Thursday, August 16, 2012

Chinese Defector Illegally Turned Away from US Consulate, To Be Put On Trial for Treason (and probably shot)

I posted back in May about how the US Consulate turned over a Chinese defector, Wang Lijun, to Chinese State Security in what looks like to be a violation of the 1980 US Refugee Act.  Well Lijun is now going to be on trial for treason and probably executed.  The story is that Biden was the one who wanted him turned away because it would have hurt a big Obama donor's business dealings in China to have a big stink about a defector:

China's communist government is preparing to file treason charges against a former official who sought political asylum at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu but was turned away to avoid upsetting U.S.-China relations, according to U.S. officials and Chinese reports.

The former official, Wang Lijun, a Chongqing police chief and deputy mayor until his visit to the U.S. consulate Feb. 6, is expected to be charged with treason, a crime that under the communist system normally results in summary execution or life in prison.

Wang made a dramatic escape from Chongqing in February wearing a disguise, and spent the night at the U.S. consulate, as scores of Chinese security police surrounded the diplomatic outpost.

U.S. officials said Wang provided information and documents on the case of British national Neil Heywood, who was found dead in a Chongqing hotel the previous November.

The Free Beacon reported May 1 that the office of Vice President Joe Biden was behind the administration's decision to turn Wang away from the consulate, in particular Biden national security aide Antony Blinken.

Blinken, according to administration officials, overruled State and Justice Department officials who favored granting Wang political asylum and working to get him out of China.

...

Those in favor of asylum argued during teleconferences and phone calls between Feb. 6 and Feb. 7 that a 1980 law required the U.S. government to grant asylum to those seeking it if they are threatened.

Wang asserted during his stay at the consulate that his life and safety were threatened by Bo Xilai.

In the end, Wang was turned over to a senior official of the Ministry of State Security, the Chinese political police and intelligence service, after he left the consulate. He was taken to Beijing where he was placed in detention.

Wang's attempted defection set off a political scandal in China that continues to unfold.


No comments:

Post a Comment