Taiwan: Bicycle Tour Across the Island Calls for China to Release Falun Gong Practitioners (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net) In order to rescue Falun Gong practitioners currently being detained and sentenced by Chinese authorities, Taiwan Falun Dafa Association launched a Bicycle Tour Across Taiwan entitled, "Let kind and innocent Taiwan citizens return home! Stop China from trampling upon Taiwan's human rights." The tour set off on the morning of October 28, 2003 from the front gate of Chong ChengáMemorial Temple in Taipei, dividing into East and West branches to travel across the whole island. Before leaving, the practitioners heard the news that Lin Hsiao-kai was released, but there are still many other Falun Gong practitioners suffering from illegal detention. Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan share the same understanding: so long as the persecution is not ended, their rescue efforts will not stop.

Setting off from the front gate of Chong Cheng Memorial Temple in Taipei	Collecting signatures	Seeing off the Bicycle Tour (the front car is the support car)

At the press conference of the bicycle tour, the Chairman of the Taiwan Falun Dafa Association, Prof. Chang Ching-hsi said that Falun Gong is a cultivation that teaches practitioners to be good people, and has never been against the Chinese government. Arbitrary detention of Taiwanese people is unacceptable, and will upset people in both Taiwan and China. Currently, there are more than 300,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan; together with their relatives, the number amounts to hundreds of thousands of people, he said. He hopes the Chinese government will think deeply of the Chinese people's future.

Mr. Guo Tiancai, a Legislative Committee member of Lin Hsiao-kai's hometown in Tainan said that Falun Gong is freedom of belief. During his previous post as Director of Education, he used to list Falun Gong as one of courses for Teachers' Study Camps. He found that Falun Gong is a cultivation that values morality, so he called upon China to end the irrational suppression of Falun Gong as soon as possible.

Mr. Li Jiajin, a Legislative Committee Secretary said the parliament amended the "Statute of People's Relationship in Both Taiwan and China" so as to create a harmonious and mutually beneficial relationship. He also said that if China doesn't want to damage the relations between people in Taiwan and China, the authorities should release all Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners as soon as possible, to safeguard the human rights and release all Falun Gong practitioners from the Chinese jails.

Falun Gong practitioners' representative Mr. Yang Youguo expressed that participating in the island wide tour is based on his sense of justice and his support for human rights. He emphasized that Falun Gong is a cultivation that teaches people to be good and that those who persecute good people must be have bad intentions. He hoped people all over the world would give support so as to end the persecution of Falun Gong as soon as possible.

Twenty Falun Gong practitioners participated in this bicycle tour. They divided into East and West branches and will travel to all counties and cities in Taiwan. The west branch traveled south from Taipei to Kaohsiung; the east branch traveled from Taipei, passing through Keelung until Pingdong. The two branches are scheduled to meet on November 10 at Chong Cheng Culture Center in Kaohsiung, and hold a press conference at 3:00 p.m. at the Chong Cheng Culture Center to finish up the tour. Along the way, they will invite all Taiwanese to sign their names to show their support, and request China to obey the International Human Rights Treaty, to safeguard people's basic freedom of belief and their safety, to release innocent Taiwanese as soon as possible and stop violating Taiwan people's basic human rights.

The east branch arrived at their first stop, Keelung, at 4:00 p.m. on October 29. The photos show the practitioners on bicycles passing through downtown Keelung. From 4:00p.m. to 6:00p.m. is the rush hour when people are off work, and there are crowds of people. Keelung practitioners and practitioners participating in the bicycle tour collected signatures at the boat dock and gained many kind-hearted people's support. At 10:00 a.m. on October 30, the practitioners held a press conference at Keelung Culture Center.

The west branch traveled through Xindian in the morning and they attracted much attention along the way. In the afternoon they arrived in Zhonghe City and Yonghe City and visited the Deputy Mayor of Zhonghe City and a Representative in Yonghe City.

Deputy Mayor read Falun Gong Human Rights Report	Taking a photo with the Representative in Yonghe City

The Deputy Mayor of Zhonghe City said people doing good deeds should be encouraged, and this is needed in society. Though he hadn't met with Falun Gong practitioners before, he has never heard that Falun Gong has done anything to violate the law. He also heard that Falun Gong is good for people's health and can purify people's minds, so he felt he should give support for Falun Gong.

A Representative from Yonghe City expressed that safeguarding people's basic living right and dignity is everybody's responsibility, and especially when Taiwanese people are suffering persecution, she felt she should step forward to help. She knows that Falun Gong is a healthy activity in Taiwan, and people practice it in small or big parks in almost every residential area. Falun Gong helps people to improve both physically and mentally, and it has no political agenda, so she would like to step forward to help more people to strive for basic rights and dignity.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/10/29/59661.html

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version