A Chinese dissident in transit at a Taiwan airport pleads for help in seeking asylum

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Chinese dissident known for regularly commemorating the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square fled to Taiwan on Friday and pleaded for help in seeking asylum in the United States or Canada.

In a video he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Chen Siming said he was in the transit area at Taoyuan International Airport to escape Chinese political persecution.

“The Chinese police’s stability maintanece methods directed towards me were becoming more and more cruel and crazy,” he said in his post. “They detained me at will without following legal procedures, taking my cellphone and even giving me a psychiatric evaluation. I can no longer continue to accept the ravaging of my personal dignity, the trampling of my honor and the threat to my body.“

It is unclear how Chen was able to travel to Taiwan, but he told The Associated Press that he had left China on July 22. Taiwan is a self-governing island that is claimed by China.

Chen said starting in 2017, police had taken him into detention every year, primarily for his annual commemorations of the June 4 crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The shortest was a week in length, and 15 days for the longer stretches, he said.

In China, public memorials in honor of the protesters who were killed in the crackdown are likely to attract police attention, detention or arrest.

In May, authorities in China’s southern Hunan province detained Chen after he made a posting on social media commemorating the crackdown. He described being harassed by state security police over the years during “sensitive periods” around the anniversary date.