Radio France Internationale: Update on Chen Yonglin’s Case

An RFI report on Wednesday the 8th of June detailed information about the incident of Chen Yonglin, the first secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Sydney, seeking asylum from the Australian Government. The following is a translation of the report:

Yesterday, Chen Yonglin made a direct application to Mr. Downer, the Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs. After accepting the application, Mr. Downer said Australia does not usually provide this kind of refuge. When Chen Yonglin’s case roused a big argument in Australia’s political realm, another Chinese security official who fled to Australia earlier, told the Australian Broadcasting Company that what Chen Yonglin said is completely true. Chen Yonglin claimed that there are thousands of spies from China active in Australia.

The Chairman of the Australian Democratic Front Mr. Qin Jing explained Mr. Chen Yonglin’s situation in an interview with our reporter.

Qin Jing: His condition is not bad. He lives with Chinese people and of course there are ups-and-downs with the situation, because he is extremely worried after his application was refused by the Australian Government.

There are two reasons as to why he escaped: One is his dissatisfaction with China’s current political system, opposing China’s high-pressure policies used after the political revolution, especially against the CCP’s dissidents. This is a political reason.

Another reason is that he opposes the Chinese Government’s merciless and brutal persecution of a cultivation community – Falun Gong, including the fact that the CCP is continuously spreading the persecution overseas. On these two points he disagrees with the Chinese Government, so he rebelled and fled.

Reporter: Mr. Chen Yonglin has directly put forward his application for asylum to the Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs. How would the Australian Government deal with this?

Qin Jing: According to Australia’s customs, there are only three cases of political asylum being granted in the last forty-five years, not to mention the close relationship between the Chinese Government and the Australian Government. Therefore, the appearance of Chen Yonglin’s case has put the Australian Government in a very difficult position and in addition it has made the Chinese Government feel extremely embarrassed. Nonetheless, I think that if his application was completely refused by the Australian Government, this would provoke a huge public rebound and would be very disadvantageous to the Australian Government. So the way I see it, I hope that through this incident a message is given out, which is that lots of people inside the CCP’s system are discontented with it and will rebel when they have the chance. This phenomenon is saying that people are very displeased about the CCP’s autocratic dictatorship.

Reporter: Recently Mr. Chen also launched an application to the USA. So are there any replies from America yet?

Qin Jing: From what I obtained in reports and articles, USA thinks that the Australian Government is able to deal with this incident. Maybe this is just a flexible rejection.

Reporter: Please tell us a bit about the other Chinese security officer who fled to Australia.

Qin Jing: Well, this case is different to Chen Yonglin’s. Chen Yonglin absconded from the Chinese Embassy. However the other person might possess other kinds of visas upon coming to Australia, whether as a tourist or staying for a short while. He applied for asylum in this period. He was from the “6-10 Office”, which is an organisation especially established by the Chinese Government in 1999 after banning Falun Gong to fully take on and persecute Falun Gong.