China's secret police have warned a dissident writer that he could end up in prison if he goes ahead with the publication of a book critical of Premier Wen Jiabao, the author told AFP on Wednesday.
Yu Jie, a 36-year-old whose books have been banned on the mainland since 2004 but are widely available in Hong Kong, said he was interrogated for four and a half hours on Monday in Beijing by state security agents.
He said the agents discovered his plans to publish his latest book, "Wen Jiabao: China's Best Actor" in the former British colony via his posts on the popular microblogging site Twitter — which is blocked by Chinese authorities.
"They asked me questions about the contents of the book, and their main objective was to threaten me in order to prevent me from writing and publishing my works," Yu said.
His interrogators said Wen, as one of China's top leaders, was not "a normal citizen" and thus a book criticising him could have "grave consequences" as it would endanger "the ruling power and the interests of the nation," Yu said.
"They told me it would be the makings of a serious criminal dossier that would see me sent to prison like Liu Xiaobo," he said.
Liu, a writer and former professor, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December on subversion charges, a year after he co-authored "Charter 08", a bold manifesto calling for political reform in China.
His sentence was upheld on appeal in February.
Yu nevertheless said he planned to publish his book on Wen "within three months".
He said while the premier — sometimes referred to as "Grandpa Wen" because of his down-to-earth interactions with the public — had a generally good public image at home and abroad, he is opposed to any political reform.
Wen also has worked to boost the power of the secret police, Yu said.
The author — who is married, the father of a young child and a convert to Christianity — said he was also questioned about several articles he published on foreign websites in recent months.
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