Open letter roots for lawyer missing after failed bid to leave China for ill wife
Prominent Chinese intellectuals are risking a backlash from the state to petition their President Xi Jinping to help human rights lawyer Guo Feixiong reunite with his wife in the United States.
Guo, whose real name is Yang Maodong, disappeared from Shanghai Pudong Airport seven days ago. He was supposed to board a plane for the U.S. to visit his wife Zhang Qing, who is seriously ill with cancer. But authorities would not let him leave the country due to “national security reasons.”
“In order to save a life, we have no choice but to listen to our conscience and speak up on this, and to send out this emergency call for help,” read an open letter signed by more than 20 high-profile mainland academics, writers and intellectuals.
It was the first public petition of its kind since the open letter on Dr Li Wenliang, the COVID-19 whistleblower who died of the illness, as the freedom to speak out had become shrunk amid the pandemic.
Apart from the Chinese intellectuals, prominent academics around the world also signed the petition. These include well-known China expert Geremie Barmé, George Washington University law professor Donald C. Clarke, Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University Perry Link, Columbia University political scientist Andrew J. Nathan and Human Rights Watch’s China head Sophie Richardson.
Guo had applied to leave the country when his wife had to go into emergency surgery in the U.S. for colon cancer. He had obtained approval from the public security offices of Guangdong province, Hubei province, Guangzhou city and Wuhan city. Still, he was stopped after passing through security at the airport. In anger, Guo embarked on a hunger strike and had not been heard of since.
The intellectuals’ letter called on Xi, Premier Li Keqiang, Politburo Standing Committee chair Li Zhanshu and other top officials to help Guo travel.
They said Zhang had been looking forward to her husband’s arrival. His disappearance came as a great shock and a heavy blow to her as she remained in a state of recuperation.
“Guo has long worked for the improvement of China as a writer and an academic. Since being released from prison in August 2019, he has thrown himself into academic research. He has produced honest and profound contributions toward peaceful transition and improvement of the Chinese system,” the letter read.
The lawyer had been fasting for more than five days, according to the letter, and that it was not known if he was still alive. The most humane thing to do would be to help the couple reunite in order to prevent a possible tragedy, the letter said.
One of the petitioners, human rights lawyer Bao Lujun, said: “We’ve been following the news on Mr Guo … We call on the government to quickly release Mr Guo please in the spirit of humanitarianism, so that he can get to his wife and take care of her. Thank you for your attention.”
Tsinghua University professor Guo Yuhua, another of the petitioners, shared a news article on Guo from the New York Times that contained a heartbreaking line: “Guo Feixiong, where have you gone?”
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