Guo Feixiong, a prominent Chinese dissident, was detained at the Shanghai airport on January 28 while traveling to the United States, and has since lost contact with the outside world. His wife, Zhang Qing, continues to care for him in the United States, where he is seriously ill.
More than 40 scholars from around the world, including French sinologists Bai Xia, Hou Zhiming, Pan Mingxiao, scholar Zhang Lun, American sinologists Lin Peirui and Lai Anyou, scholars Xia Ming and Veng Biao, and Australian scholar Feng Zongyi, issued a joint open letter today, Wednesday, calling on Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to release Guo Feixiong.
Guo is widely respected for his efforts to promote the rule of law in China, and on January 28, 2021, he was intercepted at Shanghai Pudong Airport as he was about to board a flight to the United States, the letter reads. Shortly thereafter, he could no longer be reached by the outside world. On this basis, we believe he has been taken into custody by Chinese government agencies.
His wife, Zhang Qing, needs the support of her husband to face a serious health challenge. We ask your government to allow Yang Maodong to travel to the United States.
Zhang Qing, the wife of Guo Feixiong, who is undergoing chemotherapy in the United States after cancer surgery, gave a brief telephone interview to RFE/RL on Tuesday in which she called on Communist authorities to allow the couple to reunite, saying, “I very much hope that Guo Feixiong will be able to come to the United States because first of all, Guo Feixiong is a free man and he should not be subject to any restrictions on his movement, and secondly, my illness is really very serious and I have just had Secondly, my illness is very serious, and the cancer has just spread to my liver and pancreas after surgery, so I may have to undergo a second-stage surgery, and the doctors’ diagnosis is not very optimistic. I hope the Chinese government will allow us to reunite as a couple in a humane manner. “
Guo Feixiong, formerly known as Yang Maodong, participated in the June 4, 1989 pro-democracy movement and was actively involved in a number of grassroots human rights activities, including in Taishi Village, for which he was twice imprisoned for long periods before being released in 2019. His wife, Zhang Qing, was granted political asylum in the United States in November 2009 after she and their children moved from Thailand to the United States.
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