China's consulate in Sydney yesterday accused a former diplomat of fabricating stories about a massive Beijing-run spy network in Australia in a bid to support his application for asylum in the country.
thousands of spies
Chen Yonglin, 37, a former political consul at China's consulate in Sydney, fled his job last month and said at a rally on Saturday that a ring of up to 1,000 spies operating in Australia had kidnapped individuals and repatriated them to China.
The Sydney consulate said Chen had reached the end of his four-year stint in Australia and was making up stories because he did not want to return to China.
"To achieve the aim of staying in Australia, Chen Yonglin fabricated stories, which are unfounded and purely fictitious," the consulate said in a statement.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said Chen's asylum application would not receive special treatment from officials in Canberra.
Vanstone also refused to comment on statements that Australian officials had warned him his actions "will cause serious consequences," possibly impacting on Canberra's burgeoning trade relationship with Beijing.
"Any of these applications are handled individually and they're handled on their merit and this one will be handled in the normal way," she told Channel Ten television. "Each application is considered individually on its merits."
exceptional case?
Green Party senator Bob Brown said Australia needed to act on Chen's allegations that an extensive network of spies in the country had kidnapped individuals and repatriated them to China.
Brown said Chen feared he would be persecuted if he were forced to return to China, and needed special protection.
"Giving him ordinary processing here is simply inadequate," he told ABC radio yesterday. "This is a diplomat who has spoken up in Australia and is alleging crimes against Australia. He must be given special assistance, special protection and special treatment."
Chen's asylum application comes as the Australian and Chinese governments work towards establishing a bilateral free trade agreement worth an estimated A$24.4 billion (US$18.5 billion) to the Australian economy over a 10-year period.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the