ANI
24 Jun 2022, 08:55 GMT+10
Beijing [China], June 24 (ANI): In view of the "oppressive system" of governance in China, the number of Chinese nationals seeking political asylum overseas has spiked significantly under the rule of President Xi Jinping.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) figures reveal that nearly 12,000 Chinese nationals sought asylum overseas in 2012 however, this number had risen to nearly 120,000 by 2021 since Xi took office as the Chinese Communist Part (CCP) General Secretary.
Safeguard Defenders have termed this a "desperate act". The rights group warned of a growing risk of transnational repression, including the use of involuntary returns, now that a growing number of Chinese nationals have fled the country.
The rights group said, "Seeking asylum is for many a desperate act, reserved for those with few other options, which does not apply to the great many Chinese who have moved, and continue to do so, to the U.S, Australia, and beyond, often via naturalization, work visas or property purchases."As per the report, around 730,000 Chinese nationals have sought asylum since 2012, with more than 170,000 living outside China under refugee status.
In an article by Amelia Loi for Radio Free Asia (RFA), the overseas-based rights group Safeguard Defenders said, "Year by year since Xi Jinping came to power, in lockstep with a more oppressive system of governance, the number of asylum-seekers from China has continued to grow at an alarming rate.""In 2020, and now with new figures just released for 2021, it shows continued growth despite COVID restrictions," it added. The US remains the most popular destination, accepting 88,722 applicants from mainland China last year. Australia took 15,774 asylum-seekers in the same year, the figures showed. Thousands also apply for asylum in Canada, Brazil, South Korea, and the U.K.
Safeguard Defenders researcher Jing-jie Chen said the data also reflect the impact of Xi's zero-COVID policy, that has led to grueling lockdowns and draconian restrictions of people's movements under the guise of disease control and prevention. "China has basically been in a state of lockdown during the past couple of years that these data are from, and it is actually very difficult for asylum seekers to go abroad," Chen said while speaking with RFA.
"Yet we can see that the number has reached a new high ... with the number of asylum seekers rising every year over the past three years," he added.
Chen said many more people are voting with their feet and opting to emigrate from China, either through overseas study or investment visas and residency cards.
Meanwhile, World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit said many of the asylum-seekers are Uyghurs fleeing a network of concentration camps and technological totalitarianism in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. He said overseas Uyghurs remain at risk from the Chinese authorities.
"Uyghurs in exile are constantly at risk from China putting pressure on their countries of residence to detain and forcibly return them," Dilxat Raxit said.
"We call on the international community to continue to take measures to provide Uyghurs at risk with adequate protection," he said, adding that many Uyghur asylum-seekers had been unable to renew expired passports and sometimes had trouble documenting the oppression they suffered back home," he added. (ANI)
Get a daily dose of South East Asia Post news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to South East Asia Post.
More InformationMAGWAY, Myanmar - At least eight resistance fighters were killed on Wednesday when junta troops intercepted a truck they were ...
SHANGHAI, China: As Shanghai reports no new cases of Covid for the first time in two months, Shanghai's top communist ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The White House has reported that the U.S., Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the UK have created an ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee has backed President Joe Biden's proposal to increase spending for ...
LONDON, England: British Airways' staff at London's Heathrow airport has voted to strike due to pay disputes. Amidst an already ...
LONDON, England: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week that in order to move millions of tonnes of grain ...
NEW YORK, New York - Disappointing economic data put an end to Wall Street's recent rally Tuesday, with all indices ...
LONDON, England: According to a report in the UK's Guardian newspaper, a government advisory agency, the National Health Service Pay ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia rose on Tuesday after China announced it would halve quarantine from 14 days ...
LONDON, England: As prices in stores throughout Britain rise, British consumers shopped less in May and also expressed less confidence ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: General Motors' self-driving Cruise division has begun charging fares for driverless rides in San Francisco.Earlier this month, ...
NEW YORK, New York - The euphoria on Wall Street of late last week was absent on Monday as all ...