A Chinese diplomat's bid for asylum in Australia is being closely watched in Taiwan.
If Canberra grants asylum to Chen Yonglin (
"Australia is very concerned about its ties with China. I don't think Australia will risk its ties with Beijing by granting asylum to Chen. But it may let him go to a third country," said Alexander Huang (黃介正), a China expert at Tamkang University.
Since Cold War days, several Western nations have granted asylum to Chinese diplomats, triggering strong protests and retaliation from Beijing.
Chen, 37, claimed his job was to spy on Chinese dissidents, Tibetan exiles and Taiwanese in Australia and said he was defecting because he could no longer support Beijing's persecution of dissidents.
He claims that China has 1,000 agents working in Australia, where they are kidnapping Chinese dissidents and forcibly repatriating them to China.
Chinese Ambassador to Australia Fu Ying (
She said Chen fabricated the story so that he can stay in Australia as his four-year posting is coming to an end.
Chen's claim that he will face persecution if he returns to China is valid, according to a former Chinese official who defected to the US in 1989 and who now lives in Taiwan.
"Chen Yonglin's life would certainly be in danger because China is not ruled by law and it can drum up any charge against Chen," Ruan Ming (阮明), former secretary to late Chinese Communist Party secretary-general Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦), said during phone conversation.
Ruan fled China following the Tiananmen Square Massacre and is now serving as an adviser for the think tank Taiwan Research Institute.
If Chen is sent back to China he is likely to face treason charges, which carries a maximum life sentence.
Australia's handling of Chen's asylum bid is "shameful", according to Su Yung-chin (蘇永欽), professor of law at National Chengchi University.
"According to international law, all countries should provide assistance to asylum seekers on humanitarian grounds. What Australia has done is not only improper, but also shameful," he said.
Taiwan welcomed Chinese defectors in the Cold War days, but stopped doing so in the late 1980s as cross-strait tensions thawed.
Since 1990, Taiwan has repatriated 12 Chinese plane hijackers to China and rejected the asylum requests from several Chinese pro-democracy activists, but helped them seek asylum in a third country.
A third country may be Chen's best hope, as Canberra weighs granting him political asylum and its diplomatic ties with China.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS