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A picture is worth a thousand words…unless it provokes a thousand questions.
That’s not exactly a proverb, but it does sum up China’s odd response to rumors that one of its top security officials, Dong Jingwei had defected to the U.S. this past March.
The story, based on several unnamed government sources, was first reported by the RedState news blog in early June.
The story garnered crickets from the CCP (and the U.S.) for a while. But as Redstate continued adding details about intel Dong was reportedly providing, and other outlets (including the Trends Journal) picked up the story, the CCP finally addressed the issue.
They released a single photo apparently showing Dong Jingwei at a table, and claimed he attended a 23 June meeting of Secretaries of the Security Councils of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
But the photo only created more questions. Dong was pictured at quite a distance in a long camera shot, seated some ways from two other officials. It seemed a scant and odd “confirmation”.
Odd Denials
After a significant period of silence surrounding what would be the highest level defection ever from the communist regime both China and the U.S. have both denied it.
But even those denials have raised questions. No Biden administration official has publicly put the matter to rest. A Newsweek story on 23 June quoted two anonymous U.S. sources. One said the defection story was “not accurate.” The other source claimed more strongly that it was “absolutely untrue.”
The RedState story had gained some credibility via a tweet by democracy activist Han Lianchao, himself a former Chinese Foreign Ministry employee who defected to the U.S. following the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Han claimed that Dong was one of the topics discussed when Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top foreign affairs officials in Alaska this past March. It was a frosty summit.
According to a follow-up article published by RedState on June 11, Dong provided evidence of COVID-19’s human origins at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including the biolabs connections to the Chinese military.
RedState also cited anonymous sources in claiming that Dong’s defection to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was not revealed to the FBI and CIA.
So much for trust among spooks.
At the present moment, RedState says it stands by its reporting.