Desmond Shum on His Missing Wife’s Reappearance

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Now, this call you got over the weekend must have been very, very unsettling, particularly as you were getting ready to do the publicity for your book’s publication. What do you think was the crux of the issue? Why suddenly did your former wife after four years appear out of nowhere?

DESMOND SHUM, AUTHOR, “RED ROULETTE”: Well, first of all, thanks for having me. I think what happened was, on Friday, two major newspapers, “Financial Times” and “Wall Street Journal,” both have — carry story of my upcoming book and my situation. I think that really — that changed the dynamics and that prompted the CCP to actually allow her to come out. It happened just the day after the two newspaper broke the stories.

AMANPOUR: So, what was her message to you? She didn’t just call to say hi. The CCP weren’t apparently thrilled that her former husband is about to publish a book that he says is very revealing in a way they might not like.

SHUM: She used — it’s very difficult. I mean, she want me to — first of all, she want me to cancel the book, the book publishing. Of course, as you were just mentioning, bureaucrats in Beijing probably think, at the snap of a finger, any book can — pulled from any bookstores at any time. Of course, in our world, the book is already in the bookstores by then. So — and then also it’s difficult for me because I don’t know — I don’t know who I’m talking to, because for sure her phone is monitored. If not, somebody is sitting across from her. And am I talking to her, or am I talking to the party state behind listening in asking me to cancel book and issuing all the threats?

AMANPOUR: So, the threats are what I guess interest me and interest many people and clearly must worry you, your son and your former wife. Did you feel that she was being used to threaten you? Did she say that there would be consequences for you, her, for your son if this book went ahead?

SHUM: Oh, definitely. I mean, I do feel like that she is being a mouthpiece of the party state threatening me. They — message was — she asked the question, what would happen to our son if something happened to you? She asked the question, what would happen — how would you feel if something happened to us, to our son? And then, on the second call, she actually say, if you go ahead with this book launch, it may cost a life.