Taipei - 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.

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.

Cai could be jailed on return to China for defection.

In his letter, Tsai said that he is not afraid of the consequences because they cannot be worse than his sufferings in Taiwan.

"Although China will not treat me as a human being if I return to China, at least I will be close to my family members and I won't have to beg for a living," he said in the letter.

Cai said he believed Taiwan is delaying giving him permanent residency for fear of hurting Taipei-Beijing ties which have improved rapidly since pro-China President Ma Ying-jeou took office on May 20.

Cai lives on a 10,000-Taiwan-dollar (320 US dollars) monthly subsidy, and cannot work, seek medical care or apply for a mobile phone because he does not have permanent residence in Taiwan.

Last month Cai sought asylum from the de-facto UN embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). AIT rejected him, saying Taiwan has a well-established mechanism for protecting the rights of defectors, so the issue should be settled by Taiwan. (dpa)