China critic stuck in Taiwan transit lounge granted asylum in Canada
A Chinese dissident living out of a suitcase at a Taiwan airport has been granted refuge in Canada.
“I was able to successfully obtain political asylum in Canada,” Chen Siming, who has been stuck inside Taoyuan International Airport since 22 September, told The Guardian after arriving in Vancouver on Saturday.
Appreciating the efforts by the United Nations refugee agency, Taiwan and Canada, he said: “The three parties handled my case quickly in the spirit of humanitarian care.
“This kindness will be remembered forever, I would like to express my sincere gratitude.”
Chen is known in his home country for the annual commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre – a taboo subject there – and his social media posts about the massacre have previously irked Beijing’s authorities.
Police harassment was not new to him either, and he says he has been detained many times in the past. But in recent years, he has noticed a significant crackdown on dissent. On 21 July this year, Chen packed his clothes. He had decided to run.
He first chose Thailand – a country considered a friend of China that has in the past turned in other dissidents to Chinese authorities. The activist travelled from Hunan province down to the southern border with Laos – a distance of almost 1,400km, his bagful of clothes in tow, arriving there in August.
However, he did not feel any sense of ease and feared deportation by Thailand’s immigration authorities, subsequently flying to Taiwan. The island, unlike Thailand, shares an icy relationship with China and continues to assert its status as a self-governing democracy. There, he pleaded for help, saying his situation was “dangerous and urgent”.
朋友们:
10月5号我已到达加拿大温哥华。我能顺利得到加拿大政治庇护,是因为网友们的关注,国际媒体的大力报道,朋友们的支持,还有NGO和人权组织的帮助,以及台湾和加拿大两国政府与联合国难民暑等三方秉持人道关怀的精神对我案子的迅速处理。
此恩此德思明终生难忘!我衷心地感谢大家!谢谢!谢谢 pic.twitter.com/6AsqT25bwl— 陈思明 (@csm8964) October 8, 2023
“To avoid the political oppression of the Chinese Communist Party, I have now come to Taiwan.
“I hope to receive political asylum from the US or Canada. I ask friends to call on the Taiwanese government to not send me back to China,” he urged at the time.
On Sunday, he took to X/Twitter, posting pictures of him from Vancouver.
“I arrived in Vancouver, Canada on October 5th,” he wrote, as he thanked the rights bodies and international entities for their support. “This kindness will be unforgettable forever! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart! Thanks!”