Radio Taiwan International
Date: 12 October, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

A Taiwanese man named Lee Meng-chu disappeared in China in August of last year. Now, he’s resurfaced in a video released by Chinese authorities. Lee says that he was a spy working on behalf of Taiwan. But authorities in Taiwan say that’s not true.

Lee Meng-chu was a local government consultant in Taiwan’s southernmost Pingtung County. He disappeared on August 20, 2019 in Shenzhen, China. The following month, Chinese officials said that he had been detained on suspicion of undermining China’s national security.

But there was no further news about Lee for more than a year. This week, China released a video of him saying he’s a spy, and that he was conned into going to China by Chen Ya-ling, the head of the township where Lee worked. 

Chen says that Lee was speaking under duress. Chen says that such ploys by the Chinese government play out like a joke in Taiwan. He says that if Lee really was conned into going to China, then authorities there should just let him return.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Hsu Kuo-yung says that the Mainland Affairs Council will handle Lee’s case.     [FULL  STORY]