VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #3742/01 3061051
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 021051Z NOV 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2881
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5878
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1589
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7098

C O N F I D E N T I A L AIT TAIPEI 003742 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR CA/VO/F/P, EAP/CM, PRM, DRL/ASY, DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2031 
TAGS: PHUM PINR PREL HK CH NZ TW
SUBJECT: TAIWAN INSIDE STORY ON PRC NATIONAL JIA JIA 
 
REF: HONG KONG 4284 
 
Classified By: Deputy Director Robert S. Wang, Reason(s): 1.4 (B/D). 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  PRC national Jia Jia entered Taiwan from 
Thailand on October 22, as part of a 26-member Chinese tour 
group.  Jia separated from the group after passing through 
Customs, and afterward, met with two Taiwanese professors, 
both outspoken advocates of Falun Gong.  Jia surrendered 
himself to the Taiwan Visitors Association on October 25.  In 
police custody, Jia identified himself as the Secretary 
General of the Shanxi Province Science and Technology 
Association, but denied being a member of the Chinese 
Communist Party or the Falun Gong.  He claimed to be a 
democracy advocate interested in taking Taiwan's democratic 
lessons back to the PRC.  Claiming to fear persecution if 
returned to China, Jia requested political asylum.  The 
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) played down public discussion 
of Jia's asylum request to avoid creating difficulties for 
him in the PRC.  MAC also disseminated a politically neutral 
"cover story" that Jia's decision to split from his tour 
group had been caused by depression.  Taiwan denied Jia's 
asylum request because he could not prove he had or would 
suffer any form of persecution in the PRC.  Taiwan offered 
Jia two options: to return to Thailand or to travel to Hong 
Kong.  Jia chose Hong Kong, expecting the aid of sympathetic 
Falun Gong practitioners there.  MAC told AIT that the New 
Zealand representative in Hong Kong had agreed to issue Jia a 
visa, but the request was ultimately denied.  As of 7:00 
p.m., November 2, Taipei time, Hong Kong Falun Gong 
practitioners are hoping to secure travel for Jia to 
Thailand, where he will try to petition for refugee status. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Legal Affairs 
Director Jeff Yang (Jia-jun) told AIT on November 2 that 
local press reporting of PRC national Jia Jia's case told 
only part of the story.  According to Yang, Jia entered 
Taiwan from Thailand on October 22, as part of a Chinese tour 
group from Shanxi and Henan provinces.  Jia's tour group was 
scheduled to stay in Taiwan October 22-28.  Jia split from 
the group after clearing Customs at Taoyuan International 
Airport.  He was on his own for two days, during which time 
he met with two well-known Falun Gong advocates, National 
Taiwan University (NTU) professors Chang Ching-hsi and Ming 
Chu-cheng.  Jia turned himself in to the Taiwan Visitors 
Association (Taiwan's tourism bureau) on October 25. 
 
¶3. (C)  MAC's Yang told AIT that during the initial interview 
by the Ministry of Justice Investigative Bureau (MJIB), Jia 
readily identified himself as Secretary General of the Shanxi 
Province Science and Technology Association, and offered 
supporting documentation.  However, Jia denied being a member 
of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and denied any 
affiliation with Falun Gong.  Jia told investigators he 
wished to understand and experience Taiwan's democracy first 
hand, and to share that experience with others in China.  Jia 
also advocated the establishment of a "Chinese Democratic 
Confederation."  Although Jia admitted he had not yet begun 
pro-democracy activities in China, he asserted that he would 
do so in the future when the "time was right."  Jia requested 
political asylum in Taiwan because he feared he would suffer 
persecution upon his return to the PRC.  (Note: The local 
press reported that Jia had initially claimed to be a 
democracy activist, and a member of Falun Gong, and that he 
had sought asylum to avoid persecution by PRC authorities. 
Papers later reported that Jia then denied Falun Gong 
membership, and claimed that his decision to separate from 
the tour group had been motivated by depression over a recent 
split with his wife.  End note.) 
 
¶4. (C)  Yang and MAC Department of Information and Liaison 
Section Chief Cheng Wei-ching explained to AIT the "marital 
difficulties" story, although rooted in fact, was essentially 
a "cover story" publicized by MAC in an effort to 
de-politicize Jia's case.  Jia would probably face some kind 
of investigation if he were to ultimately required to return 
to China, Yang told AIT.  The "marital difficulties" story 
was intended to enable Jia to plead emotional distress as the 
cause of his erratic behavior and controversial statements 
while in Taiwan.  Jia would have been much worse off facing 
the Chinese authorities without this kind of "plausible 
deniability," Yang continued, and the Taiwan authorities 
wanted to preserve his ability to return to China, should he 
so desire. 
 
¶5. (C)  Yang told AIT that Taiwan authorities denied Jia's 
asylum requst.  They found Jia's case atypical in that he 
held a privileged position in the PRC and had been permitted 
 
to travel freely to Taiwan by the PRC authorities.  Jia, 
moreover, admitted that he was not actually a political 
dissident yet, and was only planning to become one in the 
future, and he could not prove that he had been or would be 
the victim of politically-motivated persecution.  Yang told 
AIT that Jia was laboring under the misconception that as a 
PRC citizen, he would automatically be eligible for asylum or 
refugee status once he made it to Taiwan, and therefore was 
unprepared to meet his "burden of proof." 
 
¶6. (C)  Once his asylum request was denied, Taiwan 
authorities offered Jia two options: to return to Thailand to 
pursue a refugee claim there with UNHCR, or to go to Hong 
Kong.  Jia chose Hong Kong, where he expected help from 
sympathetic Falun Gong practitioners there.  Yang explained 
that NTU professors Chang and Ming were willing to help Jia 
because he shared their hatred of the CCP, and had publicly 
urged its members to quit.  Chang and Ming were responsible 
for energizing the Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong, who 
ultimately helped Jia secure a seven-day stay in Hong Kong. 
 
¶7. (C)  Yang told AIT that Jia did in fact suffer an 
emotional breakdown at the airport on the morning of October 
25, when he was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong, as had been 
reported in the press.  According to Yang, Jia was afraid of 
"facing the unknown" in Hong Kong, where he feared he might 
be detained by Chinese authorities.  After he recovered his 
composure, Jia flew to Hong Kong on the afternoon of October 
¶25.  Yang said the Taiwan government has received no 
communication from the PRC on Jia's case, and has not been 
pressured by Beijing in any way. 
 
¶8.  (C)  MAC told AIT that, at the behest of the Taiwan 
representative office in Hong Kong, the New Zealand 
representative there had agreed to issue Jia a visa.  Taiwan 
authorities had agreed to pay for Jia's flight to New 
Zealand, which would have transited Taiwan.  Unfortunately, 
the New Zealand visa request was denied.  According to Yang, 
as of November 2, 7:00 p.m. Taiwan time, Hong Kong Falun Gong 
practitioners are hoping to secure for Jia a direct flight to 
Thailand, where he may try to petition for refugee status. 
WANG