U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: We will not sit idly by as [suppressors] infringe upon the rights of our citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong
October 4, 2004 I would like to commend my colleagues, the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Woolsey) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee),
for their dedication and support of this resolution. I would also like to thank
the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde), as well as the gentleman
from California (Mr. Lantos), our ranking member, and our entire
leadership for bringing this resolution to the floor today.
I rise today to call attention to the horrific specter of the repression
imposed upon a peaceful spiritual movement, the Falun Gong, by the largest
authoritarian regime in the world today, the Communist regime in China.
On July 22, 1999, a date which will live in the annals of human rights
violations as a day of infamy, the Beijing authorities declared the Falun Gong
illegal, branding it a so-called ''evil cult.'' This immediately prompted mass
arrests, torture and reported deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in official
custody, which continues unabated to this present day.
These Falun Gong practitioners still in Chinese custody include at least
one American citizen, Dr. Charles Lee. Members of Congress have repeatedly
called for his immediate release, and we renew that call here today.
This chamber has repeatedly condemned the Chinese regime's abhorrent
violations of human rights and the violations of freedom of belief and
conscience of the Falun Gong. We have done so by rendering our overwhelming
support to bipartisan resolutions that I have introduced with my colleague, the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), and numerous others.
However, H. Con. Res. 304 is different. This resolution before us today is
addressing something even more ominous. With over 70 cosponsors, this resolution
focuses on reports and investigations on the use of fear, intimidation and
oppression, often connected with violence, right here within the borders of our
own country, within the United States.
Falun Gong practitioners, while peacefully and nonviolently exercising
their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly, have been intimidated
from California to New York by agents of the Chinese regime. They have, as we
have outlined in this resolution, been physically harassed on the streets of San
Francisco, assaulted on the streets of Chicago outside of the Chinese consulate
and attacked on the streets of New York by individuals with reported ties to the
Chinese regime.
Let those listening to this debate, including representatives of any
foreign governments having strategies for suppressing free speech in this
country, remember one thing: This is the United States of America, the cradle of
freedom and democracy. We will not sit idly by as you infringe upon the rights
of our citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong. Any interference in the
exercise of free speech inside our land will result in the expulsion of those
who engage in such actions.
In the land of the free, all voices will be heard. In the home of the
brave, a hundred or more flowers will bloom, including the Falun Gong's
spiritual movement.
I ask my colleagues to send a clear message to the Chinese regime and to
immediately and unconditionally stop its deplorable treatment of the Falun Gong
spiritual movement, both inside China and specifically here in the United
States.
I ask for a ''yes'' vote on H. Con. Res. 304.
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/10/6/85939.html
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