Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) confirmed Wednesday that authorities were holding human rights activist and former Democratic Progressive Party employee Lee Ming-che on suspicion of "endangering national security." TAO spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said in a weekly press conference that Lee was being held and investigated, and was "currently in good physical condition." Lee's wife Lee Ching-yu said Tuesday that Chinese authorities had informed her that her husband had been detained. The Mainland Affairs Council has called on Beijing to release the specifics relating to Lee's detainment and to grant the family visitation. Lee, currently a community college worker known for supporting human rights in mainland China, went missing on March 19 after entering Zhuhai city via Macau, reports say. UPDATE: On 26 May 2017, according to a news announcement, authorities of China's Hunan Province have arrested Taiwanese human rights defender Lee Ming-cheh. Family, friends, and several Taiwanese NGOs have been seeking information on Lee Ming-cheh's status and whereabouts since he was detained by Chinese authorities during a trip to the People's Republic of China on 19 March 2017. Update: A court in China has sentenced a Taiwanese democracy activist to five years in prison on subversion charges in a case that has strained relations between Beijing and Taipei. Lee Ming-cheh sat silently as a judge read the sentence, accusing him of disseminating articles, books and videos critical of China's Communist system in an attempt to foment a "western colour revolution". Taiwan's presidential office called the verdict "unacceptable", adding: "We urge the Beijing authorities to release Lee and allow him to return to Taiwan soon. We regret that Lee's case has seriously damaged cross-strait relations". Lee, a volunteer for the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, disappeared in March during a trip to China and it was later revealed he was arrested. He had travelled to China frequently over the past decade without incident. Beijing considers Taiwan to be a part of its territory. The democratic, self-ruled island has oscillated for years between closer ties with China and striking a more independent posture. Lee's case has angered many in Taiwan and is seen as the latest move in Beijing's efforts to intimidate an increasingly assertive Taipei. Rights groups were quick to condemn the sentence and have decried Lee's treatment since his disappearance. "Lee Ming-cheh is the victim of a politically motivated prosecution. The evidence against him is not credible, his conviction preposterous but predictable," said Roseann Rife, east Asia research director at Amnesty. "He is the latest to suffer under the Chinese authorities' relentless attack against human rights and democracy activists. "His so-called confession is highly dubious and was most likely extracted under extreme duress." The sentence was described as a "warning" to Hong Kong and others in Taiwan by Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. Chinese authorities have repeatedly condemned pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. UPDATE: On 28 March 2018, Lee Ching-yu, Lee-ming che's wife, reported that he was being denied correspondence rights. The wife of a Taiwanese democracy activist jailed in China said Wednesday he is denied "basic correspondence rights" after visiting him in prison for the first time in a case that has strained cross-strait relations. Lee was arrested in March 2017 during a trip to the mainland and held incommunicado for months. Taipei has called his jailing "unacceptable" and a serious blow to relations with Beijing, while his wife Lee Ching-yu has said his trial was a "political show". Lee Ching-yu was allowed to visit her husband in Chishan prison in Hunan on Tuesday, when they spoke for 30 minutes through a glass window. "Lee Ming-cheh's health... in prison seems fine from his appearance... But it's very obvious he is still denied right of speech and basic correspondence rights," she told reporters at the airport near Taipei after returning from China. "He still cannot write letters to me. Even though the reason he gave is that he has very busy work hours in prison," she said, adding that Lee only received two of the 11 books she sent him. "Every word they (prisoners) speak, even their voice and expression, will be recorded in writing by the prison." Chinese authorities cancelled Lee Ching-yu's mainland travel permit last April as she searched for her missing husband and later only granted her single-entry visas to attend the trial and sentencing. In January, she was barred from boarding a flight to visit Lee in prison. During his trial, Lee admitted the charges, stating that he had written and distributed online articles that criticised China's ruling Communist Party and promoted democracy. He had shared "Taiwan's democratic experiences" with his Chinese friends online for many years and often mailed books to them, according to the Taiwan Association for Human Rights. "Lee Ming-cheh cannot correspond with the outside world and his family's visitation rights are not ensured. This is evidence that China violates international and even its own laws," said the association. Amnesty International and other Taiwanese rights groups have also called for Lee's release