Chicago Tribune - September 21, 2002
Michael A. Lev, Tribune foreign correspondent

The activist, Wan Yanhai, disappeared Aug. 25 in Beijing. It was later learned that he had been placed under investigation by state security for disseminating a government AIDS report over the Internet.

China's official Xinhua news agency said Wan had been detained on suspicion of illegally leaking state secrets and had been released after "confessing his crime."

Xinhua said Wan had delivered classified documents "to overseas individuals, media sources and Web sites."

In China, "state secrets" are defined very broadly and can refer to any type of report meant for internal distribution. AIDS is considered a sensitive issue, and the government often is mistrustful of independent advocates or any organization that operates outside its control.

China has been slow to acknowledge publicly the impact of AIDS, but over the past year it has begun to talk more freely about the risk of a major health crisis developing in the country of 1.3 billion.

The government now says about 1 million people are infected with AIDS or the virus that causes it, HIV, and it warns that unless the spread of the disease is controlled, China could face 10 million infected people by the year 2010. It has begun seeking more support from international groups and the pharmaceutical industry in its battle.

Wan, a former Health Ministry official, was one of the first AIDS advocates in China. He founded the Aizhi Action Project in 1994 to fight discrimination against homosexuals and people with AIDS. The project was closed down this summer.

Wan called attention to the spread of AIDS through the purchase of blood from poor farmers in Henan province, a move that apparently got him in trouble. Underground blood banks pooled the blood, some of which was tainted, and reinjected it into the population.

Health officials have been accused of covering up the scandal. A Health Ministry official acknowledged the Henan blood problem in a news conference with foreign journalists earlier this month.

Wan told The Associated Press that he came under investigation for publicizing and distributing a report on AIDS in Henan. He said he was mailed the report anonymously and did not realize he was breaking laws by publishing it on the Internet.

He admitted that publishing the report was a "mistake," but he would not say whether he had been formally charged with a crime or had signed a confession.

"It's not too convenient for me to say right now," he said. "However, nothing that has happened will affect my work."

Wan's detention raised an outcry in international health circles and the media. While in custody, he was given an award by a Canadian health group for his work fighting the spread of AIDS. His wife, Su Zhaosheng, who lives in Los Angeles, accepted the award.

Xinhua accused foreign media outlets of making a "great noise" about the case and of having "ulterior motives."

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