US authorities have approved exiled Chinese dissident Wang Dan’s request to expedite a travel document so that he can return to Taiwan for urgent medical checks.
Wang was a student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen protests in Beijing. He wrote on his Facebook page last week that he wanted to return to Taiwan because he suspects he has a brain tumor and cannot afford medical care in the United States. Wang had previously lived and taught in Taiwan for years.
His return was originally hampered by a lack of any valid travel document. Wang is a US green card holder but no longer holds a passport from China, and has to use a US re-entry permit to travel abroad.
Taiwan’s immigration agency previously declined Wang's request to make a special exception to the rules out of humanitarian concern. The agency said that Wang can return to Taiwan any time now that he has the US re-entry permit.