A Chinese dissident attempting to claim asylum in Taiwan since last year asked to be repatriated on Saturday, following an unsuccessful bid for refugee status, DPA reported. Cai Lujun, 40, made the request in a letter emailed to the Taiwan government. Taiwan officials have said that they would respect Cai's wish. Cai, a former businessman in Hebei Province in China, was a jailed for three years in 2003 for criticizing the Chinese government on the internet. On July 26, 2007, he fled to Taiwan on a fishing boat to seek asylum. Cai was kept in a detention centre for illegal Chinese job seekers for three months and was released in December 2007, after Taipei confirmed he was a bona fide defector. Taiwan promised to grant asylum to Cai and four other Chinese pro-democracy activists - some of whom have been in Taiwan for four years - or find a third country to accept them. However no asylum status has been forthcoming.
