Senator Says Australia Gutless in Standing Up to Human Rights Abuses

The defecting Chinese diplomat Mr. Chen Yonglin, met Australian Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja on Wednesday 29 June, to express concerns over his political asylum bid and about the Australian government’s inaction regarding his revelations of Chinese spy activities in Australia.

After the meeting Mr. Chen briefly addressed the press, thanked the Senator for seeing him and then left with Mr. Chin Jin from the Federation for a Democratic China.

Senator Stott Despoja passed on Mr. Chen’s gratitude to the Australian people and said that he did not feel comfortable to answer questions from the media because of his ongoing ordeal.

The Senator said that the former diplomat is very concerned about his application for political asylum. “He’s under the impression that it could take him a year or more for his case to be resolved and we understand that [Foreign] Minister[Alexander] Downer has made comments to the effect that Mr. Chen’s case is like any other immigration case,’ she said.

“There is nothing ordinary in this case, this is a man seeking to defect to live in our country, he’s made allegations against his government, he’s a former consular official, relatively high ranking. These things stand out to me as significant characteristics of someone applying for political asylum.”

The Senator said that on Mr. Chen’s bridging visa he will have little government support; he won’t be eligible to work, can receive no benefits and his child can not attend school. Most importantly Mr. Chen fears for his, and his family’s safety.

At the same time a senate enquiry into Australia’s relationship with China is taking place, while also, in Beijing, government officials from both countries are participating in human rights dialogue which have long been criticised. They are held behind closed doors away from scrutiny of the media, parliament and therefore the Australian public.

Mr. Downer has commented that neither Mr. Chen or his allegations will be raised during these discussions.

“We see a brave and courageous man[Mr. Chen] and yet the Australian government, is anything but courageous on the issues of dealing with China’s continuos violations in the area of human rights.”

The senator spoke of Mr. Chen’s revelations of Falun Gong practitioners being harassed and monitored in Australia and questioned why the Australian government hadn’t taken Mr. Chen’s claims seriously. She also stated that the federal government’s policies put trade and economics before human rights. When asked by a reporter what message this sends to the world about Australia she answered, “That we are gutless when it comes to standing up to human rights abuses in other countries.”

“You can’t keep trade and economics completely separate from human rights dialogue. We are hearing evidence in the senate committee, that that’s the way the government prefers it and that’s the way it works and when you talk about a huge, a massive bilateral agreement in the form of a Free Trade Agreement with China surely human rights, labour, environmental standards and other conditions all come into the debate. Surely we have to operate with some view of what is happening in China,” she said.