Newsday (New York): A Mother's Heartache

By Mae M. Cheng
STAFF WRITER

November 10, 2002

Amy Lee suffers a mother's anguish at not having seen her young daughter in nearly three years, grief she blames on the Chinese government.

Lee, 35, a fashion designer living in Elmhurst, escaped her native China in late 1999 after she was persecuted for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that has been the target of a brutal crackdown in her home country.

Since then, Lee has not seen her daughter, now 7, despite U.S. approval of a visa for the girl to immigrate to the United States. Lee said that Chinese officials have refused to give her daughter, Luo Meng Lin, a passport to travel to the United States because Lee practices and is an advocate for Falun Gong.

"She always asks me, 'Daddy and Mommy say I can come. How many days before we get together?'" Lee said. "It's unfair."

According to Lee, her ex-husband, who is taking care of Meng Lin, went to the local police department in Guangzhou, China this September in an attempt to get their daughter a passport. But officials have refused to issue one.

Lee said she has also called the police department several times but to no avail. On one occasion, Lee said, a police official told her that a passport would not be issued because Lee, through her advocacy of Falun Gong in China and the United States, had shown that she was anti-government. [Falun Gong practitioners clarify the facts of Falun Gong to urge the Jiang regime to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. Falun Gong is apolitical, and is not against any government.]

[...]

"I want to get back to China to see my daughter, but my family says you can't come back. As soon as you come back, you'll get arrested," said Lee, who was granted political asylum in the United States last year after she successfully made a case that she would be persecuted in China for her ties to Falun Gong.

[...]

Lee said she is continuing to plead with Chinese officials. Until she can be reunited with her daughter, she tries to keep contact with Meng Lin through weekly telephone calls.

"She draws pictures and sends them to me," Lee said. "Every time after I talk with her, I can't help but cry."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyfalu102999233nov10,0,7890875.story?coll=ny-nynews-reddots-headlines

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