Chinese Consular Worker Reconsiders, Won’t Defect
A Chinese consular employee changed his mind about defecting to the United States out of fear of endangering relatives in China, a spokesman for the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Assn. in Los Angeles said today.
The association had scheduled a 3 p.m. announcement of the defection today in Chinatown, describing the defector only as an employee of a consulate of the People’s Republic of China.
Association spokesman George Chang, saying the announcement was canceled, declined to identify the intended defector or the city in which the consulate is located.
“He changed his mind because of the security of his family,” Chang said, adding that the man was afraid that “in doing so (defecting) he may endanger his family in China.”
Chang declined all further comment except to say this is not the first time a would-be defector changed his mind.
“It’s quite common,” he said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said in response to questions at a daily news media briefing that he knew nothing of the report and would not comment on it even if he did.
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