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European Friends of Falun Gong Speak at UK Parliamentary Seminar on Falun Gong
Friday, March 01, 2002 Firstly I would like to thank Dr Ladyman for organising today's seminar, and to
thank all our speakers and everyone else for attending. I would also like to
thank sincerely everyone who has given their patronage and support to Friends of
Falun Gong Europe, to the cause of helping the campaign to change the Chinese
government's attitude towards Falun Gong.
I don't think it is any exaggeration to say that the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners by the Jiang Zemin regime is the most serious example of
human rights abuse in the world today. So far, 366 practitioners have been
killed while in custody, and many more, whose names we do not know, are
unaccounted for. Many more thousands have been illegally detained, sent to
labour camps without trial or put in mental hospitals for what the Chinese
authorities call 're-education' or 'corrective treatment'. Of course we know
those expressions are simply euphemisms for torture, both mental and physical.
Recent events in Beijing have added extra poignancy to the situation. Four
times western practitioners have used their own money to go there to appeal to
the Chinese government to release all practitioners and to stop the torture and
killing, 36 western practitioners in November, 3 in January and finally 60 on
February 14th. These acts of selfless sacrifice have shown to the world and to
the Chinese government that the persecution of Falun Gong is no longer merely a
Chinese issue, but a world issue. China now knows that the rest of the world
will not sit back and watch as they carry on their brutal persecution.
During the last year, Friends of Falun Gong Europe has encouraged major
public figures to become involved in the campaign to end the torture. We have
tried to increase public awareness of the plight of the practitioners in China
by circulating leaflets, issuing a monthly newsletter, and by writing to
institutions, governmental and otherwise, asking for help to put pressure on
China. We have made public appeals in various places including Strasbourg,
Brussels and outside the Chinese embassy in London.
One thing we in Europe can do is to keep up the economic pressure on China.
As you know, China has recently acceded to the WTO, which will allow it to
become more integrated into the world economy. China represents to the rest of
the world a vast market for new areas of trade never before exploited. Large
multi-national companies and international organisations such as the WTO must
therefore exert more pressure on the Chinese government by making it plain that
their human rights record is totally unacceptable, and that to allow Falun Gong
practitioners to exercise their constitutional right to freedom of belief can
only enhance China's standing on the world stage, and, furthermore, increase the
nation's wealth and prosperity. Falun Gong practitioners, with their principles
of 'Truth, Compassion and Forbearance', should be treasured by the government.
Jiang Zemin must be made to understand that allowing Falun Gong practitioners to
exercise freely can only help the nation to develop both morally and
economically.
Whether you believe in Falun Gong or not is not the issue at stake. The issue
is that an oppressive regime cannot be allowed to continue its policy of state
terrorism against its own citizens. We must do all in our power to stop the
killing, stop the torture and stop the persecution.
We need the British government's and all kind people's continuous support and
efforts to call upon the Chinese authorities to release Zhao Ming, a student at
Trinity College, Dublin; to give Minghui, a two-year old girl and daughter of
Falun Gong practitioners, proper citizenship; to release Baolian Zhu, a UK Falun
Gong practitioner's sister, who has been illegally given a 4-year sentence in
Beijing after refusing to renounce her beliefs.
Friends of Falun Gong Europe Posting date: 3/4/2002 |