China tourist sought Taiwan asylum to air views

TAIPEI, Oct 29 (Reuters) A Chinese man, denied political asylum in Taiwan after leaving his tour group last week, said today he wanted to use the island's freedom of speech to promote democracy in China and that he faces jail time back home.

Jia Jia, 55, a part-time science professor in the Shanxi provincial capital, Taiyuan, said he joined a Taiwan-bound tour group intending to break away and seek asylum.

He is the son of a Nationalist Party air force official, who stayed behind after the Nationalists fled to Taiwan after being routed by the Communist Party in 1949 in China's civil war.

If the asylum bid had been approved, Jia said he would have published pro-democracy articles in an environment free from punishment by Communist Party government officials.

''If you choose Taiwan to do activities promoting democracy in China, the conditions are ripe,'' Jia told Reuters by phone.

''A lot of people in the mainland think Taiwan is their only hope,'' said Jia, who is also secretary general of the Shanxi Provincial Association of Science and Technology Experts.

''I want to tell Taiwan people to gather together with us and not believe the Communist Party.'' Divorced for 24 years, Jia said he had already sent his son to a university in New Zealand as part of his plan to get the family out of China.

Jia escaped his 27-member tour group on October 22 after clearing customs at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, local media said. He turned himself in on Wednesday after a police manhunt.

Jia said he was staying with a friend in Taipei.

Police asked where he was staying and why he wanted asylum but took few notes when they woke him up at dawn in police custody to go to the airport, Jia said. He said he told Taipei police they were behaving like Communist leaders in China.

''They didn't say I was rejected, but they hauled me off to the airport,'' he said. ''I was really mad.'' Taipei police have declined to discuss the case, but they confirmed that Jia was deported.

Jia can spend seven days in Hong Kong but hopes another country will take him in before that time expires. He has supporters in Hong Kong, but said Chinese agents were following him everywhere.

Jia said his family was sent to Shanxi province 30 years ago as punishment for his father's Nationalist Party affiliation. He is afraid to return after seeking asylum.

''I'd go to jail. I'd definitely go to jail -- that's for sure,'' he said.

Taiwan, which is more prosperous than most of China, began allowing a limited number of Chinese tour groups in 2002 and has admitted about 160,000 Chinese nationals. Taiwan seldom grants asylum requests. Beijing sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to strike it.

REUTERS SP BD1014