New York Times Reporter Missing in China
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By Wang Manna 14/09/08
A reporter for The New York Times recently disappeared in mainland China. Zhao Yan, had previously spent three years in prison for charges made against him after he conducted research for a story about the retirement of Jiang Zemin, former Chinese regime leader and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
On September 12, the report quoted Zhao’s older sister, Zhao Kun, as saying that he disappeared right after he was assigned by The New York Times for an interview out of town. His family and The New York Times were not able to reach him and his cell phone had been shut down for three days.
According to the Boxue network, Zhan Yan disappeared in Gaungxi province while doing research for the newspaper.
Prior to the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 2004, an article was published in The New York Times, predicting that Jiang Zeming would resign as Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Ten days later Zhao, was arrested in Shanghai on the charge of revealing state secrets.
Zhao was tried in Beijing, found guilty of fraud but not of revealing state secrets and was sentenced to three years jail. After he was released last September, he remained employed by The New York Times as a researcher. |
