http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25214623-2703,00.html
Ex-spy calls on US to pressure China over human rights March 20, 2009 Article from: Agence France-Presse A MAN who said he was a Chinese spy has appealed to the US to pressure Beijing, charging it was running a vast intelligence operation at home and abroad to suppress dissent. Li Fengzhi in Washington yesterday. Picture: AFP Li Fengzhi visited the US Congress to talk to politicians and appeal for asylum. His supporters said it was the first time a Chinese intelligence officer had defected. A visibly nervous Li told a news conference that he served for years inside China for the Ministry of State Security but had grown "furious" that his job entailed spying on dissidents, spiritual groups and aggrieved poor people. "China's government not only uses lies and violence to suppress people seeking basic human rights, but also does all it can to hide the truth from the international community," he said. Li said that despite China's rapid economic growth, "a government that disrespects and suppresses its people cannot be stable". "When the West engages with China, if it only focuses on temporary economic and political benefits but keeps silent on human rights issues, it is tantamount to reciting from the book of the communist party's tyranny," he said. Li, a bespectacled man in his early 40s, gave few details about his own past, saying he feared for family members in China. His supporters said he slept for only one hour the night before his news conference. China's Ministry for State Security operated a worldwide network to steal secrets from foreign countries, Li said, adding the agency also keep a close watch on Chinese citizens overseas. The communist party "uses huge expenditure of funds to suppress ordinary citizens and even extend their dark hands overseas," he said. Li said he defected "several" years ago to the US but did not speak publicly until this month. He renounced his membership in the communist party as part of a drive led by supporters of the Falun Gong, a movement combining meditation and Buddhist-inspired teachings that China banned as an "evil cult" in 1999. One of China's highest profile defectors - Chen Yonglin, a diplomat in Sydney who sought asylum in 2005 - has said Beijing had more than 1,000 agents in Australia alone who kidnapped some Chinese and repatriated them for political reasons.
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