It seems that the Australian government is not interested in granting asylum to the Chinese diplomat who fled his Sydney consular post, asking for protection and promising to reveal details of huge Chinese spy networks.

Are the Australians refusing him asylum because they are currently engaged in negotiating a free trade agreement with China? Or is the diplomat himself a complete fake who wants to flee China for unknown reasons?

Whatever the truth of this case, it seems that Chinese espionage is the Yelllow Peril of 2005.

Here then is some background reading from a variety of sources:

- Swissinfo / Reuters: Chinese diplomat asks Australia for protection

- Yahoo / AFP: China accuses asylum-seeking diplomat of lying to try to stay in Australia

- Peking Duck blog: Chinese defector's story grows stranger
There's a lively debate in comments section.

- The Horse's Mouth blog: Spy vs. Spy
This post contains a personal spy anecdote as well as excerpts from an opinion piece by former deputy assistant secretary of defense Peter Brookes, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense. Brookes' article, on conservative U.S. website Townhall.com, has an alarmingly retro title — Chinese spooks: a growing Red menace — but at least the author does not use the word 'Chicom'. He does however include a quote from Sun Tzu (Sunzi) and also mentions 'guanxi' as a factor in the success of Chinese spy recruitment. Even China-fearing Republicans cannot resist a little bit of the old linguistic Chinoiserie.

- The Australian: The spy revolution
Excerpt: "They have arrived in various disguises, most posing as diplomats, others as businessmen. And each has come armed with Sun Tzu's essential philosophy that knowledge is the key to strength."

Yes, once again, that Sun Tzu reference really makes one believe the journalist has good Chinese information sources. Kinda like saying British spies come armed with Shakespeare's philosophy that a spy must always ask himself "To be or not to be?"