Prominent Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che has been denied entry into the United States. Lee was originally set to fly to America on Thursday to meet members of Congress and attend a summit in Washington, DC.
But US health authorities denied his visa application because he was vaccinated with an unrecognized Chinese COVID vaccine.
Lee was sentenced to five years in prison in China in 2017 for “subverting state power.” He was inoculated in prison with the Zifivax COVID vaccine before being released back to Taiwan in April this year.
Zififax has approval only in China and three other countries. It is not authorized in the US for travel purposes, and Lee was not granted an exemption.
According to legal aid activist Bob Fu, Lee was scheduled to visit Texas and Washington between June 23 and July 10. The purpose of his trip was to speak about his experience as a prisoner in a Chinese labor camp and to give his thanks to US officials for supporting him in prison.