Well, well, well. China has quite literally pulled a disappearing act on a Taiwanese publisher. Li Yanhe, or as he’s known by his pen name “Fu Cha”, hasn’t been seen since he went to visit his relatives in China last month. But, of course, it turns out that he’s actually in detention for suspected security law violations. Oh, China, always the jokester, aren’t you?
Li Yanhe is a bit of a troublemaker in China’s eyes. His publishing company, Gusa Publishing, isn’t shy about speaking their mind when it comes to China’s Communist Party. In fact, they’re quite critical of it, which is clearly not something that China appreciates. But, hey, freedom of the press, am I right?
According to his friends and colleagues, Li Yanhe fell off the face of the earth once he travelled to China. And now we know that he’s been detained. That’s right, folks, the Chinese government has decided to send a little warning shot towards Taiwan’s publishing industry. I guess they’re not big fans of criticism. Who knew?
This whole situation could create quite a kerfuffle between Taiwan and China. You see, Taiwan is a self-governing democracy that vehemently disagrees with China’s claim that they’re just a part of Chinese territory. And, honestly, after everything that’s been going on in Hong Kong lately, I don’t blame them. But China doesn’t seem to care about that. They just want to show Taiwan who’s boss. Classic China move, really.

Serious News: nytimes