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Lee Ching-yu, wife of Lee Ming-che, says her husband has been detained on the mainland. Photo: Handout

Mainland China has detained Taiwanese rights activist, says wife

Taiwanese government confirms Lee Ming-che held by security agencies on the mainland

Taiwan

The wife of Taiwanese human rights activist Lee Ming-che said on Tuesday that her husband had been detained by security authorities on the mainland.

Lee, who has long supported human rights on the mainland, went missing after he entered Zhuhai, Guangdong province, from Macau on March 19, prompting concerns he might have been detained by mainland authorities.

“I received words from the [Taiwanese] government late [Monday] night confirming that Lee Ming-che has been detained by the security agencies of the Chinese government,” his wife, Lee Ching-yu, said from Taipei.

The Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei said on Tuesday night that the information about the detention was obtained “indirectly” and mainland authorities had yet to provide “any official information about the whereabouts of Lee.” It called on the mainland to state what has happened to Lee and ensure his safety.

Lee Ching-yu said she was deeply worried her husband might not have enough money with him for food and medicine for his high blood pressure.

She also called on mainland authorities to quickly inform her or publicise for what reasons or on what charges her husband was being detained.

A friend went to collect Lee Ming-che from customs but Lee did not appear. Photo: Handout

The 42-year-old former Democratic Progressive Party staffer, who works at Taipei’s Wenshan Community College, had travelled to Guangdong to seek medical help for his seriously ill mother-in-law in Taiwan, his wife said.

An author friend of his on the mainland had arranged to pick Lee up from the customs checkpoint on March 19, but failed to see him after waiting for four hours, according to Cheng Hsiu-chuan, the wife’s spokeswomanand Wenshan Community College’s president.

Cheng said Lee’s concerns about human rights conditions on the mainland and his sharing of Taiwan’s democratic progress through his and other mainland websites could be a reason for him being detained.

She said in addition to seeking help from the Taiwanese authorities, friends and family have also sought help from international human right organisations, including Amnesty International.

Cheng said the Straits Exchange Foundation said it had tried two times in vain to get information or confirmation of any arrest from its mainland counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait. The foundation said it would try again on Tuesday, she said.

Lee’s case came just days after Feng Chongyi, a mainland-born professor based in Australia who has often criticised Beijing’s crackdown on political dissent, has been barred from leaving the mainland and is being questioned by state security officers as a suspected threat to national security.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Lee Ming-che went missing after he entered Zhuhai on May 19. This has been amended to March 19.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Taiwanese activist detained on mainland, says wife
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