Desaparecimento misterioso em 1957

O norte-americano Donald Blackwood, de 24 anos, esteve desaparecido durante quase 3 meses na Primavera de 1957. A sua curiosidade por ver a China era tanta que foi até Hong Kong e daí para Macau onde na noite de 27 de Abril alugou uma sampana com a qual atravessou o canal do Porto Interior em direcção à ilha da Lapa. Nesta altura a ilha era já território chinês. Seria apanhado pelas autoridades chinesas sem qualquer documentação legal que permitisse a sua entrada e por isso foi preso. Seria expulso da China e libertado em meados de Julho.
Em plena guerra fria, com a China ainda fechada ao exterior, a história deste jovem militar oriundo do Ohio e casado com uma norte-coreana correu mundo...
Preocupado o seu pai viajou até Hong Kong e depois a Macau à sua procura. Após uma semana de contactos e sem notícia do filho regressou aos EUA. Dois dias depois de partir, a 16 de Maio de 1957, surgia uma notícia que dava conta de que a polícia de Macau garantia que Donald, a mulher e o filho de apenas oito meses estava na China. Foi certamente através de contactos feitos com as autoridades portuguesas que Donald foi devolvido à liberdade.
Em Julho a agência Reuters escrevia: "An American salesman, Donald Blackwood. returned today from communist China where he had gone "just to see how the place looks."

Notícia do jornal The Desert Sun na edição de 12 de julho de 1957:

Mystery Man Says China Visit Due to Blackwood Says He Was Disappointed Hopes to Return To U.S.; Sorry About Actions

Hong Kong - Donald Jackson Blackwood, 24, whose disappearance two months ago became a cold war mystery, said today he i went into Red China out of "curiosity" but was "disappointed" with what he saw. Blackwood, of Cincinnati, Ohio, I returned by ferry boat to Hong Kong this morning with his North Korean-born wife and small child; The Chinese Communists expelled them Thursday across the border i into the Portuguese udony of Macao. “I was curious to see China and learn all about it," Blackwood told newsmen today. "Now that I've made the trip 1 am disappointed and sorry.” He called the trip an “irresponsible gesture on my part" and admitted quietly he had disobeyed a Stale Department ban on travel to Red China. “Although I made the trip 1 consider myself a loyal American," he said. IT am sorry I went and I am sorry 1 disobeyed the State Department ruling." Blackwood, a former enlisted man in the Air Force, said he met his wife while in the service. He married her after he returned from the United States in the spring of 1955 as a civilian. He said she strongly opposed the trip to Bed China. Asked how he entered China without a visa he replied, “A rickshaw boy, a sampan man and 100 U.S. dollars. He said he was ferried to the Chinese shore opposite Macao in the early hours of April 28. He said the Chinese read him a statement charging him with illegal entry and “we then left within five minutes." But he said if it hadn't been for the expulsion order he would have stayed longer, "I was planning to see Peiping, Shanghai and North Korea." “My personal desire to see China was stronger than my will to abide by the Slate Department ruling,” he said. Blackwood said he planned to return to the United Slates and work for his father, a drive-in restaurant owner who flew to Hong Kong to search for his missing son. But he wasn't sure when he would return because of “State Department technicalities."

O Chicago Tribune de 21 de Julho de 1957 escrevia sobre o regresso a casa atribulado num telex escrito a partir de Hong Kong com o título: "Korea Delays American Return Home". Ou seja, a viagem ficou momentaneamente comprometida já que o consulado da Coreia em Hong Kong apreendeu o passaporte da mulher de Donald.

Donald J. Blackwood, expelled from Red China as an illegal immigrant, postponed his return to the United States to day Korean consulate here picked up his Korean's wifes passport. Blackwood, 24, of Cincinnati, Ohio, said he went to Red China with his wife and 8 month old son solely out of curiosity. There were reports Blackwood would make another attempt to leave Monday, disregarding the Korean consulate's action, by using his wife's entry visa to the United States as a travel document."