China Arrests Top Cop Under Suspicious Circumstances

Former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei (孟宏偉) is being currently on trial in China. He has been accused of taking bribes, though CCP officials have presented little in the way of evidence to back up these claims.

Meng has a long history in law enforcement. This includes heading the Chinese branch of Interpol from 2004 to 2016. After this he was appointed as the president of Interpol, and he was the first Chinese citizen to hold this title. He maintained this position, and his position as Vice-Minister of Public Security in China, until 2018, when he was detained by Chinese officials.

Meng, his wife, and children were living in France at the time of his detainment. On September 20, 2018 he left home and traveled to Stockholm. He eventually landed in China on September 25. It seems that Meng was detained upon his arrival in China. Though his wife went to the French police on October 4, it seems that she likely knew something was gravely wrong after receiving an emoji of a knife preceded by “等我電”, meaning wait for my call.

 

Photo: Associated Press

The chilling message shows how quickly someone can be disappeared in China. Grace, Meng’s wife, almost immediately began receiving threats from CCP supporters. She was given a French police detail for her protection, and she has since been granted asylum by the French government.

Grace has also received an invitation by CCP officials to come and receive a letter from her husband, apparently they don’t know how the mail works. However, Grace knows what most of us do, that trip would likely end in her sitting in a prison cell with trumped up charges. She has stated that she will not meet with Chinese Communist Party members without the media and lawyers accompanying her. She asked for them to send the letter to French officials, but according to an interview between Grace and Associated Press, “they said they can only give it to me alone.” She also told the AP that she “would have been killed” if she went to China.

Despite all of this commotion, Beijing remained silent on Meng’s location and charges, that is until, on October 6, Interpol demanded that the Chinese government inform them of Meng’s whereabouts. One day later, it was announced, through the Central Commission of Discipline Inspection, that he was being investigated for corruption and receiving bribes.

China has provided ZERO evidence to the public to support their claims against Meng. This is a common tactic and it is likely that if Meng was not the head of an international organization, no one would have ever heard from him again and the media would not have covered it.

Last Thursday, June 24, Meng admitted to taking over US$2 million (14 million RMB) in illegal payments. Meng appeared in court looking noticeably older and thinner. It is unclear whether this confession was genuine or not. It would surprise a grand total of no one if it was coerced. Forcing and televising confessions of CCP enemies has long been a tactic of the Chinese government.

There needs to be an international investigation of these charges and Meng’s detainment. The corrupt CCP must not be allowed to detain heads of international agencies, or anyone for that matter, without a shred of evidence, aside from a confession that may have been coerced through threats or torture.