Disappearing Acts in China

Gao Zhisheng, a Chinese human rights lawyer, has been missing for a year, since he appeared at a press conference in Beijing with British Foreign Secretary David Milliband. That is, he was missing until today, when he reappeared "right where he should be," according to China's Foreign Ministry. "Right where he should be" is at some undisclosed place, in official state custody. In fact, Joshua Rosenzweig, a research manager for the U.S.-based Dui Hua Foundation, believes that Gao is being held outside the legal system and the Foreign Ministry itself has no specific knowledge of his whereabouts.

The Foreign Ministry official claimed that Gao had, during his year-long disappearance, been charged and convicted of "subverting state power". Asked what the exact time-line was, or when the sentence was handed down, the official directed reporters to ask the judiciary. The judiciary, in turn, has refused to answer.

Before I heard about this case, and even during the 2008 Olympics, I had thought that the common Western perceptions about old-fashioned dictatorship being alive and well in China were overblown. Certainly, my 10-day sojourn there last year gave me the sense that I was just as free there to roam where and do as I please as I am in the U.S. or Korea. The bit where I had to surrender my passport for 24 hours after arrival did make me nervous, though. Still, this story changes things. A post I read on a blog called Seeking Alpha put things in what I think are the proper perspective:

"China remains a velvet-gloved dictatorship. If you work within the boundaries set for acceptable behavior and thinking, you will be left alone or perhaps followed/tracked but not openly harrassed (sic). But if you step over that boundary by embarrassing the Central State, by questioning its authority or its prosecution of policy and laws, then you will disappear or be driven into exile."

I admit I was doing a lot more scorpion eating than policy questioning during my stay.

By the way, does this story strike you as something Liz Cheney and Keep America Safe might approve of in our own country?