Gao Yaojie

media - "The allegation that Dr. Gao was “under house arrest” is totally irresponsible"

I have not been writing about the recent events concerning Doctor Gao Yaojie, since the issue was covered very well by other media. But now the situation is almost getting funny.
CDT points at this 'letter to the editor' of the Washington Post where the spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Washington denies the brave doctor has been under any kind of restriction.

Dr. Gao Yaojie has long worked for H.I.V./AIDS prevention, treatment and assistance in China. Her services and achievements have won full acknowledgment from the Chinese government and people.

In those cases it is better to shut up than make publicly a fool out of yourself. Indeed, the central government is getting nowadays much international recognition in the way they deal with the AIDS-crisis. But we would not exclude the possibility that some local government Henan province do not share the praise by the central government and the people of China for the brave doctor. We have learned from other AIDS-activists that local governments are still very hesitant to accept outside help, not in the last place because those local governments made quite some money through the illegal trade with contaminated blood that has caused the disease.
We would also not exclude the possibility that the name of the doctor is still on the "banned words" list of the internet censor. My internet connection is acting rather silly when I do not use a proxy in preparing this entry. Maybe the guys of the technical department could look into this when they are back from their holidays?

(Picture by China Today)