Activist threatens hunger strike if he’s barred from leaving China to care for ailing wife in US
- National security officers told Guo Feixiong they have been ordered to stop him at the airport on Thursday
- He has appealed to the premier and public security minister to allow him to travel to care for his cancer-stricken wife
Veteran human rights activist Guo Feixiong says he will go on a hunger strike if police stop him from leaving China so that he can care for his cancer-stricken wife in the United States.
Guo, 54, whose real name is Yang Maodong, said he was booked to depart Guangzhou for Washington on Thursday but police had warned him he would not be allowed to go.
“If I can’t get on the plane … I will start an indefinite hunger strike until I can leave China to visit my wife who is critically ill,” Guo said on Wednesday.
Guo said national security officers in Guangzhou told him on Tuesday they had received orders from the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing to prevent him from leaving at the airport.
Guo publicly appealed to Premier Li Keqiang and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi early this month to allow him to travel to the US where his wife Zhang Qing is being treated for colon cancer in Maryland.
He said he was told he could only leave if he made a deal with police in his home province of Hubei, but he rejected the offer.