Chinese defectors spurned

Sydney

Australia has denied political asylum to at least four prominent Chinese dissidents, The Sydney Morning Herald reported this week. The first case came to light after Chen Yonglin, a top official at the Chinese Consulate, publicly defected last month, claiming that China was operating a “ring of spies” in Australia. He said Australian officials first tried to discourage him from defecting and then denied him asylum. Since then, three other dissidents, including a writer of banned books, said their asylum cases had also been rebuffed. Others complained that Australian officials allowed Chinese functionaries to question asylum seekers who were being held in immigration detention centers. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said her department had followed normal procedures. “It is not at all the case,” she said, “that this has been handled inappropriately.”

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