Chinese asylum seeker prompts plane return

A Chinese asylum seeker due to be deported home has been kicked off a plane in Sydney after protesting to passengers on board, advocates say.

Wei Lin was boarded a flight in Sydney airport on Friday night after last-minute legal action failed to prevent his deportation, the Refugee Action Coalition said in a statement on Saturday.

He was accompanied by two Serco guards and claims to have been handcuffed during the incident.

Shortly before take-off Lin moved to the front of the plane before complaining to passengers he was a political asylum seeker being forcibly removed from the country.

The pilot ordered the plane to return to the terminal, and Lin was later returned to Villawood detention centre.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul says Lin is a professional athlete who has been "harassed" in China because of his knowledge of the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Chinese sport.

But the federal government says Lin had no ongoing matters before the immigration department or courts, and had refused to depart voluntarily.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the department took its duty of care to those being deported seriously.

"People who have exhausted all outstanding avenues to remain in Australia and have no lawful basis to remain are expected to depart," he told AAP in a statement on Saturday.