MCLC: Kobe U scholar goes missing in China

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Vanessa Frangville <vanessa.frangville at vuw.ac.nz>
Subject: Kobe U scholar goes missing in China
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Very concerning.

Vanessa

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Source: The Asashi Shimbun (3/22/14):
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201403220037
Kobe University Chinese scholar goes missing in China
By THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

A Chinese-born academic at Kobe University who has done prize-winning
research on ethnic Uighurs in China seems to have vanished into thin air
after returning to his homeland for a brief visit.

University officials are trying to contact 57-year-old Wang Ke, a
professor of area cultural studies in the Faculty of Intercultural Studies.

Wang's specialty is modern Chinese philosophical history, but he is also
known for his research on the Uighurs.

According to Kobe University officials, Wang departed for China on March
1, and planned to return to Japan on March 10.

However, on March 10, he phoned his family in Japan and told them his
return would be delayed because he needed to look in on his mother in Xian
who he said was not feeling well.

Family members have not heard from him since his phone call. They also
checked on Wang's mother and found out that she was not ill. They
subsequently conferred with Kobe University officials on March 19.

Wang had been scheduled to attend a symposium in Singapore on March 21.
However, symposium sponsors said they were contacted by Wang, who told
them he would not be able to attend.

Wang was born in Henan province, China. He completed the doctoral program
at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1994.
He has been a professor at Kobe University since 2001.

In 1996, his book about the Uighur independence movement during the 1930s
and 40s was awarded the prestigious Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and
Humanities.

It is not the first time a Japan-based researcher has not been heard from
while visiting China.

In July 2013, China detained Zhu Jianrong, a professor of international
relations and Chinese history at Toyo Gakuen University in Tokyo, while he
was visiting China. Zhu was released in January and returned to Japan.

Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uighur economist calling for fair political
treatment of the Turkic ethnic group in China, has been held in detention
since January.