China 'running spies in Australia and the West'

A second Chinese defector has backed claims by a diplomat who left his job at China’s consulate in Sydney that Beijing is running a large spy network in Australia and other Western countries.

The diplomat, Chen Yonglin, walked away from his post as the first secretary at the Chinese Consulate-General last month to seek political asylum in Australia.

Chen, 37, claimed China had 1,000 spies in Australia involved in illegal activities including abducting Chinese nationals and smuggling them back to China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has dismissed Chen’s claims as slander.

But a second Chinese official seeking asylum in Australia, Hao Fengjun, 32, backed Chen’s claim of a Chinese spy network in Australia in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation television late yesterday.

Hao said he was a member of China’s internal security police engaged in the suppression of dissidents before be came to Australia in February as a tourist and sought asylum.

“I worked in the police office in the security bureau and I believe what Mr. Chen says is true,” Hao told the ABC through an interpreter.

“As far as I know, they have spies in the consulate but they also have a network of spies they’ve sent out,” he said.

“They send businessmen and students out to overseas countries as spies. They also infiltrate the Falun Gong and other dissident groups,” he added.

The government has yet to rule on the asylum applications of either Chen or Hao, which complicate bilateral relations as Australia and China negotiate a free trade agreement.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Chen’s application would be judged on its merits.

Australia-China Business Council Chairman Warwick Smith said Australian businesses dealing with China agreed that burgeoning trade would not suffer.

“It’s probably fair to say that the trade relationship is an extremely strong one and I don’t believe that these matters will in any way impinge upon the development of that trade,” Smith told the ABC.

Hao, who said he had top-secret information and would be severely punished if he returned to China, said he worked in China’s third largest city, Tianjin, for a spy agency known as 6-10 Office, which monitored the banned Falun Gong movement. He said he saw evidence of torture.