Wife of jailed ex-Interpol chief says friend risks same fate

The wife of the former Interpol president who disappeared in Beijing in 2018 and was imprisoned says she fears a similar fate awaits China’s latest candidate for a role with the international police body

LYON, France -- The wife of the former Interpol president who disappeared in Beijing in 2018 and was imprisoned says she fears that a similar fate awaits China's latest candidate for a role with the international police body.

China confirmed this week that it intends to seek a seat on Interpol's 13-member governing body, but didn't say who its candidate will be. Overseas lawmakers and rights activists fearful that China wants to use Interpol’s reach and influence to pursue critics in exile said the candidate is a senior Chinese police official, Hu Binchen.

The wife of imprisoned former Interpol President Meng Hongwei, Grace Meng, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that she and her husband know Hu well and that they were friends. Hu works at China’s powerful Ministry of Public Security. It is part of the security apparatus that helps keep China’s ruling Communist Party in power, enforcing its tight lid on dissent.

Grace Meng said Hu and her husband -– who was a vice minister of public security before he was purged and jailed on corruption charges — were colleagues for many years. She says they were so close that the Mengs’ twin boys knew Hu as “uncle.”