June 20, 2005
A Beijing-based official flew to Australia to
berate Chinese diplomats for not dealing harshly enough with the Falun Gong
spiritual movement, defector Chen Yonglin claimed last night.
Mr Chen said the official came to the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney towards the end of 2003 and told staff there they should do more to follow Government policy and "fight eyeball to eyeball" with Falun Gong practitioners in Australia.
The official said the Chinese staff should be more aggressive with Falun Gong, Mr Chen told ABC Television's Lateline program.
Mr Chen said the official was from the 610 Bureau, which was set up to destroy Falun Gong, and he said his message was to be passed on to consulate staff.
The official said there were 60,0001 Falun Gong adherents in China, half of them in labour camps.
Mr Chen said he made his claim that 1000 Chinese spies and informers were working in Australia several weeks ago because he read it in an official document in the consulate.
He said it was his responsibility to monitor Falun Gong's public protests: other Chinese officials were responsible for examining the movement's other activities in Australia.
The Chinese Government has strongly denied Mr Chen's claims.
Earlier yesterday Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said Mr Chen's application for a protection visa was being handled by her department in the normal matter.
Senator Vanstone said that over the past five or six years Australia had received 700 to 800 protection visa applications a year from Chinese citizens. Only 5 or 6 per cent of them were approved.
She said Mr Chen had been offered an interview by her department but his advisers turned it down.
Senator Vanstone said that interview was to go ahead this week.
1. The officially apparently downplayed the actual number of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Before the persecution, it was estimated by the government that there were 70-100 million practitioners in China and more than 100,000 are being detained in forced labor camps (www.faluninfo.net).