FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 10, 2002 [ http://www.faluninfo.net/ ]

July 10, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Center) - Top broadcast officials of the Chinese government called a press conference on Monday with international media to condemn what they called "interruptions" of satellite TV broadcasts aimed at rural areas of China. The Falun Dafa Information Center does not know who tapped into these satellite signals.

What is known, however, is that previous taps into local cable TV broadcasts gave the people of Mainland China the opportunity to know the truth behind Jiang Zemin's three-year systematic and brutal suppression of Falun Gong, as well as offered a glimpse of the true nature of the practice.

Under a regime with a monopoly on information, where citizens are regularly tortured or killed for what they believe or what they say, this in itself is a noble and courageous act.

Consider that, although Jiang's government is quick to point out the "illegal" nature of the broadcast interruptions, the government itself has failed to honor its own laws during the last three years of persecuting Falun Gong. The results of these violations: over a thousand innocent people have been killed, over 100 thousand are held in forced-labor camps, and literally tens of millions are harassed, threatened, and barred from practicing a peaceful belief and meditation (by late 1998, there were 70-100 million people practicing Falun Gong in China according to a Chinese government survey at that time). Every means of expression and every avenue of legal appeal available and guaranteed by China's constitution have been forcibly revoked from Falun Gong practitioners.

Let us remember that Gandhi's salt march was also "illegal," as was Martin Luther King's rally in Birmingham, which landed him in prison.

Jiang's regime implicated foreign sources for the broadcasts, an assertion they were not able to substantiate, when asked. By shifting responsibility to foreigners, Jiang's regime avoids acknowledging that the people of China possess the courage, capabilities, and the hearts to clear the air in such a public manner-that is, that Falun Gong is not nearly "eradicated," but is in fact deeply rooted in the hearts of Chinese throughout the country. Such implicating of foreigners also allows the Chinese government to claim that the spying and harassment tactics it employs on foreign soil are somehow justified-this should give democratic nations and citizens reason to pause.

In times when violence tops the headlines across the globe, the commitment to peaceful principles is apparent in the uniformly peaceful methods used by Falun Gong practitioners in China and abroad. In China's long history, never has a group sustained public, nonviolent resistance to brutal leadership. These people have-time and time again-put themselves in harm's way to peacefully clarify the truth about their practice and its unjust persecution by Jiang's regime. These peaceful methods are consistent with the traditions of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, yet the malicious propaganda churned out by the Chinese government has slowed the recognition of this fact.

Thus, haven't those who had the means and skills to pull off these broadcasts actually protected freedom and truth in China? This benefits all Chinese people. In history, the truth about totalitarian regimes and large-scale persecutions emerges eventually. In this case, too, the truth will be revealed.

The Ministry of Information Industry's (MII) Radio Regulatory Department's strident reaction to the broadcasts and pledge to punish those responsible reflects the real motivation for such tight control over information and news: fear that the people in China and throughout the world will learn the true nature and scope of the persecution against Falun Gong.

When the full extent of the atrocities committed by Jiang's regime is revealed to the world, the nobility of those who are upholding justice under pressure will surely find its proper place in history.

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It is a practice that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50 countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100 million practicing Falun Gong, China's President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999, fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it.

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of over 432 deaths since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600. Over 100,000 have been detained, with more than 20,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps without trial.