Script:

Mr Irwin Cotler,

I am honoured to be here because I am amongst those whose values are not only shared but I think are the values shared by a common humanity, the values of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance are ancient chinese values, they are values given to the common heritage of mankind. I think these are the values that inspired Shenli when he was imprisoned, these are the values which inspired Falun Gong practitioners wherever they may be, these are the values that allow Falun Gong to persevere in the face of the most persistent and pervasive assaults on human rights in China since Tienanmen Square and in terms of the Falun Gong for the last 2 years, an unprecedented intensification of the violation of human rights of Falun Gong. I am delighted to be here because I am sitting between 2 people and I can tell you as someone who has been involved in representing political prisoners as their legal counsel in other parts of the world, the common things that resulted in the release of political prisoners were really 4 things. These are the 4 things that I find in the case of Shenli Lin.

Firstly, moral and physical courage of Shenli himself, that regardless of how the Chinese authorities would try to brainwash him, to break him or alter his thinking, he persevered. So, I would like to highlight his moral and physical courage.

Secondly, moral courage of Jinyu, his wife, she is a model of what Canadian citizenship is all about, of people who remind governments of their responsibility, who remind their governments of how we have to live up to the values that we proclaim and that we have to implement those values in practice.

Thirdly, the Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world who acted as a support system for Jinyu and Shenli when he was in prison, who were the ones who engaged in hunger strike, who engaged in marches, who engaged in demonstrations, who showed what a spiritual meditation exercise movement is all about.

Finally, I get back to where I began, that is, underlying everything, inspiring everything and making everything possible are these values of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. The rest of the world would start to share these values and the Chinese authorities would say, "Wait a minute this is what we gave and can give to the world". Instead of repressing Falun Gong, we use Falun Gong as a model, people who are expressing the best of Chinese civilization, I think we would have a different world in China, and I think we would have a different world generally speaking. I'm honoured to be here today.

I think NGO communities, I think the Canadian people would like the Canadian government on their behalf.

1. Now, at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on human rights in Geneva, to use the occasion to speak out and to expose this campaign of incitement, vilification and threat against Falun Gong. It is important that not only the Canadian government but the international community make their voices felt in Geneva at this time because our silence would imply somehow even though it would not be intended to be that, that we somehow either can censure this, or be complacent or are indifferent to this. It is important that we say to anyone who values justice and to anyone who cares about injustice to speak out. I would have liked to see Canada cosponsor a resolution against China at the UN Commission on human rights. That is what I recommended, that is what I think Canadian people would have liked to see, but at the very least Canada should speak up with a strong voice at the UN Commission on human rights.

2. It has to be made clear to the Chinese authorities that it cannot be business as usual with us as long as they engage in this persistent and pervasive campaign of violating the rights of Falun Gong. Therefore, we would have to rethink our entire network of relations with the Chinese authorities, that we want to have good trade relations, good academic bilateral exchanges, good bilateral exchanges on the legal level, we would like to continue our training programmes with regard to judges, but if the result of all that would be an intensification of the Chinese violation of human rights, then we would have to say that we can't abide by that, we can't go ahead and continue with business as usual. Then, we would be giving a kind of license to the Chinese government to continue their violation of human rights.

3. I think the Canadian government should make an inventory of all our relationships with China on every level. We should then hold these relationships to account and we should say that with respect to each of these sets of relations, we will monitor your conduct. If your conduct improves, these relations will improve. If your conduct stays as it is or worsens, then our relations will gradually reflect that. I think Canada is in a situation where it can state to the Chinese authorities that we value your civilization, we value your ancient values, we value that which you can contribute to the world, we would like to be partners with you in building a common humanity but if you are going to engage in this kind of inhumanity, then we can't be your partners and we can't be complacent with that inhumanity.

I think this is a strong message that we should not only send bilaterally in terms of our relationships between the Canadian government and the Chinese authorities, but this is the kind of message that we should be sending internationally with the European Union, USA, our Asian Pacific partners. So, the message will come through that the choice is really for the Chinese government at this point.

They can either have the kinds of relationships that will benefit us both and benefit our common commitment to human rights and to Truthfulness Compassion, Forbearance or they can continue on their path on which they have been going, and the result will be that we will not be their partners, we will not be with them. They will end up hurting themselves and the Chinese people in the process.

Posting date: 4/26/2002
Original article date: 4/25/2002
Category: News & Media Reports

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