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It was the year 2019. In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, businessman Lee Meng-chu from Taiwan was detained and imprisoned after taking images of police personnel. According to the BBC, he was detained on suspicion of espionage as well as "stealing state secrets," a claim he vigorously contests.
Lee was ultimately set to go on Monday. He took a flight from Beijing to Tokyo, where he arrived sporting a mask with a Taiwanese flag emblazoned on it. For Lee, who had been imprisoned in China for more than 1,400 days, this represented the end of a terrifying ordeal.
He admitted at the Haneda airport in Tokyo, "I almost cried when I passed through immigration just now." "I won't go back there again."
He described in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post how Chinese law enforcement has personally witnessed how they employ intimidation, threats, and deception to create a case against someone they believe has violated their nation's security "red lines."
In 2019, Lee traveled to China on business; at the time, he was employed by a tech firm. China was not a foreign country to him because he had previously worked there and visited twice a year on average.
Coincidentally, tensions were high because of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests at the time he visited China.
Prior to traveling to China, Lee claimed to have had a quick detour in Hong Kong, where he saw a rally from the sidelines and distributed leaflets with encouraging remarks. Then, to meet a colleague, he traveled to the nearby mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.
He claimed that there were no warning signs and that he didn't cross the police barrier while taking photos from his hotel room.
Ten video cameras the man was brought back to Taiwan for his business were noticed by airport staff as he was departing Shenzhen, according to The BBC.
