December 8, 2009
A Chinese tourist sought political asylum from Taiwan on Tuesday, according to a Taiwan radio report.
Zheng Zhong, 55, flew form Beijing to Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport with a Chinese tour group on Tuesday. As she was clearing customs, she told a customs officer that she wanted political asylum, the Broadcasting Corp of China said.
Airport police notified the National Immigration Administration, which sent officers determine the motive behind Zheng’s asylum demand. No further information has been made available.
Taiwan, split from China since 1949, used to welcome Chinese defectors during the Cold War, but stopped doing so as cross-strait tension began to thaw.
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In the last 10 years, Taiwan has sheltered very few Chinese defectors on a case-by-case basis. Instead of granting them political asylum in Taiwan, Taipei accepted them as refugees and helped them finding a third country to accept them.
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