TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwanese man who went missing in China last August faces allegations of collecting military secrets, Chinese media reported Saturday (November 30).
Morrison Lee (李孟居) is an activist serving as adviser to the town of Fangliao in Pingtung County. He traveled to Hong Kong in August, where he allegedly took photos of the anti-extradition bill protests rocking the city before crossing over into China and posting pictures of Chinese military vehicles in Shenzhen.
The Nanfang Daily on Saturday described Lee as a key member of a “Taiwan Independence organization” and added that the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau had arrested him legally, the Central News Agency reported.
The mayor of Fangliao said he last spoke with Lee on the phone on August 20 in the morning, with the adviser telling him he was on the border between Hong Kong and China as the situation looked tense because of the presence of Chinese military vehicles. Lee then sent him a picture of the military vehicles, the mayor said.
The Taiwanese man later disappeared, until China acknowledged on September 11 that Lee had been apprehended on suspicion of “criminal activities damaging to national security.”
Lee is one of several Taiwanese citizens from varying political backgrounds who have been detained in China in connection with so-called anti-government activities.