Interpol? Interpol, What's That?
"If Meng Hongwei has disappeared in China, then of course the most likely reason is an anti-corruption investigation."
"Internationally, he is president of Interpol, but in the eyes of the Chinese authorities he is first of all Chinese, and they wouldn't think too much about his international prominence."
"This is the new normal. The anti-corruption investigations won't go to the top echelons of the party leadership, but officials lower down the hierarchy -- ministers, vice-ministers -- are still vulnerable."
Deng Yuwen, (former editor) Communist Party journal
 |
| Meng Hongwei lives in Lyon, where Interpol has its headquarters, with his wife and children. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA |
Of course, these strange 'disappearances' and peculiar deaths of dissenters and inconvenient critics of dictatorial regimes are not confined to Chinese authorities intercepting, arresting and disappearing those whom they regard as insufficiently respectful of their authority. Russia's methods are fairly direct in that realm; hitmen simply shooting down journalists and members of the political opposition wherever they happen to be; at their doorways leaving home, in their vehicles, in public squares. And of course using chemical poisons in the streets of Great Britain.
In the Philippines it's the noble cause of protecting the greater society from drug pushers, authorizing police to shoot at will any suspected dealers and users as well, ridding the country of the irritation of both trafficers and victims. In Iraq, it's the random and not-so-random murder of celebrity types, mostly women, who criticize the regime and enjoy a substantial following on social networking sites. In Saudi Arabia, it's dispatching hit squads to murder and then disappear critics. In South Africa it's the ANC malcontents accusing the hierarchy, accurately, of corruption, earning their death sentence.
In Venezuela, it's starving the population, stifling dissent, creating desperate refugees, encouraging violent crime and dispatching critics to an earlier-than-anticipated grave. Somalia, Congo, Palestinian Territories, Syria, all creators of mass migration; oppressed and targeted people streaming out of their countries of origin in the hopes of escaping slaughter. So viewed in that universal light of tribal, sectarian, political, ideological dysfunction and death, perhaps it's not so bad after all, that Interpol president Meng Hongwei has merely 'disappeared'.
As occurs so often with Chinese apprehension, interrogation, prison and release, he may yet resurface, although not in good humour. The man, as a vice-minister of China's Ministry of Public Security elected to a four-year term as Interpol president, one might think that the Chinese authorities would be pleased; one of their own honoured as head of the global body facilitating international police cooperation. Not that China is that enamoured of cooperation with other countries at any time for any reason; it is infamously more given to orchestrating others' cooperation with its insular plans.
He had been one of Beijing's senior law enforcement officials tasked with overseeing the coast guard though recently there has resulted a diminishing of the high regard in which he was held, falling out of favour with China's ruling Communist party. Perhaps something he said, or did, or was unaware of, or fell under suspicion of corruption at a time when President Xi Jinping has tasked his Communist Party committee to expunge all dishonourable members who have indulged in corruption, or suspicion of same. A time when 1.5 million government officials have been punished in the crackdown, charged with wrongdoing.
Evidently, Interpol's president is just one of the many, among the 1.5 million. Interpol may regard his absence as unaccountable and terribly upsetting, a mystery that needs to be solved, launching an inquiry to account for the "worrying disappearance", but China is unmoved. He is theirs, he is under their authority, and his disposition is China's affair, not theirs. Despite which, police in Lyon Interpol's base, are seeking clarification of his absence.
And just to think, when Meng Hongwei was first nominated to the appointment, concerns that Beijing would use his authority for their own purposes in silencing and pursuing dissidents abroad arose; now they're concerned over his absence: "nobody is safe -- everybody has got to be looking over their shoulders thinking, 'Are they coming for me next?" opined Sophie Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch,
Labels: China, Disappearance, Interpol, President
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, October 09, 2018
<< Home