China: Enforced Disappearance Capital Of The World
When hearing the term China, the first thing that flashes one’s mind is cheap labour and a manufacturing hub. But that’s not the only thing China has aced over the years. China, under dictator Xi, has achieved the new milestone of being the “enforced disappearance capital of the world.” Although China under the communist party has a long history of enforced disappearances, this time they are going after the prominent figures. Till now, the usual targets were the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and normal citizens trying to voice their concerns. But this time, even the tall and mighty are subjected to forced detentions and disappearances. Under dictator Xi, this has become a statement of intention for everyone to fall in line, a reminder that no one is too big to fall. In this piece, we are going to talk about a few high-profile figures subjected to forced disappearance in recent times.
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SOME PROMINENT FIGURES WHO WERE SUBJECTED TO ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
PENG SHUAI
Peng Shuai is a professional Chinese tennis player. She has achieved success in both singles and doubles events, reaching a career-high singles ranking of No. 14 and being ranked as high as No. 1 in the world in women’s doubles. Peng has won multiple Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles, including Wimbledon and the French Open. Peng went missing in November 2021 after making allegations of sexual misconduct against a high-ranking Chinese official. She opened up in a social media post on Weibo in November 2021. In her post, she accused Zhang Gaoli, a retired Chinese vice premier and member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), of pressuring her to have sex. Peng’s post drew widespread attention within and outside China. Unfortunately, for CCP, Peng committed the cardinal sin of naming its official for his wrongdoings.
ZHANG GAOLI
Her post disappeared from Weibo within 20 minutes of being uploaded and soon disappeared. Through iron fist censorship, Peng Shuai was completely erased from Chinese virtual space. The international community started raising concerns regarding her safety after her disappearance. WTA chief executive Steve Simon and ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi called on Chinese authorities to investigate Peng’s allegations and stop censoring the subject. On November 12, the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai started and went on to trend globally. The trend was supported by Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and other prominent tennis personalities. Under immense pressure, China released a recorded clip of Peng, claiming she was safe. Though the WTA called it insufficient evidence, Later, amid a global outcry, China arranged a video call between Peng and OIC officials, claiming everything to be hunky dory. Though, as of yet, no one has met Peng Shuai physically, her whereabouts remain unknown.
ZHAO WEI
Zhao Wei, also known as Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, film director, and pop singer. She is a billionaire celebrity known for her fan-following and internationally-known movies. She has been in the entertainment industry for more than 25 years. In 2021, she became a target of Xi’s crusade against private entities that can wield a lot of social power. All of a sudden, she disappeared from Chinese social media. Her work was also removed from video streaming sites in China. She was erased, virtually, as well as from the public space. This was seen as cultural censorship to limit the ability of those individuals who have both economic and social power to guide opinion or to raise capital independently. Many analysts see this as Cultural Revolution 2.0 by Xi to consolidate power by aggressively keeping independent voices in check. Her current whereabouts are still unknown.
JACK MA
Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is yet another name on the list. Things soared between Jack and Chinese authorities when he criticised China’s financial system at a Shanghai conference on October 24, calling the rules ill-suited for supporting healthy innovation. This slight note of suggestion was seen as apostasy against the communist party. A week later, authorities introduced sudden new regulations for online lending, which directly impacted Ant’s successful lending and credit business. These new rules disqualified Ant from a prospective $37 billion IPO, which caused Alibaba’s stock price to plummet. This resulted in Ma’s wealth going down by almost half to $30 billion. Soon after, Jack disappeared from public view. Amid global concern, Jack finally, after 3 months of disappearance, resurfaced in a short clip on January 20, 2021. Jack Ma was yet another heavyweight cut down to size.
MENG HONGWEI
Meng Hongwei was a high-ranking official and former vice minister of public security in China. In 2016, Meng was elected as president of Interpol, the international organisation that facilitates worldwide police cooperation. Two years into office in 2018, Meng disappeared during a visit to China. After two weeks of disappearance, unknown to even his family, a resignation was sent to Interpol on his behalf. Later, after an international outcry, it was revealed that he was under detention by Chinese authorities on corruption charges. After 2 years of forced detention, in 2020, Meng was jailed for 13 years on bribery charges. His wife, Grace, was granted political asylum in France last year after saying she feared she and her two children would be the targets of kidnapping attempts. Later, his wife and kids were granted political asylum in France, claiming they would be subjected to kidnapping by Chinese authorities.
QIN GANG
Qin Gang was a career diplomat who served as a Chinese ambassador to the USA. In December 2022, he was appointed as China’s 12th foreign minister. After six months in office, Qin abruptly went missing in June this year. Amid questions by the global press, the official held health issues to be the reason behind the sudden disappearance. A month later, in July, an official statement was released stating the removal of Qin as foreign minister, though no reason was given for the same. A report by The Sun stated that the reason was Qin’s extramarital affair with an American reporter, Fu Xiaotian, and their illegitimate American child. This affair was started during Qin’s tenure as ambassador to America. Since then, there have been no updates regarding his whereabouts until recently, when a report stated his death in July due to suicide or torture in a military hospital in Beijing.
GENERAL LI SHANGFU
General Li Shangfu is the second highest-ranking official to disappear this year after the Qin gang. Li served as the defence minister and was also the public face of the People’s Liberation Army. He was also a member of the Central Military Commission, the PLA’s ruling body. Li was also in the news after being sanctioned by America in 2018 for buying weapons from Russia. Li was last seen on August 29, when he delivered a keynote speech at the China-Africa Peace and Security Forum in Beijing. Since then, his whereabouts have been unknown to the public. Two months after his disappearance, he was removed from his state positions as a member of the Central Military Commission and as a defence minister. No reasoning was offered for Li’s sudden removal and disappearance. To date, his location has remained untraceable.
CONCLUSION
The aforementioned names are just the tip of the iceberg. These are a few of the many prominent figures who were subjected to enforced disappearance without any reasonable reasoning. Despite having a murky history of censorship, this is unprecedented, even by Chinese standards. Never before were the sitting ministers picked up by Chinese authorities. This is not a sign of disarray within the CCP but a statement of dominance by dictator Xi, who has become almighty within China. Analysts believed that the more power Xi consolidated, the more paranoid he became regarding any possible coup. This has also exposed China’s reality to the world. If such a thing could happen to celebrities, billionaires, and sitting ministers, spare a thought for ordinary citizens, activists, and ethnic minorities in China.