Han Lianchao, a former Chinese foreign ministry official who defected to the United States following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, said a friend had told him of rumors that Dong had defected and that the defection was mentioned by Chinese officials during the Sino-American summit in Alaska.[18] Citing an unnamed source, he alleged that China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and Communist Party Politburo member Yang Jiechi had demanded Dong’s return.[18][1]