Relations between Australia and China have been upset by reports that a heavily-pregnant Chinese woman whom Australia deported to China was forced to have an abortion on arrival there.
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, said yesterday: "If that happened, then I'm quite horrified. It offends my own instincts and I'm sure the instincts of millions of Australians."
Mr Howard has demanded an investigation into the woman's claim that she was forcibly repatriated in 1997 despite protesting that her unborn baby would be aborted under China's one-child policy.
She alleges she was told a deal had been secured with Chinese officials not to abort her baby. Australian Senator Brian Harradine said the unidentified woman already had a daughter and after she returned to China her baby was forcibly aborted, even though it was due to be born in just 10 days.
"It would have been against policy for somebody in that situation to be returned against their will," Mr Howard said. "The matter is going to be investigated quite stringently."
Mr Harradine said he had documents from the Behai City People's Hospital detailing the woman's abortion. The mother was held in the remote Port Hedland Detention Centre for illegal immigrants in Western Australia.
A boat person detained since 1994, she had a daughter at the centre but was not allowed to marry the father.
The president of the Australian Council of Refugee Advocacy, Ms Marion Le, released the woman's video evidence taped in Behai City. She is seen sobbing and holding up the certificate for the abortion - for which she was forced to pay 805.60 yuan, about £70. She accused the Australian Immigration Department of cheating her.