On the evening of Saturday, August 24, Dr. Wan Yanhai, a prominent human rights and AIDS activist and fellow colleague, was detained by state authorities after attending a film festival. Initially a mysterious “disappearance,” those most intimately familiar with Dr. Wan suspected that he had been detained, though there was no official record of his arrest; on Sept. 6, that suspicion was confirmed.

Dr. Wan, through the organization he founded, the Aizhi (AIDS) Action Project, has dedicated himself to addressing the needs of HIV/AIDS-infected citizens in the PRC, and has fought on their behalf in their struggle for affordable healthcare and social support. This type of humanitarian effort has occasionally upset certain individuals within the state system, which has in turn resulted in increased harassment directed at Dr. Wan. It should be noted, however, that whatever conflicts Dr. Wan has been involved in, it has always been motivated by his sincerest concern for his fellow citizens infected with the HIV/AIDS virus.

Needless to say, the circumstances surrounding Dr. Wan’s detention has deeply worried his family and friends. We share this anxiety; and as scholars in the field of Asian studies who value and safeguard the importance of free and critical exchange of ideas and information, we, the undersigned, most respectfully urge an immediate, thorough and expedient investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dr. Wan’s detention. Moreover, we urge his eventual unconditional release. It is common knowledge that Dr. Wan and the AIDS Action Project he has led have been under surveillance; those officials most immediately responsible for investigating Dr. Wan should be forthcoming with information about his whereabouts and his condition. Most immediately, Dr. Wan’s family should have access to him and the rights afforded to him under the PRC’s Criminal Procedure Code should be strictly adhered to, thus giving him immediate access to a lawyer.

As China confronts a growing AIDS epidemic, state officials have everything to gain by actively cooperating with and sharing information and ideas with resourceful and principled activists like Dr. Wan. The harassment of such individuals by some authorities only ensures that the disease will flourish in an atmosphere that values preserving a superficial appearance of being able to manage the disease over publicly airing potentially compromising information about the spread of the disease and public health management of the disease. Dr. Wan’s case needs to be immediately redressed so that valuable public attention and resources can be directed at the real culprit that threatens the security of the Chinese nation--namely, the AIDS virus.

Sincerely,

Kevin Lawrence, graduate student, Dept. of East Asian Languages & Civilizations, University of Chicago
Tze-Wen Cheng, graduate student, Dept. of International Education, New York University
David Arkush, Professor of History, University of Iowa
Richard Baum, Professor, UCLA
Xavier Benjamin Bensky, graduate student, Dept. of East Asian Languages & Civilizations, University of Chicago
Chris Berry, Associate Professor, Film Studies Program, University of California, Berkeley
Dr Anne-Marie Brady, Lecturer in Political Science, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Directeur/Director, Centre d'Etudes Français sur la Chine contemporaine (CEFC), French Centre for Research on Contemporary China
Michael C. Davis, Professor of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Bill Doub and Nancy Doub, retired managing editors and publishers, Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars
Elizabeth C. Economy, Director, Asia Studies and Senior Fellow for China Council on Foreign Relations
John Frankenstein, Research Associate, East Asia Institute, Columbia University
Edward Friedman, Professor, University of Wisconsin
Bruce Gilley, Phd. Candidate, Department of Politics, Princeton University
Dr Christopher R. Hughes, Director, Asia Research Centre, London School of Economics
Doug Ireland, Contributing Editor, In These Times Magazine and POZ Magazine
J. Bruce Jacobs, Professor of Asian Languages and Studies, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University
John Junkerman, Documentary Filmmaker, Tokyo, Japan
Richard C. Kagan, Professor of History, Hamline University
Nick Kaldis, Assistant Professor of Chinese Literature, Cinema, and Language, State University of New York at Binghamton
Scott Kennedy, Assistant Professor, Indiana University
Ben Kiernan, A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, Director, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University
Richard Kraus, Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon
David M. Lampton, Professor and Director of China Studies, Johns Hopkins-SAIS
Hyun-jeong Lee, graduate student, Dept. of East Asian Languages & Civilizations, University of Chicago
Kangsu Lee, graduate student, New York University
Shaomin Li, Associate Professor, Old Dominion University
Perry Link, Professor, Dept. of East Asian Languages & Literature, Princeton University
Stanley Lubman, Lecturer, School of Law and Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Law and Society, University of California, Berkeley
Daniel C. Lynch, Assistant Professor, School of International Relations, University of Southern California
Dr. Barrett L. McCormick, Political Science Dept., Marquette University
Roderick MacFarquhar, Professor & Chair, Department of Government, Harvard University
Dr. Jonathan Mirsky,Journalist
Paul Moony, correspondent, Newsweek
Robin Munro, Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Law, SOAS
Andrew J. Nathan, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
Henry Noble, National Secretary, Freedom Socialist Party
Barbara Pillsbury, Ph.D., Vice President, International Health & Development Associates
Mark Selden, Prof. of Sociology and History, State University of New York at Binghamton
James D. Seymour, Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University
Shawn Shieh, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Marist College
Dorothy J. Solinger, Prof. of Political Science, University of Calif, Irvine
Frederick C. Teiwes, Professor, University of Sydney
Saul Thomas, graduate student, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Chicago
Carl A. Trocki, Professor of Asian Studies, Queensland University of Technology
Steve Tsang, Reader in Politics and Director, Asian Studies Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford
Peter Van Ness, Visiting Fellow, Contemporary China Centre, Australian National University
Chaohua Wang, Ph.D. candidate, Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles
Martha Winnacker, law student, University of California, Berkeley
Michael Yahuda, Professor of International Relations, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Dr Graham Young, University of New England, Australia
Peter Zarrow, Associate Research Fellow, Academia Sinica