Gao Peng did not expect to be accused of making bomb threats, placed on an EU travel blacklist, or have his mother and 16-year-old sister jailed and threatened with deportation back to China when he arrived in Thailand on July 3.
The family’s intention to seek asylum in the Netherlands, where Gao Peng’s father fled three years ago, was delayed by bomb threats made in his and his mother’s names against airports, luxury hotels, and the Chinese embassy in Bangkok. The threats appear to be part of Beijing’s increasingly sophisticated campaign to intimidate Chinese dissidents and their families living abroad.
While elements of the story recounted by Gao Peng and his father, Gao Zhi, could not be independently validated, their situation parallels statements by other Chinese dissidents around the world who fear Chinese authorities are making bomb threats in their names to limit their political activity.
According to William Nee, research and advocacy coordinator of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders coalition of rights organizations, the bomb threats appear to be a new tactic used to lure other nations into acting against Chinese dissidents.
“Obviously, public authorities may take such a threat seriously,” he explained. “It’s difficult for them to understand that it’s a ridiculous allegation without context.”
The Netherlands revoked Gao’s family’s visa applications and placed his wife and son on an EU travel blacklist, keeping them in Thailand until their visas expired. Thai authorities have not verified whether they are looking into the bomb threats.
A MYSTERIOUS BARGAIN AND AN OFFER OF ASYLUM
Gao Zhi was not a well-known dissident. Until early 2020, he was a migrant factory worker who had learned to circumvent China’s censorship systems in order to utilize Twitter, now known as the X platform, where he followed human rights campaigners and made calls for the Communist Party’s overthrow.
Gao was granted refuge in the Netherlands and will relocate there in January 2020.
Police questioned Gao’s family twice at home, but the stress was bearable.
Police questioned Gao’s family twice at home, but the pressure was bearable at first.
On the fourth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Gao attended a rally organized by his friend Wang Jingyu, a more renowned dissident.
On June 15, authorities arrived at Gao’s wife, Liu Fengling’s, home and wanted her smartphone. When she refused, they pushed her onto a chair, scratching her wrist in the process, and grabbed it.
When Liu’s husband found out what had transpired, he advised her to leave China.
Dutch officials informed Gao and his family that they could obtain emergency visas at the Dutch embassy in Bangkok, where Chinese citizens can obtain visas on arrival.
However, before the family left China, Gao received communication from someone claiming to work for the country’s Ministry of Public Security, according to undated screenshots he gave with the AP.
A bargain was proposed: if Gao committed to tone down his rhetoric and persuade Wang to give fewer interviews, the government would assist in reuniting his family. Otherwise, Liu would be unable to leave China.
Gao agreed after discussing with Wang.
The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the screenshots, and the ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Liu and her daughter, Gao Han, arrived in Bangkok on June 27, followed by the couple’s son on July 3.
Gao Peng stated that he had no idea why they were traveling to Thailand. His parents had never told him why his father had fled China, though he was aware of some police trouble.
ACCUSATIONS OF BOMB THREAT FACE DISSIDENTS AND FAMILIES OVERSEAS
Someone called Gao Peng’s mother the day after he arrived in Thailand and accused him of making bomb threats.
The individual identified himself as Wang Mingsen, a consular official at the Chinese embassy in Bangkok, according to a recording taken by Liu. “He said he wants to blow up the embassy because his father was persecuted in China,” Wang explained.
Wang told the AP, “This situation, we don’t have any information we can share with you.”
Gao Peng stated that his family attempted to notify police about the bomb threats, but it took until July 9 to locate an officer who spoke Chinese.
He told them that threats had been made to hotels around the country, including Phuket’s Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott, and that rooms in several of the same hotels had been booked in the names of Gao Peng and his mother. The police advised them not to pick up the phone since it was most likely a hoax.
A receptionist at the Marriott hotel in Phuket indicated they will contact their marketing team. A Ritz-Carlton resort in Phuket claimed it has not received any threats.
Gao Peng was terrified by the claims, he claimed. “But I was also very indignant, because they’re accusing and smearing me, and I can’t accept that.”
Wang Jingyu, the activist based in the Netherlands, and at least three other people connected to him have also described bomb threats made in their names. Wang stated that he was questioned by Dutch police, who eventually determined that the threats were made from IP addresses in Hong Kong and China and provided him with a paper clearing his identity.
A Chinese journalist in Germany and a Dutch journalist who interviewed Wang both received bomb threats at hotels where reservations were made in their identities.
Bob Fu, a U.S.-based activist who assisted Wang during his detention in Dubai, said he now needs to notify both local and federal law police whenever he travels due to bomb threats.
PLAN SUSPENDED AS FAMILY RISKS DEPORTATION
Gao Zhi was also prevented from purchasing flight tickets for his wife and son due to bomb threats. When he attempted to book a flight, airline websites denied, claiming they were on an EU “safety blacklist.”
The Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service informed him that bomb threats were received to European airports in their names and assisted in removing them from the blacklist, although the process took several days.
Liu and her daughter’s visas expired on July 11 due to the delay.
The next day, Thai police arrived at the family’s hotel and arrested the two women.
Around the same time, the Dutch government informed Gao that his family’s visas had been revoked, writing in an e-mail obtained by the Associated Press that Thai police had informed Dutch immigration authorities that they were investigating the family for bomb threats, and that the family had confessed and volunteered to return to China.
The Dutch immigration service declined to comment, stating that particular cases are not discussed. A request for comment was not returned by the Royal Thai Police.
According to Waritsara, Liu was charged with visa overstaying. Her daughter was never charged.
Thailand has a history of returning dissidents and exiles to China, at times at the request of the Chinese government.
“It’s well known that there is Chinese pressure in Thailand… so there is quite a bit of pressure on Chinese activists and asylum seekers in Thailand,” Nee explained.
Thai police told Waritsara that the Chinese embassy was particularly interested in the matter.
Gao Zhi’s Telegram contact promised to assist and instructed him to send his son to Bangkok’s Huai Khwang police station, where he would receive a report concluding the inquiry. According to Gao Peng, the police did not issue the report but did return the family’s cell phones.
Thai immigration officials similarly declined to extend Gao Peng’s visa, citing a police warrant he recorded, although he has not been jailed.
What comes next for the family is unknown.
The Dutch government informed Gao Zhi that if his kid is granted UNHCR refugee status and the family arrives in the Netherlands, they will be granted visas.
Gao Zhi spends his days writing to the Dutch and Thai governments, pleading for his family’s safety.
“I thought I was saving them,” he said. “I had no idea I was sending them to a Thai jail.”
Wu contributed reporting from Taipei, Taiwan.
According to APnews
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