Queue Jumping
There is no Cold War with China, so dissidents and defectors don’t have the same cache as Russians did back in the day. Or maybe the problem is that Chen Yonglin’s focus has been on Falun Gong and Tibet, both issues generally treated as nonexistent by Western nations. Maybe if he’d been in charge of following and harassing Taiwanese, it would be a different story?

China, every now and then, shows signs of opening up a bit, as in the commemorations of the Tianamen Square massacres over the weekend in Hong Kong. This is a blind, usually, and it remains very dangerous indeed to be a dissident in the last major communist nation. When a defector turns up, it seems nations dedicated to freedom would be welcoming, rather than calling up their bosses, perhaps especially when there’s newly increased concern over spying by the country the guy’s trying to escape. Or maybe not.

We know there are significant human rights violations happening in China, and China remains an antagonistic nation, despite its position in world trade. Sometimes the caution with which they are treated seems over done. If Chen Yonglin is handed back, I don’t hold much hope for his future or his family.