A former Chinese professor disappeared on June 6 after being invited by local police for a talk in Handan city in China’s northern Hebei Province.
Wang Gang has been an active critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 2012, he published an open letter to decision-making CCP officials, calling for action against corruption, demanding democracy, and asking netizens to repost his open letter if they agreed with him. Last year, he drafted an outline of the establishment of a federal republic of China.
“[In 1945], when you [the CCP] negotiated with the Kuomintang Nationalist government, you said that you wanted to establish a democracy with multiple ruling parties, but now you claim that democracy is not in line with China’s national conditions,” reads Wang’s open letter. “Which saying of yours is correct? Don’t tell us both are correct, which is a trick used by political hooligans!”
In September 2021, he drafted “Fundamentals of National Reconstruction of the Federal Republic of China [or “the Fundamentals” for short]” and “Calls to Arms Against the CCP” and he was detained by local police for 10 days, according to Wang in an interview with the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times in May 2022.
His posts were soon removed from Chinese social media by China’s cyber police and he did not find time to send them overseas, he said. He was detained for 10 days as a light punishment, as the posts were silently censored and didn’t spark much controversy in China or elsewhere, Wang said.
Lin Shengliang, a dissident living in exile in the Netherlands, told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times on June 25 that he’d been in touch with Wang on WeChat.
“He left me a message on WeChat, saying that he was taken to the Lianxi Police Station in Congtai District, Handan city, Hebei Province,” said Lin.
Wang’s ideal state is one of a federal republic, with multiple parties ruling the country jointly in a democratic way. He called on Chinese people to use non-violent forms to stand up against the CCP.
“There are about 1.5 billion Chinese in the world. When 150 million people sign [the open letter], China will have hope. This will be the best outcome and is the only way to avoid social unrest,” he wrote in his letter.
Wang himself sensed danger before his disappearance. He told The Epoch Times earlier in May that the police had been investigating his activities in the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, and Hainan.
In a WeChat message to Lin dated May 21, Wang said: “A policeman from the Lianxi Police Station told me to come to his office at 10 a.m., saying that the newly appointed political instructor wanted to see me, alongside the deputy captain of the anti-terrorism, anti-infiltration, and anti-subversion brigade.”
In an earlier online post by Wang, he said that if he disappears for 15 days, he has most likely ended up in a detention center or a mental hospital.
A friend of Wang, who wanted to stay anonymous for safety reasons, told The Epoch Times on June 25 that Wang was secretly arrested by local police in Handan for his draft of “the Fundamentals” and is currently detained in Congxi Police Station, Handan city. Wang’s family has received no official documentation on his arrest, the friend said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the local police station and the officers that answered did not give any information about Wang’s location, case or his well-being.
Wang has previously told The Epoch Times that he is not afraid of dying.
“I am already 64 years old; I’m not afraid of dying. I have written a will,” he said, “I just want to speak out my true feeling and speak up for justice, even at the cost of my life.”
