The high profile defections of Chinese officials over the past month have been a timely reminder that China remains under the grip of a repressive regime while also revealing a disturbing trend of self-interest and shortsightedness by the Howard Government.
Rather than investigating the explosive claims of Chinese espionage and harassment by the defecting senior political officer, Mr. Chen Yonglin, the Federal Government instead turned a blind eye and showed antipathy to his and his family’s fate.
During a press conference on Wednesday June 22 an emotional and exhausted Mr. Chen said he felt compelled to publicly reveal further sensitive information because the Federal Government was not only ignoring his application for political asylum, but actually colluding with Chinese authorities to return him to China. Mr. Chen claims a former colleague from the consulate told him that Chinese authorities were “100 per cent sure” he will be sent back to China.
The Federal Government’s handling of his defection has again shown how inept, or callous, both its foreign affairs and immigration departments are. Former Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) officer Mr. Warren Reid told The Age the Federal Government’s handling of Mr. Chen’s defection was a case of “monumental bungling, or there’s something more sinister.”
After describing further details of kidnapping in Australia by Chinese agents, Mr. Chen went public with inside information of how the Howard government’s human rights dialogue with Chinese officials is a façade. “I have witnessed it in my past four years working with the Chinese consulate that the Australian Government, especially the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), has made a lot of compromises of sensitive issues of human rights and about Chinese democracy issues.”
| Former Intelligence Service officer Mr. Warren Reid told The Age the Government’s handling of Mr. Chen’s defection was a case of “monumental bungling, or there’s something more sinister.” |
This week delegations from DFAT for the Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue are in Beijing. No doubt they will have plenty to talk about, but the discussions are held behind closed doors away from the scrutiny of the media, parliament and therefore the Australian public. These sessions are part of a policy that puts forward the theory that increasing trade will lead the Chinese communist regime to reform itself politically and renew its outlook towards human rights.
However, the opposite unfortunately seems to be true, as pressure from Chinese officials has led our own government to compromise its stance on human rights, disregard its own legal process and reduce Australians’ freedom of expression.
Mr. Chen claims the Australian Government has aided Chinese authorities in quashing a lawsuit lodged earlier this year by Australian citizens who practice Falun Gong in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The lawsuit targets the ex-president of China Jiang Zemin and the Gestapo-like “610 office”.
According to Mr. Chen, Mr. Downer’s department offered legal assistance and prepared legal documents in cooperation with Chinese authorities. If Mr. Chen’s claims are true, Mr. Downer is guilty of not only turning a blind eye to human rights issues in China but also of actively condoning them.
Mr. Chen also said Mr. Downer relented to Chinese Government pressure prior to the 2002 visit of Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, the Chinese Foreign Minister. Mr. Downer made it illegal for Falun Gong practitioners to hold banners saying “stop the killing” and “truthfulness compassion forbearance” across the road from the Chinese Embassy. This ban continues to this day.
According to The Asia Times Mr. Tang also warned the Australian Government to not meet the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on his visit to Australia that year. True to form the Howard Government complied.
The night after Mr. Chen’s press conference, ABC’s Lateline interviewed the new National’s leader Mr. Mark Vaile who has held the portfolio of trade for over five years. When questioned about the slave force used in the Chinese re-education through labor camps, he denied any direct knowledge and implied he didn’t need to know as his role is to facilitate the economic ties between the two countries.
| When asked about the Chinese slave-labor camps, Mr. Mark Vaile, Trade Minister for five years, denied any direct knowledge and implied he didn’t need to know, as his role is to facilitate economic ties between the two countries. |
“The responsibilities in terms of human rights and our position and our candid views on that are the responsibility of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and I’m sure that he does regularly make contact and comment to his counterparts in China on those issues,” said Mr. Vaile.
No doubt Mr. Downer is aware that the ruling communist party uses torture, brutal labor camps, and propaganda to maintain control over China’s population. He is also no doubt aware that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is structured to benefit an elite level of bureaucrats, new millionaires and their transnational patrons.
In an interview with The Epoch Times, the second Chinese defector, Mr. Hao Fengjun, described the violence meted out to Falun Gong practitioners and also the huge surveillance effort by security agents on overseas practitioners. The nature of the massive and mindless persecution of millions of peaceful people who practice Falun Gong and follow its three principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is the most disturbing and yet true indication of the communist party’s unchanging violent and paranoid outlook.
With the 84th birthday party of the Chinese Communist Party falling on July 1 we can only ask if the Howard Government will, in the guise of self-interest, be sending their best wishes.
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If the Howard administration believes it can keep economics, human rights and politics separate when dealing with the Chinese authorities, it will find itself out maneuvered by a regime that sees its economic clout as a foreign policy tool.
With a principled stand taken by the Chinese defectors, the Australian Federal Government has been shown up to be morally lacking. As these men have joined the two-and-a-half million Chinese who have withdrawn their membership from the communist party there is true hope that China will one day regain its full potential and return to being a truly great and respected nation.
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