The Biden administration should authorize the expedited asylum of 35-year-old Chinese refugee Kwon Pyong.
Kwon is a critic of China's all-powerful president, Xi Jinping. He was arrested off the South Korean coast last week after making an extraordinary escape across the Yellow Sea. The BBC reports that Kwon was previously imprisoned in China for criticizing Xi. This is no small offense in China, being that Xi is obsessed with ensuring the public loyalty of all his subjects. High-profile Chinese have been sent to the gulag simply for calling Xi a clown, for example.
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Still, Kwon's courage is undeniable. The BBC notes how "South Korea's coast guard said the man, wearing a life jacket and helmet, was towing five barrels of fuel from Shandong province behind the 1800cc machine."
As shown in my Google Maps screenshot below, it's no small feat to use a jet ski to get from China to South Korea. Indeed, the risks Kwon accepted of drowning or being intercepted by Chinese vessels or being dragged by currents into China-supplicant North Korea were great. That Kwon made this journey is a testament to his courage and his desire to live free.
The United States should recognize that desire for basic freedom. While South Korea's conservative president is taking tentative but significant steps to support U.S.-Japanese efforts to deter China's regional imperialism, Seoul remains cautious to avoid unnecessarily aggravating Beijing. Recognizing that reality, the U.S. should step into the breach.
Time is of the essence. Seoul might not grant refuge to Kwon. Moreover, his public display of resolute resistance to Xi and to the Chinese Communist Party also puts him at risk of Beijing's retaliation. This bears note in that China's vast global security intelligence apparatus is increasingly replicating the strategy employed by Russia in hunting down its perceived enemies. Because of its economic influence, China is even able to rely upon Western multinational corporations such as HSBC to support this repression.
Even if American firms like Pat Gelsinger's Intel are willing to betray American values in Beijing's service, the U.S. government should not replicate their ignominy. Kwon's sole crime was to breach South Korean immigration law in pursuit of freedom.
Yes, there are legitimate and necessary political debates about U.S. asylum policy. But most Americans would surely unify around this stalwart example of the desire for human freedom. Kwon encapsulates the great distinction between Xi's vision for the world and that which America has helped provide since 1945. He deserves American refuge. If Beijing doesn't like it?
Too bad.