A senior Australian minister said on Thursday that a Chinese diplomatic defector pleading for political asylum in Australia is in no danger of being sent home.
Chen Yonglin, a 37-year-old political affairs consul at China’s Sydney consulate, has told Australian authorities he fears for his family’s safety and would rather die than return to China.
“Mr Chen is in Australia, he is being dealt with in accordance with the ordinary process of Australian immigration law and he is at no risk of being sent back to China,” Health Minister Tony Abbott, a close ally of Prime Minister John Howard, told reporters.
See also Chinese Defector Refuses to Return Home from AP, and Australia Hints at China Spy Ring Investigation from VOA.
