Who Is Lee Ming-Cheh? Taiwanese Activist Jailed In China To Meet Wife

The wife of Taiwan's jailed pro-democracy activist will be visiting her husband Lee Ming-cheh in a China prison for the first time after she was granted permission, a Taiwanese human rights group said. Lee Ching-yu is set to meet her husband, who was sentenced to five years in prison in November on charges of "subversion of state power" by a court in central Hunan province, on Tuesday.

The arrest and conviction of Ming-cheh came at a time when activists face increased pressure from authorities under Chinese President Xi Jinping. Ming-cheh's sentencing and jail term was deemed "unacceptable" by Taiwan, straining ties between the two nations that also are involved in a fight over islands in the South China Sea, most of which has been claimed by Beijing.

Prior to her departure Monday, Ching-yu told reporters that she would pass on “messages from the free world” during her planned visit to see her husband Tuesday. Earlier, Ching-yu had said her husband's trial in China was nothing but a “political show.”

Ming-cheh was arrested in March 2017 during a trip to the Chinese mainland and held for months without any communication with anyone. When his wife requested for visa to China to find her missing husband, authorities declined it, but later granted her only single-entry visas to attend the trial and sentencing. In January, she was barred from boarding a flight to visit Ming- cheh in Hunan’s Chishan prison.

Ming-cheh, who was a staff member of Taipei’s Wenshan Community College and Covenants Watch volunteer, was put on trial at the Yueyang City Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan Province on Sept. 11, 2017 and the Chinese government released videos showing him pleading guilty to “subversion of state power.” He also admitted to intentionally disseminating information attacking the Chinese Communist Party.

“While it is positive that Ms. Lee will be given access to her husband in prison, Lee Ming-cheh should never have been imprisoned in the first place,” Maya Wang, China researcher for Human Rights Watch, reportedly said. “Lee should be immediately released.”

Amnesty International and Taiwanese rights groups vowed to continue pushing for his release.