'I must get out into the free world', dissident who fled China on boat tells BBC

'I must get out into the free world', dissident who fled China on boat tells BBCImage source, Dong GuangpingImage caption, Dong Guangping has resettled in Canada, where his family is residingByPhoebe KongBBC ChinesePublished2 hours agoAs the rubber boat he was on rocked through choppy waves, fear washed over Chinese dissident Dong Guangping, who had gone without sleep for two days.The 68-year-old knew he was taking a huge risk trying to flee China by sea, but even then, he had underestimated the challenges of this journey.He was badly sunburned, his phone was running out of battery, and his portable charger had gone flat. Apart from the sky and the sea, there were no landmarks around him. He could only hope that the digital compass would get him to South Korea before his phone went flat."Not being able to navigate would have been terrifying. I could have drifted back towards China," Dong told BBC Chinese nearly two months after his perilous escape.Forty hours after setting out from China's eastern Shandong province, Dong was rescued by the coast guard and fishermen in Korean waters on the night of 27 May.He was briefly detained in South Korea but has since resettled in Canada, where his family had been living. "I can never survive in China," said Dong, who spoke to BBC Chinese in a video call from Toronto. "If I didn't leave, I will never be at peace for the rest of my life. I had to show the Chinese Communist Party I was capable of leaving. They cannot stop me, they cannot control me."When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry told the BBC that the Chinese government "handles the entry and exit of its citizens in accordance with the law and that Chinese citizens must abide by the Constitution and the law".Image source, Dong GuangpingImage caption, Dong travelled for more than 300km over 40 hours from Shandong, China, to South KoreaDong, a police officer-turned-human rights acti...