Update | China wants US to repatriate disgraced presidential aide Ling Jihua’s brother: media
Reports by mainland news outlet Caixin and ‘The New York Times’ – citing US official sources – both reported on Tuesday that Ling Wancheng had fled to US
The youngest brother of disgraced Chinese presidential aide Ling Jihua is hiding out in the United States with Beijing demanding his repatriation, US and mainland media report.
Caixin, a prominent mainland news media outlet known for its investigative reporting, and The New York Times – citing US official sources – both reported on Tuesday that Ling Wancheng had fled to the US.
However, Ling Wancheng’s exact whereabouts, or whether he had applied for asylum, was not disclosed.
The New York Times said Ling’s presence in the US provided another twist in the case of his brother, Ling’s Jihua, and “could be an intelligence coup at China’s expense”.
Ling Jihua, 58, the former chief of staff of retired president Hu Jintao, has been accused of six violations of law and Communist Party discipline, including illegally acquiring a large number of “core secrets” of the state and party, according to a Political Bureau statement issued by the Xinhua news agency last month.
The accusation that Ling Jihua illegally obtained the secrets surprised some observers, who said that he had been supposedly entitled to access to the information in his role working for Hu.