conspiring to disparage others and fabricate false events to sow social unrest.
The document also said that the “Guizhou Ministry of State Security” was to oversee the case.
However, the official title of the provincial security office is the Guizhou Provincial State Security Department, not the “Guizhou Ministry of State Security.” The Tongren City Public Security Bureau also does not have such a report listed in its public records.
An official familiar with national security affairs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the document was fake.
Zhao only questioned why she had yet to receive compensation for the floods in the video she posted, the official said, adding that it was unlikely that the CCP would accuse her of subverting the state because of it.
While Chinese are not allowed to criticize the central government, they are permitted to criticize and file complaints against local officials, with such cases being handled by the central government, as a way to demonstrate its authority, the official said.
Zhao might not get into trouble with the central government, but local government officials might make her life difficult, they said.
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