Wang Jingyu, a critic of the Beijing government from China, fled to the Netherlands this week with his fiancée Wu Huan. They have applied for political asylum. This is reported by the Christian human rights organization China Aid Association on its website. The two have been on the run from Chinese authorities for months. “I couldn’t sleep at night.”
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The China Aid Association, together with another aid organization, Freedom Seekers International, have made efforts to get Wang and Wu safely to the Netherlands.
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Wang fled China in 2019 as a 17-year-old boy after expressing his support for the democracy movement and mass demonstrations in Hong Kong on the internet. His parents sent him abroad as a precaution.
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In February this year, Chinese authorities started looking for Wang after he made comments online about previous clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the border region of the two countries. China then announced that four soldiers had died in a battle in the Karakoram Mountains. Wang wondered why the Chinese government had waited so long to announce the death toll and target.
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Threatening calls
Six others were detained by police over similar comments about the border dispute, according to a report by state-owned Global Times. Wang was the only one who could flee abroad. Chongqing police then said they were looking for Wang for “causing trouble.”
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Wang then received threatening calls and his parents were detained, China Aid Association said. The People’s Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper, hounded him online via the Weibo platform for “slandering border heroes.” The post was viewed 280 million times. The police sent him a recording in which his father warns him not to give interviews to American media anymore.
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In early April, Wang was arrested on his way to New York during a stopover in Dubai for allegedly endangering the security of the United Arab Emirates. He said the Chinese authorities in Dubai have taken away his green card. He was held for weeks. The US State Department protested this violation of human rights.
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Hunger strike
Wu then flew to Dubai to help her fiancé and was then taken from her hotel by Chinese officials. She was questioned at the consulate and detained. Wu went on a hunger strike and was released on June 8. “This is a very painful memory. I don’t have many political views. I really like China very much. I never thought I would experience this injustice in the United Arab Emirates.”
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Fearing being extradited to China, the couple eventually managed to flee to Turkey and then Ukraine. There, Wang was harassed by the state security department of Chongqing Police, the AP news agency reported.
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He was warned via emails that Chinese officials knew he was hiding in Ukraine. He also faced a more serious charge: undermining state power, a vaguely defined charge often used by Chinese authorities to imprison critics.
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“We from the public security services and the national security authorities know exactly where you are. I would like to remind you that China and Ukraine have an extradition treaty,” the email read.
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On Monday, Wang received another email from the same person, saying that they had taken steps if the couple fled again. “I was really scared, I couldn’t sleep well at night,” Wang said. “From what they said, it was very clear that they would take action against me.”
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Passports revoked
Terrified, Wang and his fiancée Wu Huan (26) flew with the help of the China Aid Association to the Netherlands on Tuesday, which has no extradition treaty with China. Upon arrival at Schiphol, the couple was told by the immigration service that their passports had been revoked. They have applied for political asylum.
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The Ministry of Justice and Security cannot confirm the application. A spokeswoman said the ministry is not providing information on individual cases.
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Bas Belder, a former MEP, said he has been in contact with the ministry to bring the couple’s plight to the minister’s attention. He added that the case, including the revocation of their passports, points to “real criminal behavior by the Chinese party state to pursue their citizens even outside of Chinese territory and try to get them by any means possible.”
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The Chinese authorities are refusing to comment. The US State Department also declined to comment.
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Meanwhile, Wang continues to criticize the Chinese government on Twitter. He said he will continue to speak out in every way he can. “I want to make my voice heard in every possible way. I still feel that only when the real Chinese wake up will the country have hope.”
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