St. Galler Journal (Switzerland): Asylum applicant with HSG degree

Xiaoyang Wang in fear of arrest in China. Falun Gong practitioner applied for asylum on Friday, June 30th, 2006.

By Andreas Fagetti

(St. Gallen) In April, she earned her Graduate School of Business, Economics, Law and Social Sciences (HSG) degree from the University of St. Gallen. At the same time she had been offered a position as a junior accountant. But Xiaoyang Wang will not be granted a working permit. Now, she hopes to be granted asylum.

It has been eight years for the twenty-six year old Xiaoyang Wang since she left the Chinese provincial town of Suzhou. She has now graduated from an elite Swiss University. Her stay at an asylum location is in contrast like a terrible miscarriage of justice. On April 3rd, this young Chinese woman took part in the degree celebration at St. Galler Rosenberg and accepted her diploma. A month later she found herself at the receiving centre Kreuzlingen among refugees poverty stricken and those persecuted for political reasons, as political refugees. She was granted an interview on May 10th and since June 14th she has been housed at the Aarau asylum seekers housing.

The degree that is for others the entrance for an elite position in the business world became for the young Chinese woman a worthless paper. Yes, she told us that she already had been offered a junior accounting position with a large insurance company in Basel. She said, “She had been offered a position.” The district Basel city and the Federal Office for migrants rejected her application for a working permit. No working permit would be granted for a Chinese person to work at a Swiss insurance company that does not do business with China.

Foreigners from Third World

Any one, who is not a citizen of a European Union (EU) country or of a European Free Trade Association (EFTA) state, is viewed as a third world citizen by the Swiss government authorities. Xiaoyang Wang is considered a foreigner form the third world. Under such designation, her chance to land a position in Switzerland is limited to those positions where no one can be found in Switzerland, the European Union, or among EFTA states. The alliance has established some exceptions. In the St. Gallen region, there were 106 such special exceptions granted.

Unfortunately, graduates with a degree from HSG are plentiful in Switzerland and its surrounding countries. If that wasn’t enough, without a working permit, Xiaoyang Wang lost her residency permit which expired at the end of April. Therefore, the young woman lost no time to request asylum. Now, she is being held far from her St. Galler friends at the Aarau asylum seekers housing.

Last week, she returned to St. Gallen to tell her side of the story. She brought along a stack of newspaper, a pile of article hard copies and flyers. These are all articles from The Epoch Times. Xiaoyang Wang does not begin to talk about herself, but about Falun Gong, a qigong practice that is based on the teachings of its founder Li Hongzhi.

Warnings from her Father

She also tells of her mother, who introduced her daughter to Falun Gong and is detained in a Chinese prison for one and a half years. Falun Gong has been banned in China since 1999. She has not heard anything from her mother since that year. She has fought for her release with signature campaigns.
Xiaoyang Wang explained that her father had warned her not to return to China. At the same time, he asked her to also watch out for herself in Switzerland. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) arm has a long reach. Xiaoyang Wang believed in her father’s warnings. She experienced it herself, as she is haunted by “telephone threats” since last year. She recognised from the area code that the calls come from China.
The young woman believes that she will be detained in a prison if she returns to her home country. Such worries are not without precedence. The United Nations specialist Manfred Nowak visited Chinese prison camps last year, and pointed out that dissidents, human rights activists, members of Falun Gong and underground churches, as well as Tibetans and Uyghures suffer torture by Chinese prison staff frequently.

Awaiting Asylum Decision

The crimes committed in her home country must be denounced worldwide. Whoever remains silent becomes an accomplice to the crimes,” said Xiaoyang Wang. As an asylum seeker in Switzerland, she does not appear to have any interest in the blessings of the Western capitalistic society.

“I would immediately return to China if I would not have to fear persecution on my return to that country,” said Wang. Her family and friends live in China. Her hometown Suzhou is near Shanghai. She doesn’t see any problem to land a job with a Swiss or German company because of her excellent education. To apply for asylum is certainly not fun. She does not want to be a burden to society. Therefore, she had looked for a job. Now, she sees no other way out.

Now, she sits, despite her HSG degree in the asylum seekers housing and has to wait for the decision concerning her asylum application.

Originally published in German at: http://www.clearharmony.de/articles/200607/32371.html