With August 30 marking the International Day of the Disappeared, Amnesty International Taiwan held a press conference focusing on the approximately 857 Taiwanese detained in China in the past 10 years. The human rights organization called for the immediate release of all Taiwanese people or that Taiwan’s government take bolder actions to free them.
Amnesty International Taiwan Secretary-General Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) reported that the 857 Taiwanese were forcibly detained or arbitrarily arrested, with their locations unknown to the outside world. Among the missing include Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲) who disappeared in 2017, Pingtung County rural affairs consultant Li Meng-chu (李孟居) in 2019, politician Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵) in 2022, and Gūsa Press Editor-in-Chief Li Yanhe (李延賀), pen-name Fu Cha, detained in 2023. Yang and Fu Cha have not been released.
Representative of a Fu Cha support group Wang Chia-hsuan (王家軒) said that though he is very grateful to the Taipei City Government for conveying the voices of Taiwanese people to Shanghai’s City Government when Fu Cha disappeared, he hopes that Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) can speak on the subject again at the upcoming Shanghai-Taipei City Forum. He underscores that China must hear Fu Cha’s case openly and fairly, and provide him with basic human rights. 527 days have passed since Fu Cha’s disappearance, with no formal prosecution or details of his whereabouts or current condition.
Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) called on all public opinion representatives and government officials to express concern about the disappearances and arbitrary arrests of Taiwanese people in China. Chiu added that since Taiwan does not have an embassy in China, Taiwanese face greater risks than citizens of other countries if they are forcibly detained by China. Amnesty International Taiwan stated that this treatment of Taiwanese is a violation of international law and the missing persons must be released immediately.