SYDNEY - Australia said on Sunday it would have to judge whether a Chinese diplomat seeking asylum in Sydney, and who claims Chinese spies are hunting him, would be persecuted if he returned to his homeland.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Chen Yonglin, the 37-year-old consul for political affairs at China's Sydney consulate, had applied for a protection visa.

Asked whether Chen's fears of persecution if sent back to China would be considered, Downer said: "He's spoken out (against Beijing) very recently. That's something the immigration department will obviously have to weigh up.
"They'll have to take into account the implications of refusing his protection visa application, and in those circumstances he'd be sent back to China," Downer told Australian television.

Chen's defection could muddy Australia's ties with Beijing, its third-largest trading partner with annual exchanges now worth A$28.9 billion ($22.7 billion).

Downer said he was unaware of claims of large numbers of Chinese spies operating in Australia, but added the government did not comment on intelligence matters.

China's foreign ministry declined to comment on the case.
Chen, who first appeared in public on Saturday at a rally in Sydney to mark the anniversary of the 1989 crushing of Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, said there were up to 1,000 Chinese spies in Australia.
The Australian newspaper recently reported that the number of Chinese agents in Australia had increased sharply during the past decade and now outnumbered Soviet spies during the Cold War.

Chinese Spy Network

It said that the nation's main spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), had set up a new counter-espionage unit to boost surveillance of foreign spies.

Citing unnamed government sources, the daily said that Australia has been targeted aggressively in recent years by Chinese spies seeking information on military-related technology and strategic policy secrets.

Chen said he had walked out of the consulate a week ago and was seeking asylum because he could no longer support China's repression of pro-democracy and religious groups. He said he was in hiding with his wife Jin Ping, 38, and 6-year-old daughter.
"Chinese agents are looking for me and they could kidnap me," he told the rally. "If I am sent back to China I will be persecuted. I am very frightened. I am afraid it will be easy for them to find me."

Chen said Chinese spies had previously kidnapped critics of Beijing in Australia and returned them to China.
"They have successfully been kidnapping people in Australia back to China," he said. "Each year they have kidnapped a good number."

Chen said the Chinese government considered him a threat because he had offered help to some democracy activists and Falun Gong practitioners.

Trade Above Human Rights

The Greens Party criticised the Australian government on Sunday for its handling of Chen's asylum application, saying the government had put trade above human rights.
Party leader Bob Brown said Chen had written to the Australian government in late May asking for his asylum request to be urgently processed, but had received no protection.

"The idea of sending this man back to China is unthinkable- it would be tantamount to ending this man's life and that of his family," Senator Brown told reporters.

Chen was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying that his request for political asylum was refused within 24 hours of his defection 11 days ago - without even a meeting.
Mr Chen, 37, who is in hiding with his wife and six-year-old daughter, said the information he offered on China's spies and kidnappings in Australia had been spurned. At every turn, he had been discouraged from applying for asylum and denied a safe haven.