Defecting Chinese diplomat Mr. Chen Yonglin has revealed that the Chinese Government’s new consulate in Brisbane, that opened on Tuesday July 12, was established so its officials could pressure local Queensland Governments and monitor the Taiwanese community, Chinese dissidents and Falun Gong practitioners.
“In Brisbane it seems like the pro-Taiwan movement is quite active and dissidents are quite active in Brisbane [and] also Falun Gong practitioners,” Mr. Chen told a press conference and public forum at the Ashfield Catholic Club on Sunday July 10.
Mr. Chen said the Taiwanese Government placed an application to establish an office in Brisbane and that the Australian Government informed the Chinese Embassy of this intention.
“The Australian Government is taking care of the Chinese Government in this way,” he said.
Chinese officials were also concerned that local politicians in Brisbane supported Falun Gong practitioners and gave speeches of support at Falun Gong activities he stated. The Chinese Embassy in Canberra attempted to make its presence felt in Brisbane but was ineffective due to logistical reasons. Mr. Chen revealed that it was decided a permanent presence was needed in Brisbane so “Chinese officials could on a daily basis be in contact with local governments and increase pressure.”
He added that the Chinese officials would use “similar tactics and strategies as [they] used in Sydney through political, economical and cultural means.”
Mr. Chen detailed how the Chinese consulates work and how they implement their strategies. In Sydney, consulate officials would approach councils to limit the activities of local communities, remove Falun Gong advertisements and reject Falun Gong practitioner’s applications to participate in festivals.
Mr. Chen also saw documents “related to some local consulate NSW parliamentarians and some officials [who were] contacted. The consulate senior official meet them on some occasions and asked them to help on the issue of dissidents, [and] the major issue is Falun Gong,” he said. “There was a lot of success in doing that by putting high pressure on local councils, because some of these councils want to develop closer relationship with city council in China,” he told reporters.
He also described how the Chinese consulates operated; “there are two systems, one is diplomatic system, the other system is intelligence collection system.
“[A] lot of important information is collected through overseas missions.”
Mr. Chen said much of the information gathered by the consulates and Chinese Embassy was passed on by informers in the Chinese community. He declined to divulge names at the press conference. “I just want to warn these people to stop doing that. I know that they also have families. I don’t want to destroy their families. But I want to tell these informants, from the bottom of my heart, I looked down upon these informants,” he said.
Mr. Chen also issued a warning to the informants saying within the diplomatic system there are many young men who felt the same as he does about the Chinese Communist Party and that one day he felt they would also defect.
Perhaps he said they may not be as kind as he is and they could reveal the informer’s identities to Australian authorities.
Mr. Chen also expressed his gratitude to the Australian people for the support they had offered him and his family over the past 6 weeks. Mr. Chen’s family was issued with protection visas on Friday July 8, two days prior to the press conference. During his previous meetings with the press Mr. Chen, while being determined, was often nervous and exhausted. Now with a more secure future he spoke with confidence to the press and also provided three examples of secret Chinese documents that detail surveillance activities on Australian citizens. However he told reporters that he and his family will remain cautious as there is still a possibility he could be kidnapped by Chinese agents and sent back to China.
However it seems such risks will not deter the former diplomat from exposing the Chinese Communist Government’s activities in Australia or dampening his desire to see positive and peaceful change occurring in his homeland.
On Tuesday morning he was interviewed by Alan Jones’ 2GB radio program, later in the week Channel 9’s Sunday program will feature an investigative piece on both Mr. Chen and the second Chinese defector Mr. Hao Fengjun. On Tuesday July 19 at 8.30 pm Mr. Chen will join radio host Mr. Stephen Sim for an hour long discussion about Chinese espionage and the current situation in China on Australia’s leading community radio program Northshore’s FM 99.3.
On the day of the opening of the Chinese consulate in Brisbane on Tuesday 12 a peaceful appeal was held by the Free China NGO outside the Queensland state parliament to raise the awareness about the Chinese consular and its activities. Free China is a coalition of over 30 Chinese community groups: including over 20 organizations from the Chinese democratic movement.
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