China: AIDS Activist Is Being Detained by Police, Group Says

Veteran Chinese AIDS activist Wan Yanhai, missing for nearly two weeks, is in police custody on suspicion of revealing "state secrets," according to the New York-based group Human Rights in China. HRIC said Thursday that a friend of Wan's was informed of his detention by the Ministry of State Security. The group said Wan is being held pending investigation into whether he leaked classified information during the course of his work. In China, the definition of "state secrets" is broad and can be applied to almost anything -- even already-published statistics about the infection rates for AIDS. The law regulating such "secrets" is often used by the authorities to clamp down on dissidents. Wan's case could cast a cloud over Chinese President Jiang Zemin's meeting in the United States with President Bush next month for a one-day summit at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. US officials have already brought up his case with Chinese authorities, as have human rights groups worldwide, such as Amnesty International.

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