As the number of withdrawals from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surpassed two million, the CCP experienced another blow to its image. One of its diplomats stationed in Sydney who had been in charge of monitoring dissidents publicly renounced the CCP and sought political asylum.

Chen Yonglin, a former political consul of the Chinese Consulate General in Sydney, not only attended activities in memory of the June 4, 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square, but also went on the stage to declare his stand against CCP suppression. In a remarkable act of bravery, he stated that he had evidence of the criminal activities of CCP spies operating in Australia, including their names, and that he would share that information with the Australian government.

Chen said that for the past four years, he had been in charge of monitoring overseas dissidents. He couldn’t agree with the CCP’s policies of suppression, so he had helped democratic activists and Falun Gong practitioners. Chen said that if he went back to China, he would be imprisoned and persecuted.

Chen is not the first to leave the CCP with top secret evidence of China’s overseas espionage. In another blow to the CCP in July of last year, Yuan Hongbin, a former director of the College of Law at Guizhou University, also sought political asylum while he was abroad. Later Yuan published four influential books in which he disclosed CCP crimes.

In the past 15 years, services in memory of the June 4 massacre have been sad affairs. This year’s June 4 events promised to be more dynamic for a couple reasons. Memorials to honor Zhao Ziyang, the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party who had supported the student activists in 1989, had been suppressed by the CCP. In addition, the publication of the “Nine Commentaries on the CCP,” an editorial series by The Epoch Times, had inspired more than two million public resignations from the Party.

Chen’s move was unexpected, big news for this year’s June 4 activities. Chen showed that the young generation of CCP officials don’t all approve of the CCP’s policies of suppression. There are probably many others like Chen Yonglin among CCP officials. His courage and integrity may inspire other officials to take similar actions. Will democratic governments support these brave officials who renounce the CCP and provide them with political asylum?