The Chinese Embassy in London Refused to Renew a Cambridge Practitioner's Passport

Dafa practitioner Xiaobing Deng is currently studying architecture at Cambridge University. His Chinese passport is due to expire on June 12, 2001. Following normal procedure, Deng visited the Chinese Embassy in London to renew but instead was denied. In April, Deng applied at the Chinese Embassy in person. He was told to come back and collect the new passport in two weeks. On May 14, Deng went to collect his renewed passport, but Embassy officials told him that his application had been denied. The official said it was because Deng is a Falun Gong practitioner, and the Chinese Embassy in London was not authorised to renew his passport until special permission can be obtained from higher authorities in Beijing. The Embassy returned the old passport to Deng and let him wait indefinitely. Currently Deng still has not completed his university course. If he fails to renew his passport, he will be forced to become a refugee in the UK. The persecution from Jiang Zemin's group on Falun Gong has extended overseas, and they have violated international laws in another country, forcing their citizen to become a refugee. Cambridge University is among prestigious and well-known institutions, which is also one of the origins of modern western democracy. The Chinese government wishes to force a Cambridge student to become a refugee, simply because he has different beliefs from the XX Party. Such behaviour cannot be comprehended by the western world. Deng had been praised by Chinese authorities, due to his academic achievements. When he was admitted to Cambridge the local Chinese authorities treated him as a model for other youths to progress and improve themselves. A few years later, this same student was denied the right to renew his passport and is facing exile away from home. Is it fair to take away his basic rights simply because he practices Falun Gong? Such 'retaliation' against Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Embassy in the UK has its precedents. Last year, the Embassy refused to register a newly born baby to its mother's passport. The baby was born in the UK and the parents are Falun Gong practitioners. Thus the baby was forced to become a refugee at the age of only a few months. After the crackdown of Falun Gong in China the parents had appealed to Beijing authorities, and they were arrested there. Eventually they managed to return to the UK. The British Foreign Office has had discussions with the Chinese Embassy in London on this matter. Twice at the UK-China human rights dialogue the Foreign Office also emphasized their views against the Embassy's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the UK. The Chinese representatives had once agreed to change. However, a few months later another incident of persecution against UK Falun Gong practitioners' basic human rights happened. Xiaobing Deng was in China for his studies during the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Gong in July 1999. At that time Jiang Zemin's group had just begun to arrest Falun Gong practitioners en masse. To protect Dafa, Deng joined other Chinese practitioners to appeal in Beijing. There he suffered from lack of food and shelter. He was arrested twice by the Chinese police and sent home. After he managed to return to the UK, Deng has been conducting himself as a true Dafa practitioner and clarifying the true facts while Dafa and Teacher have been slandered by lies and fellow practitioners are being tortured and detained. Are these the reasons why the Chinese authorities are willing to violate international laws in order to prevent him from remaining a resident in the UK? (Provided by UK practitioners)

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