Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang began the New Year with a renewed crackdown on veteran dissidents, detaining two members of a banned opposition party on suspicion of subversion.
China Democracy Party (CDP) activists Zou Wei and Mao Qingxiang were detained by state security police in Zhejiang's capital city, Hangzhou, on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power," Mao told RFA on Thursday.
"The Hangzhou state security police came to my home with a warrant and searched it," he said. "The charge on the warrant was incitement to subvert state power."
"They took my computer for a technical check in the police department, then they took me to the local police station for questioning," Mao said.
He said police wanted to confirm that Mao was the author of a number of articles and find out who had paid him and organized the activists.
“Then they put me in a cell," he said.
"They told me I shouldn't think about organizing any activities in the New Year...They were a bit more threatening than before," Mao added.
Strong message
Mao said the criminal detention of fellow Hangzhou activists Lu Gengsong and Chen Shuqing on identical subversion charges last year was designed to send out a strong message to other activists.
"But after they were detained, a number of articles and activities occurred that represented the views of the CDP," he said. "They thought they'd put out the fire."
Mao said even very moderately expressed dissent is now being targeted by the authorities. "The suppression is getting worse and worse," he said.
Fellow activist Zou Wei confirmed on Thursday that he was also taken to the police station for questioning late last month.
"There were two reasons; first, I wrote some stuff online about how courageous Chen Shuqing was in speaking out, which is why they called me in," Zou said.
"But they also wanted to issue me a warning that they would likely take action against me and that I could lose my freedom," he said.
"They told me I should tone it down a bit or their superiors would want to take things further as they had with Chen Shuqing and Lu Gengsong."
Zou said the current crackdown is the worst experienced by dissidents since the ruling Chinese Communist Party jailed The CDP'S founders late in 1998.
"More CDP members were detained in 2014 than before, including Xu Guang, Tan Kai, Lu Gengsong and Chen Shuqing," he said.
Mao said he and Zou could be accused of conspiring alongside Chen and Lu.
"They want to sentence Chen Shuqing and Lu Gengsong, but the two of them wouldn't be enough to run a whole organization, so they want to implicate two more people," he said.
"Anyone who sticks their head above the parapet right now is in more danger than they were."
Permit application
The attempt by Chinese political activists to set up the CDP by applying for a permit from Hangzhou's Communist Party civil affairs bureau ended in December 1998 with the sentencing of three of the group's founders to lengthy jail terms.
Zhejiang dissident Wang Youcai, Wuhan-based Qin Yongmin, and Beijing-based Xu Wenli were sentenced, respectively, to 11, 12, and 13 years in prison on charges of "instigation to subvert state power."
Also sentenced were Sichuan-based Liu Xianbin, Beijing-based Zha Jianguo, and Hangzhou-based Zhu Yufu, Chen Shuqing, and Wu Yilong, all since released, though Liu has been redetained.
Xu Wenli and Wang Youcai were exiled to the United States on "medical parole" on Dec. 24, 2002, and March 4, 2004, respectively.
The CDP, also known as the Democracy Party of China (DPC), held its first congress in August 2006 in New York.
Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.