Taiwan activist held, China reveals
Local | Sum Lok-kei and AP 30 Mar 2017
The central government confirmed yesterday that a former employee of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party is being held and probed in the mainland on suspicion of threatening national safety.
Lee Ming-che, 42, a Taiwanese human rights activist, went missing on March 19. He reportedly passed through Macau immigration, but never showed up for a planned meeting that day with a friend at the destination of his trip - Zhuhai.
Ten days into his disappearance, a spokesman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office confirmed Lee's detention during a media briefing yesterday.
The confirmation supported theories that Lee had been taken into custody.
TAO spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said Lee was suspected of "pursuing activities harmful to national security" and that his investigation was "being handled in line with legal procedures."
He said Lee is in good health but did not specify a date for his release.
Lee wife, Lee Ching-yu, said in Taipei that he was in the mainland to see friends and obtain Chinese medicine for his mother-in-law in Taiwan.
She added that Lee has high blood pressure and had not packed extra medication for the trip.
"I want the government of China to act like a civilized country and tell me what they're doing with my husband on what legal grounds and, like a civilized country, [tell me] what they plan to do with him," she said.
Over the past year, Lee had worked as a program director at Wenshan Community College in Taipei. College president Cheng Hsiu-chuan said Lee had used WeChat to "teach" an unknown audience about China-Taiwan relations.
"For China, the material he was teaching would be seen as sensitive," Cheng said, adding Lee discussed human rights issues in China but only in private.
Lee's detention came amid mooted "anti-spy" efforts in Taiwan after a Chinese student at Taipei's National Chengchi University was arrested on suspicion of "spying activities" earlier this month.
Political analyst Johnny Lau Yui- Siu said he could not speculate on whether the two incidents are related, as both governments are unlikely to be transparent in their probes.
