China says FedEx pilot suspected of smuggling weapons

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (AFP, NYTIMES) - A FedEx pilot who was arrested in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is suspected of smuggling weapons and ammunition, Beijing said on Friday (Sept 20), accusing the man of carrying hundreds of air gun pellets.

The American pilot had 681 pellets with him when he was searched at the airport on Sept 12 ahead of a flight to Hong Kong, said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, adding that the man was released on bail pending trial.

Hong Kong has been plunged into months of pro-democracy protests and unrest, and Beijing has repeatedly accused foreign governments of helping to support the protesters.

Mr Geng said the man served as a deputy pilot for a FedEx cargo plane on Sept 11 and he entered Guangzhou the next day.

"Guangzhou Baiyun Airport customs found a suspicious box with 681 air gun pellets in the luggage of an American outbound passenger," Mr Geng said at a press briefing on Friday.

A FedEx spokesman told AFP that Chinese authorities in Guangzhou detained and later released one of their pilots on bail, and confirmed media reports that named the pilot as Mr Todd Hohn, a former US Air Force pilot. The pilot had been waiting to catch a commercial flight out of the city of Guangzhou, where FedEx has a huge hub.

The case was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, who said Mr Hohn had more than two decades military experience, including some time at the Pentagon.

The authorities in southern China have detained an American pilot who works for FedEx, in the latest in a series of difficulties for American travellers and companies in China.

The Air Line Pilots Association International, the union representing most American pilots, declined to discuss the case, as did Mr Hohn's lawyer.

FedEx is one of a number of companies that have been caught between Washington and Beijing as the trade war intensified. But it is not clear whether the pilot's detention was related to the company's problems in China.

As trade frictions and other disputes between the US and China have festered, and as China itself became more authoritarian, more Americans in China have found themselves unable to leave. A Koch Industries executive was held in southern China and interrogated for days in June before being allowed to exit the country.

The State Department issued a travel advisory for China in January, warning Americans, particularly those with dual Chinese-American citizenship, that they may not be allowed to leave China if they go there.

A growing number of foreign companies, particularly American companies but also Canadian and European businesses, have responded by scrutinising but not prohibiting travel to China by employees.

But the quick release of the pilot, although without allowing him to leave the country, may indicate that China is not eager to turn him into a bilateral issue, said Mr James Zimmerman, a partner in the Beijing office of Perkins Coie, a global law firm.

"The fact that he was released is a critically important message and a positive sign - Beijing probably ordered his release to minimise the significance of the issue, and this is an indication that Beijing doesn't want this case to be a huge distraction," Mr Zimmerman said.

He said that China does not have a bail system as it is generally understood in the West. China relies more on severe travel restrictions on people who are released from detention but remain under investigation.

The detention comes as the US and China are trying to reach at least a partial truce in their 15-month trade war. Chinese officials have been eager to head off further tariffs that President Donald Trump has planned to impose on Oct 15 and Dec 15 but are also loath to agree to the broad Chinese policy changes sought by the Trump administration.

It was unclear on Friday if Chinese authorities had deliberately targeted the pilot because he worked for FedEx. The detention came as Chinese airports visibly increased security measures in recent months.

The authorities have paid particular attention to travellers going to or coming from Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory where large and increasingly violent protests have taken place every weekend this summer.

China has strict laws not just against the possession of weapons but also against the possession of ammunition.

FedEx has had a series of difficulties in China in recent months. China has accused FedEx of delaying shipments last May by Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant accused by US officials of working with Chinese intelligence - accusations that Huawei denies.

FedEx has also been working with Chinese authorities to investigate how one of its American clients was allowed to send a gun to a sporting goods store in south-eastern China. The gun was detected and stopped by Chinese authorities.

Chinese nationalists have called in recent weeks for FedEx to be included on a list of "unreliable entities" that the country's Commerce Ministry has been drafting.

The drafting has begun in response to the US Commerce Department's decision to begin putting Huawei on an "entities list" of foreign companies to which goods can be exported from the United States only with special licences.

Cathay Pacific, a large airline based in Hong Kong, has separately come under heavy scrutiny by the Chinese government after some of its employees expressed support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. China threatened to revoke the airline's access to its airspace unless it reined in its employees.

Cathay Pacific and FedEx are two of the largest airlines hauling Chinese exports to the US. Much of China's electronics exports, particularly higher-value items like iPhones, travel by air.

In addition to scrutinising travellers to and from Hong Kong very closely, the Chinese government has also begun checking foreigners visiting or living in the country for any possession or recent use of drugs. That has also produced a series of detentions.

Travel experts now strongly advise anyone going to China to carry prescription medicines in their original containers, and not to carry any prescription medicines that may be illegal in China, like prescription cannabis.

FedEx is a well-known company in China as well as in the US. By coincidence, HBO showed in China on Thursday night the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away, the fictional story of a FedEx manager marooned on a Pacific island for years.