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Dissident derides US as being ‘as crooked as China’

A Taiwan-based Chinese dissident yesterday blasted the US, calling the country “as crooked as China” for rejecting an asylum request made by him and two other Chinese dissidents.

Cai Lujun (蔡陸軍) made the denouncement in an open letter, following the rejection of his asylum request by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

AIT said it turned down the application because “Taiwan has well-established and reliable mechanisms to assist asylum-seekers and to protect their rights,” so the case should be handled by Taiwan.

However, Cai said he disagreed that Taiwan has sound mechanisms to assist asylum seekers, citing numerous delays and difficulties he experienced in finding work and money to cover his expenses.

“We are like half-ghost and half-human being and like spiritual beggars, yet the US calls this a ‘well-established and reliable mechanism.’ Even Taiwanese officials will blush when they hear this,” he wrote in the open letter.

Cai, 40, a businessman in Hebei Province, China, was jailed for three years for criticizing the government. He arrived in Taiwan in July last year to seek asylum.

“I never expected that the so-called democratic Taiwan and democratic US would be the same as China. If Taiwan and the US are just as crooked and shameless as China, why do they support the fight against dictatorship?” he said.

He and four other Chinese dissidents, three of whom arrived four years ago, asked to be allowed to remain in Taiwan or to seek asylum in a third country.

Taiwan has kept delaying granting them asylum on the grounds that the legislature has yet to pass an asylum law.

Taipei also agreed to assist them in finding asylum in a third country, but the effort has been futile because most countries recognize China and do not want to offend Beijing.

The five men’s patience is running out because without an ID card, they cannot find work or take advantage of government benefits.

On Thursday, Cai and two other Chinese dissidents Wu Yalin (吳亞林), 49, and Chen Rongli (陳榮利), 39, went to the AIT office in Taipei to apply for asylum from Washington.

Cai and Wu on Wednesday climbed over the wall into the AIT compound while Chen waited outside. Cai and Wu were later apprehended for trespassing by AIT security staff and taken to an adjoining police station for questioning.

On Thursday, the AIT’s press officer Lawrence Walker said the case should be settled by Taiwan.
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