《TAIPEI TIMES》Former CCTV host seeks political asylum in Taiwan

Former China Central Television (CCTV) talk show host Cheng Wanjun (Cheng Wanjun) sought political asylum in Taiwan yesterday, a day after arriving at Taoyuan International Airport on a connecting flight via Thailand.

In a video posted on X, Cheng Wanjun said he called on Taiwan to grant him temporary asylum on humanitarian grounds while he would seek permanent resettlement in a third country.

Cheng Wanjun said that he had previously served as the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Legal System and Life" and hosted legal programs on state-owned CCTV.

He said he got into trouble with Chinese authorities in 2019 over a video that showed him in an internal meeting of a government agency discussing rulers whose actions had led to the downfall of their country. The video was later reported to authorities.

Chinese police arrested him in Beijing in November that year on charges of illegal business operations, and a court later sentenced him to six years in prison, he said.

While serving his sentence, Cheng Wanjun wrote a manuscript called "The Unyielding Spirit of Freedom: Confessions of China's Political Prisoners," which was published by the independent Chinese online journal Yibao last November, he said.

After his release from prison, he said, he went into exile in Thailand, where he lived in fear that Thai authorities might extradite him to China, as they have done with other dissidents.

Cheng Wanjun said he submitted a report on the risks faced by dissidents in Thailand to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on October 17.

Worried that he might be deported to China and face persecution, Cheng Wanjun said he had no choice but to seek temporary asylum in Taiwan.

"I just want to spend the rest of my life creating and expressing myself freely," he said.

Under Taiwanese law, Chinese nationals arriving by air without a valid entry permit may be sent back to their flight's previous destination, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

Taiwan's National Immigration Administration yesterday declined to comment further on Cheng Wanjun's current situation, saying it was coordinating with relevant agencies and would handle the case through existing procedures.