2015-01-21
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Chinese activist Liu Linna, better known by her nickname Liu Shasha, in an undated photo.
Photo courtesy of Boxun.com
Authorities in Vietnam are preparing to deport a prominent rights activist who crossed the border illegally from China to be with her husband following a travel ban imposed on her by Chinese police, she said on Wednesday.
Liu Linna, better known by her pseudonym Liu Shasha, was detained by Vietnamese police at her hotel after crossing the border from the southwestern Chinese region of Guangxi last November to spend time with her Hong Kong-based husband, who is unable to travel to China.
“I have to be deported back to China according to their laws, and I was … informed today that I will be fined four million dong (U.S. $187),” said Liu, who was still on the Vietnamese side of the border when she spoke to RFA.
Liu has been banned from leaving China through official routes, while her Hong Kong-based husband has been banned from entering the country, leaving the couple with nowhere to make a home together.
She said she had heard “more than one” Vietnamese police officer say that her money, cell phone and laptop would be confiscated.
“They will basically take your valuables away,” Liu said.
But she added: “I believe that the Vietnamese authorities aren’t to blame here. This situation has been forced on us by China.”
Liu’s husband Yeung Hung said the couple had been crossing borders illegally to meet since his “home travel permit” enabling Hong Kong citizens to visit mainland China was confiscated by Chinese authorities.
Hong Kong, China’s Special Administrative Region, is a former British colony and still maintains an immigration border with the mainland.
“Shasha crossed the border into Vietnam illegally, because they won’t allow her to leave the country officially,” Yeung, who was able to travel freely on his Hong Kong-issued passport to Vietnam, told RFA on Wednesday.
“We had hoped to find some time to go traveling together before Chinese New Year,” he said. “We tried to find a way to stop them from keeping us apart.”
“But now look how things have turned out.”
Crossing borders
Yeung said his wife’s detention was likely linked to increased security in Guangxi after a number of ethnic minority Uyghurs had tried to cross the border into Vietnam.
He said that following the growing number of Uyghurs using that underground escape route, Vietnamese authorities are now routinely deporting escapees back to China.
“I went to the police station and made a statement today,” said Yeung, who is still in Vietnam. “The situation doesn’t look very good.”
“I’m afraid that they will hand Shasha over directly to the Chinese police,” he said. “Under Chinese law, she crossed the border illegally.”
Yeung, who captained a converted Hong Kong fishing vessel that carried nationalist activists to the disputed Diaoyu islands, where they were detained and deported by Japan in October 2012, said the couple appears to have been permanently prevented from meeting by the authorities.
“They won’t let her out, and they won’t give a reason for it,” he said.
