Comments by Gary Reese NZ
China kidnapped New Zealand Resident – Chinese Defector
Posted by chinaview on July 18, 2007
“China dissident makes kidnap claims“, TVNZ, New Zealand, Jul 18, 2007-
Police are being called on to investigate claims by a former Chinese diplomat that the
Chinese government kidnapped a New Zealand resident two years ago.
Chen Yonglin (photo right) , who is in New Zealand to campaign against Chinese human rights abuses, was a diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in Australia in 2005 when the alleged kidnapping took place.
“I know there’s one case, a kidnap case…happened in New Zealand I know, but if necessary the New Zealand intelligence service interested in I may talk with them about the details,” says Yonglin.
He says a woman with New Zealand residency was kidnapped by the Chinese government and taken from New Zealand back to China on a state owned ship.
Yonglin made similar accusations in Australia shortly after he defected in 2005 and was granted a protection visa.
He says there are around a thousand spies working in Australia for the Chinese Communist Party and believes they are active in New Zealand too, monitoring human rights activists and infiltrating groups like Falun Gong.
Amnesty International spokesperson Gary Reese says he is not surprised by the claims.
“Amnesty International for many years now has been monitoring, researching the Chinese government’s activities and abuses of human rights and it’s actually entirely consistent with information we have, we know that they have done kidnappings before,” he says.
But the alleged kidnapping has taken the Green Party by surprise and they want something done.
“I will make sure that the police are aware of this and do investigate what appears to be a very serious accusation,” says Green Party MP Keith Locke.
Attempts to contact the Chinese embassy have so far failed, and the New Zealand government says it has no knowledge of the kidnapping.
However, the Prime Minister’s office is urging Yonglin to report what he knows. Yonglin says he won’t publicly release the name and motive for the crime until he has taken it up with New Zealand police.