Australia: Diplomat's Refusal to Participate in Chinese Communist Party's Suppression of Falun Gong Becomes Focal Point of Global Media

Mr. Chen Yonglin, a diplomat from the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, who was in charge of monitoring and persecuting Falun Gong, has refused to continue serving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its suppression of Falun Gong, and has decided to break away from the CCP. Mr. Chen's defection shocked Australia and the entire international community, and has become a focal point of global media.

Mr. Chen Yonglin forsakes the darkness for light and refuses serving the CCP's suppression

On June 4, 2005, the Australian reported on the defection of Mr. Chen Yonglin, a diplomat from the Chinese Consulate in Sydney. The report stated that Mr. Chen contacted the Weekend Australian and claimed he was responsible for monitoring political dissidents, including members of Falun Gong, during the past four years, in his post at the Consulate. Mr. Chen said he had been "going easy" on dissidents, and he had been charged with monitoring and not reporting them, in protest of Beijing's policies. He said that he was seeking to defect because he could no longer support his country's persecution of dissidents. Mr. Chen expressed that he is not a Falun Gong practitioner but empathized with the group, whose practitioners in China, he said, had been "persecuted massively."

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times on June 5, Chen Yonglin, 37, the consul for political affairs at the consulate in Sydney, said he walked out of the mission a week ago because he could no longer support China's repression of democracy and religious groups. Chen said Beijing considered him a threat "because I had offered to help some democracy activists and Falun Gong practitioners in some way."

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on June 5 that Mr. Chen Yonglin, 37, consul for political affairs at the Chinese consulate in Sydney, had fled the consulate a week ago and gone into hiding, fearing he would be persecuted for his pro-democracy views.

Mr. Chen said, "My job at the consulate was to monitor and persecute the democracy
activists and Falun Gong practitioners in Australia. If I am sent back to China I will be persecuted." Chen revealed that there are a thousand Chinese agents in Australia and they have kidnapped dissidents there.

CNN reported on June 6 that diplomat Chen Yonglin said his work in Australia included monitoring the Falun Gong practitioners and supporters of Tibet, Taiwan and Uighur separatists from western China. He stated that he feels very unsafe, and people have no political freedom and no human rights in China.

The report stated that China has 40 registered diplomats in Australia. The Australian government sources believe that Chinese agents in Australia now outnumber Russian agents. Spies use diplomatic cover and also pose as business people and professionals.

According to a Reuters report on June 5, Chen Yonglin, who first appeared in public on Saturday at a rally in Sydney marking the anniversary of the 1989 crushing of Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, said that the Chinese government considered him a threat because he had offered help to some democracy activists and Falun Gong practitioners. Chen said, "If I am sent back to China I will be persecuted." Therefore, he was in hiding with his wife and daughter.

According to Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) report on June 6, Chen Yonglin told reporters, "I feel guilty. In the beginning, I followed very strictly the government policy of persecuting Falun Gong people here." The report stated that in a letter to immigration officials, Chen Yonglin outlined his surveillance activities, and expressed remorse over what he'd done to members of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement outlawed by the Chinese government.

According to a report from the Herald Sun on June 6, senior Chinese diplomat in Sydney, Chen Yonglin, alleged that China had 1000 spies in Australia keeping tabs on democracy
advocates and dissidents, and had kidnapped several people.

The report quoted Falun Gong spokesperson Ms. Katerina Vereshaka, who said numerous attempts had been made to hack into Falun Gong databases and email networks. A prominent Sydney member also recently had a dead cat left on her doorstep with a threat stating that she and her family could be next.

The report said that more than 2000 practitioners have died in police custody in China.