I think the article's generalization about the increasing number of people seeking to emigrate from China is accurate.

China doesn't release statistics about people leaving the country to seek asylum (and likely does not even have them) so we can't accurately measure the rate of people fleeing China.

The rate of PRC citizens illegally entering the US has increased dramatically in the last three years.

That figure is for "visa lodgment" which is an application for asylum sent from outside Australia. Onshore applications by people who already arrived by plane is over 10k the past 12 months.

Boat arrivals (which is focus of the article) can apply for asylum but can't resettle in Australia.

“The European Council strongly condemns support by third countries, and actors and entities therein, which enable Russia to sustain its war of aggression against Ukraine,” read a draft statement negotiated by representatives of the 27 states.

“The highly publicised failed missions have not deterred everyone. Last week, a Chinese resident commented on a Douyin video about zouxian to Australia. ‘I’m at the end of the road. I can’t survive any more. I want to go. I want to go very much,’ he said.”

“… the UN’s refugee agency – which has registered around a third of all displaced people and refugees – recorded 137,143 asylum seekers from China in 2023, five times the number registered a decade earlier at the start of Xi’s rule. By July this year it had grown to 176,239.”

It’s not all bad news -

China sees slowest home price decline in 17 months amid signs of stabilisation
www.reuters.com/markets/asia...

However, retail sales, a gauge of consumption, grew at its weakest pace in three months at 3.0% last month, much slower than a 4.8% rise seen in October. Analysts had predicted a 4.6% expansion.