By Simon Kearney and Cameron Stewart
June 04, 2005
A SENIOR Chinese diplomat
is on the run with his family after abandoning his post and seeking political
asylum in Australia.
Claiming he fears persecution if he returns to
Beijing, Chen Yonglin, 37, the consul for political affairs at the Chinese consulate-general
in Sydney, said last night consulate security staff were looking for him after
he
walked out of the mission seven days ago.
"They are searching
for me. I heard they are looking for me everywhere, especially in the Chinese
community," Mr Chen told The Weekend Australian.
"I feel very
unsafe, so I seek protection."
A Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade spokesman confirmed last night that "an official from the Chinese consulate
had applied to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs for a protection
visa".
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Canberra last night
refused to comment on the affair.
Mr Chen, his wife, Jin Ping, 38, and
their six-year-old daughter were in hiding last last night. Mr Chen claimed he
met a senior Department of Immigration officer in Sydney on May 26 who, he said,
rang the consulate to confirm his identity.
The Chinese consulate said
"they wanted me to come back".
Mr Chen said he then met with
a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade protocol officer in Sydney on May 31.
He said the DFAT officer told him at the meeting that his request for political
asylum had been rejected, but he was told he could apply for a protection visa.
"DFAT told me the Chinese Government want me back and Australia doesn’t
want me," Mr Chen said.
Mr Chen, who holds the rank of first secretary,
said he was seeking to defect because he could no longer support his country’s
persecution of dissidents.
"Since I was a university student, I have
been supporting the pro-democracy movement in China and have witness (sic) the
Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989," Mr Chen said.
"Now
with my strong dissatisfaction with the current Chinese Government, I call on
an immediate reform to the political system."
Mr Chen, who contacted
The Weekend Australian yesterday afternoon, claimed he was responsible for monitoring
political dissidents, including members of the controversial religious sect Falun
Gong, during the past four years in his post.
He said he had been "going
easy" on dissidents he had been charged with monitoring and not reporting
them, in protest at Beijing’s policies.
Mr Chen said he was not a member
of Falun Gong but empathised with the group, whose practitioners in China, he
said, had been "persecuted massively".
"I am in charge of
the Falun Gong issue … Falun Gong practitioners are a socially vulnerable group,
and they need help but no prosecution and forced brainwash."
Mr Chen
joined the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1991 after being "re-educated"
following his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, where several
of his university friends were wounded.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15502609-2,00.html
Posting date: 4/Jun/2005
Original article date: 4/Jun/2005
Category:
Media Report
