![]() ![]() They were poor villagers who had contracted the virus after selling their own blood to eke out a living - at a going rate of $7 a pint, they told Lu.Ī former factory worker, Lu traversed China’s vast reaches to capture reality at its margins. ![]() Lu Guang made his mark photographing the everyday lives of HIV patients in central China. ![]() The last message he sent her was an emoji of a knife. ![]() His wife Grace Meng told the AP that she does not believe the charges against her husband. A Chinese delegation delivered a resignation letter from Meng to Interpol headquarters. Meng was missing for weeks, before Chinese authorities said he was being investigated for taking bribes and other crimes. Xi pledged to confront both high-level “tigers” and low-level “flies” in his crackdown on graft - a promise he has fulfilled by ensnaring prominent officials. The initiative is a major reason for the Chinese leader’s broad popularity, but he has been accused of using it to eliminate political rivals. In September, Meng became the latest high-ranking official caught in Xi’s banner anti-corruption campaign. Instead, he was captured by the same security forces he represented. When he was appointed to the top post, human rights groups expressed concern that China would used Interpol as a tool to rein in political enemies around the world. Meng, no relation to the Huawei executive, is a vice minister of public security who was serving as head of Interpol, the France-based organization that facilitates police co-operation across borders. Unlike most swallowed up by China’s opaque security apparatus, Meng Hongwei knew exactly what to expect. Xinhua concurred in a commentary on her case: “Everyone is equal before the law, there are no ‘superstars’ or ‘big shots.’ No one can despise the law and hope to be lucky.” “Without the party and the country’s great policies, without the people’s loving care, there would be no Fan Bingbing,” she wrote, a cautionary tale for other Chinese celebrities. State news agency Xinhua reported that Fan and the companies she represents had been ordered to pay taxes and penalties totalling 900 million yuan ($130 million). “I sincerely apologize to society, to the friends who love and care for me, to the people, and to the country’s tax bureau,” Fan said in a letter posted on Weibo on Oct. When she finally resurfaced, it was to apologize. 16 came and went with only a handful of greetings from entertainment notables. Her management office in Beijing was vacated. Her Weibo social media account, which has more than 63 million followers, fell silent. Since a breakthrough role at the age of 17, Fan has headlined dozens of movies and TV series, and parlayed her success into modeling, fashion design and other ventures that have made her one of the highest-paid celebrities in the world.Īll this made her a potent icon of China’s economic success, until authorities reminded Fan - and her legion of admirers - that even she was not untouchable.įor about four months, Fan vanished from public view. While Julia Garratt was released on bail, her husband was held for more than two years before he was deported in September 2016 - about two months after Su pleaded guilty in the U.S.įan Bingbing was living every starlet’s dream. They also worked with a Christian charity that provided food to North Korean refugees. Like Spavor, Kevin and Julia Garratt lived in Dandong, where they ran a popular coffee shop for nearly a decade. China has not said whether their detentions are related to Meng’s, but a similar scenario unfolded in the past.Ī Canadian couple was detained in 2014 on national security grounds shortly after Canada arrested Su Bin, a Chinese man wanted for industrial espionage in the U.S. He is allowed one consular visit a month and has not been granted access to a lawyer, as is standard for state security cases.Īlso detained is Michael Spavor, who organizes tours to North Korea from the border city of Dandong. Both turned up in the hands of state security on suspicion of endangering national security, a nebulous category of crimes that has been levied against foreigners in recent years.įormer Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig was taken by authorities from a Beijing street late in the evening, a person familiar with his case said. The apparent consequences materialized within days, when two Canadian men went missing in China. A look at some of the people who went missing in 2018 at the hands of the Chinese state:Ĭhina threatened “grave consequences” if Canada did not release high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou, shortly after the Huawei chief financial officer was detained in Vancouver in December for possible extradition to the U.S. ![]()
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