The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday denied reports that it has rejected Chinese dissident Gong Yujian’s (龔與劍) request for political asylum.
Gong, who served time in a labor camp in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, came to Taiwan with a tour group late last month and sought political asylum earlier this month.
Radio Free Asia on Wednesday quoted Gong as saying that the council had “decisively rejected his application for political asylum,” because he could not prove that the documents he brought with him were genuine and that he was a “fairly small player” in the democracy protest.
A council official rebutted the claims, saying it had not rejected Gong’s request and if his application is processed, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) would take the lead and convene a meeting, with the council being one of the agencies participating in the review.
NIA official Hsu Chien-lin (徐健麟) said that as of yesterday, the agency had not received Gong’s application for asylum.
Radio Free Asia released another report yesterday to clarify the issue, saying Gong had apologized for accusing the council of making excuses and refusing to accept his application.
Gong said that what he had told Radio Free Asia was the result of miscommunication between him and civic groups — mainly the Taiwan Association for Human Rights — that have been helping him apply for asylum.
“The reasons I cited were examples that the groups told me that the government agencies might use as a pretext to reject my application,” he said.
“I personally have not been in touch with the MAC, but the association told me that the government is not inclined to approve [my request for asylum],” Gong said. “Taiwan does not have a refugee law, so it is difficult [for the Taiwanese government] to handle my case.”
TAHR secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) said that since Taiwan does not have a refugee law, there is no clear legal procedure that can be duly followed.
“The case has been referred to a lawmaker who will coordinate with the MAC” on Gong’s case, Chiu said. “However, it is still in coordination process.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu’s (尤美女) office told the Taipei Times that they are limiting media exposure because “we are afraid that Beijing might exert pressure on [President] Ma’s [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] administration.”
Asked whether his family has indicated that they were being pressured by Beijing, Gong, who has been keeping in touch with his family in China, said that in his last call to his father, “[his father] hung up the phone quickly” after a short conversation.
“I would not have known whether they have been pressured. They would not convey it via phone either, and I understand that,” he said.
Nine Chinese exiles, including five dissidents and four Falun Gong practitioners, have been granted long-term residency permits after living in the nation for between five and 10 years without official status in May, 2014. The MAC had then stressed that it was a "one-off special project based on humanitarian considerations" that is not going to be repeated.
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