海角大神

China鈥檚 best-known HIV/AIDS activist has fled China聽complaining of intolerable government pressure, sowing disappointment and despondency among his fellow campaigners here.

Wan Yanhai鈥檚 sudden departure to the United States 鈥渋s a big loss for this country,鈥� says Lu Jun, head of Yirenping, a nongovernmental organization working on behalf of those diagnosed with AIDS and other health concerns. 鈥淚t suggests that the political space for AIDS campaigning in China is getting seriously tighter. I am disturbed.鈥�

Mr. Wan, the outspoken founder of Aizhixing, which has become famous for its readiness to criticize the government, told the Associated Press in a phone interview from Philadelphia on Monday that 鈥渢he attacks from the government had become very serious for my organization and for me personally. I had concerns about my personal safety and was under a lot of stress."

Wan is no stranger to trouble聽with the Chinese authorities. He has repeatedly been detained or taken in for questioning by the police since he took up the cause of 150,000 people in the province of Henan who were diagnosed as HIV positive after taking part in a government-sponsored blood donation drive in the 1990s.

Harassment, silencing

Recently, however, Aizhixing, known in English as 鈥淟ove, Knowledge, Action,鈥� has come under especially intense official scrutiny, employees say. The group鈥檚 office has been subjected to repeated unannounced visits from the tax authorities, the commerce and industry bureau, and the fire department, looking for violations.

鈥淭hese checks affect our work because we don鈥檛 know why they do this,鈥� says one associate of Wan鈥檚, who asked to remain anonymous. 鈥淭he uncertainty makes us very nervous.鈥�

Wan is not the first AIDS activist to suffer in this way. Gao Yaojie, a former doctor who attracted worldwide attention when she became the first to blow the whistle on the HIV scandal in Henan, left China last year for the United States. She has said since she dares not return for fear of the consequences.

Another well known AIDS activist, Hu Jia, is currently serving a 3-1/2-year sentence for 鈥渋nciting subversion of state authority.鈥�

鈥淥ver the past year or so the government鈥檚 policy on AIDS has made progress, but their policy towards NGOs has tightened up,鈥� says Mr. Lu, whose own group found itself unable to hold a training session earlier this month when unidentified thugs broke into the hotel room it had rented and broke all the furniture.

Progress on policy

AIDS has become the leading cause of death in China among infectious diseases, according to government figures. In 2007 an estimated 700,000 people were diagnosed as HIV positive, and the government hopes to hold that figure below 1.5 million this year. Unprotected heterosexual sex and intravenous drug use accounted for 87 percent of new cases in 2007 according to UNAIDS, but ignorance of the disease and how it is transmitted is widespread, studies have found.

The government has invited international organizations to help it disseminate information and curb the spread of AIDS, and has shown increasing openness in dealing with the disease. Last month China lifted its ban on HIV positive foreigners visiting the country.

That was a move advocated three years ago by Aizhixing, which is well-known for its public advocacy of AIDS patients鈥� rights and the help it gives to people diagnosed as HIV positive in Henan who want to sue the hospitals where they contracted the virus.

The group also works with marginalized people such as drug users and sex workers, 鈥渨hich makes them unpopular with the authorities鈥� says Lu. 鈥淎nd because they criticize the government, they suffer heavy political pressure.鈥�

Wan also has prickly relations with some international AIDS groups such as UNAIDS and the Global Fund, which work closely with the Chinese government. His organization depends heavily on foreign donations, however, and like many other grass-roots Chinese NGOs has been hard hit by recent restrictions on funding from abroad.

New rules introduced in March by the Foreign Exchange Administration are making it practically impossible for local NGOs to receive foreign money, activists complain. 鈥淭he new regulation is strangling us,鈥� says Wan鈥檚 associate. 鈥淚f the problem is not solved, we can do nothing but die.鈥�