SYDNEY - On June 18, Qiu Shaofang of the Chinese Communist Party's Sydney General Consulate made his first comments on Chen Yonglin, claiming that the "political lies fabricated by a few individuals with ulterior motives" in order to "be able to stay in Australia" were "not worth responding to." The article containing Mr. Qiu's response carried no background on Mr. Chen's defection from China, and an attempt by an Epoch Times reporter to post the required story to the Soho website was deleted within 2 minutes.

The press release, entitled "Political Lies Fabricated by People with Ulterior Motives Is Not Worth Responding to," was written by Wang Jingchang of the China News Agency, and was linked as a headline at the Sina and Soho websites. While emphasizing that Sino-Australian ties would not be affected, the article only claimed that "political lies" fabricated by "individuals with ulterior motives" have damaged China's image and hurt the "feelings of many innocent Chinese people." There was no mention of the international repercussions created by the application for political asylum in Australia by Chinese officials, including Mr. Chen.

Internet readers made the following comments:

"Since we don't know what the article is trying to say, how can they convince readers that the defectors' claims are lies? They don't dare report the contents of the negotiation for asylum, fearing that people will know what the defectors said is true and thus create empathy for them."

"Why don't they clearly explain to the Chinese people exactly what is actually happening in Australia? Wouldn't they want the whole nation to censure this incident? You still don't know what has happened after reading the article from beginning to end! Why publish such an article?"

"What are you trying to say and what are you trying to hide from us again?"

"It is better not to read this article. After reading it, one is even more confused!"

"I really want to know what these 'lies' are. I have the right to know!"

"Exactly what has happened? Why are you so angry?"

"Why is it that people cannot understand our news?"

"This kind of incident is hard to explain. Don't ask anymore. It's annoying!"

"Who wrote this article? It is even not up to the standard of a primary school student."