WASHINGTON -- A Chinese diplomat announced his defection Friday, claiming that most officials of his country privately support the democracy movement in China.
Xu Lin, 33, a third secretary in the education office of the Chinese Embassy, said he defected Wednesday night to avoid being sent back home ahead of schedule because of his behind-the-scenes support for reform.
'I found myself in a dangerous situation, personally and politically. And that's why I decided to defect,' Xu said calmly, speaking through a translator at a news conference. 'I'm not afraid. ... Now I am free of all the worries I had in the embassy.'
Xu said he was 'in the process' of applying for political asylum, but had not yet directly contacted U.S. officials.
State Department spokesman Dave Denny said it was department policy not to comment on individual asylum cases. He said Xu would have to apply for asylum to the Immigration and Naturalization Service and that the department would play an 'advisory role' in deciding the request.
Xu refused to comment on the whereabouts of his wife and daughter, citing security considerations. But Qiang Xiao, a spokesman for the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars, which is helping Xu, said the diplomat's family left China but was not in the United States.
Xu said 70 people have defected from Chinese embassies and consulates since the government crushed a budding democracy movement June 4 in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. He said there have been 14 defections in America -- five in Washington, four in both San Francisco and Chicago and one in New York.
Xu said he believed the 'majority' of the 200 workers at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, as well as most Chinese officials in general, support the goals of the democracy movement.
'China has stepped backward into tragedy and totalitarian repression,' he said, speaking on the 71st anniversary of the May 4th student movement for democracy in China.
'Every Chinese citizen with a conscience feels this is a tragic time in the history of China,' Xu said. 'Surely this regime and strategy will fail.'
Xu said his responsibilities at the embassy included supervising Chinese students in the United States. He said he got into trouble by openly supporting the pro-democracy movement in China.
Among the ways he demonstrated his support was by refusing to forward to his superiors reports on the activities of pro-democracy Chinese students in America that were sent to the embassy by anonymous Chinese students.
Xu said he was told by friends in China that he was 'blacklisted' as a security risk. He said he was told by his superiors that his four-year term of service had been reduced to two years -- meaning he would have to return to China in July.
Xu, who has a master's degree in hydraulic and marine engineering, said he was not yet sure what he would do in the United States.
