Chinese rights activist Guo Feixiong was intercepted at Shanghai Pudong Airport five days ago while preparing to take a flight to the U.S. to care for his cancer-stricken wife, and his whereabouts are still unknown after being stopped by border control for “endangering national security. More than 20 Chinese intellectuals and citizens have joined together to launch an open letter to Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang and Li Zhanshu, three Chinese leaders, urging them to reach out to Guo Feixiong and his wife and allow him to travel to the U.S. to be with his sick wife.
The open letter reads, “Guo Feixiong is a Writer and scholar who has long been committed to promoting social progress in China. he has been devoted to academic research since his release from prison in August 2019, and has offered many insights into the improvement and peaceful transformation of China’s system.”
The open letter stated that Guo Feixiong was very grateful for the consent and full cooperation of the public security authorities in Guangdong Province, Guangzhou City and Hubei Province and Wuhan City in the process of his wife’s application to leave the country because she urgently needed him to accompany her during her cancer removal surgery, but he was prevented from leaving the country at the last moment and has been lost to date.
The letter states that Guo’s wife, Zhang Qing, was looking forward to her husband’s trip to the U.S. and was recovering from his first surgery, but Guo’s interception and loss of contact caused a heavy blow to her mentally and inevitably affected his recovery.
The open letter said that Guo Feixiong has been on a hunger strike for more than five days because he was prevented from leaving the country, and his Life and death are unknown. If left unchecked without strong intervention, it will undoubtedly lead to a tragic human tragedy. The letter argues that avoiding such a tragedy and saving Guo Feixiong and his wife is the least humane thing that can be done, and that “possible humane tragedies should not be ignored.
The open letter, which continues to seek signatures from people in China, was reposted on social media Wednesday night by U.S.-based writer Cai Chu. The text of the letter begins, “Saving a life is better than building a seven-step pagoda. Today, in order to save lives, we are forced by the pressure of our conscience to come forward and make an urgent appeal to you public servants.”
Lawyer Bao Longjun, who co-signed the open letter, said, “We have been concerned about Mr. Guo Feixiong, who is now out of contact. His wife in the U.S. is seriously ill, but he is being prevented from visiting her in the U.S., where she is seriously ill. We call on the authorities to release Mr. Guo Feixiong as soon as possible in a humanitarian spirit so that he can go to the U.S. to take care of his seriously ill wife. Thank you for your concern.”
Guo Feixiong himself sent two open letters to senior Communist Party officials during his passport application and on the eve of his departure, in a dramatic reversal of the authorities’ attitude.
The last-minute ban on the internationally renowned folk scholar and writer from leaving the country drew public attention. Former June 4 student leader Wang Dan launched a joint statement of solidarity with Guo Feixiong on the day of the incident, which was echoed by hundreds of people, and delivered the document to the U.S. government and Congress the following day.
The New York Times published an in-depth report on Guo Feixiong’s case on Wednesday.
Guo Yuhua, a sociology professor at Tsinghua University and a co-signer of the open letter, retweeted the New York Times story Wednesday, writing: “Where are you, Guo Feixiong?
The open letter is another rare intellectual initiative in mainland China since the tragic death of Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang, who died of a new coronavirus infection last February.
Over the past year, the authorities have continued to tighten their grip on freedom of expression and surveillance, and there have been many cases of citizens being sentenced to prison for their words.
Sources said that an internationally renowned scholar at a Beijing university was pressured to withdraw his signature on the open letter after being warned by the university.
Some Chinese scholars living abroad say that Guo Feixiong’s obstruction of his travel to the United States once again reveals the authorities’ disregard for basic human rights and humanitarian norms, and highlights the regression of the rule of law in mainland China.
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