(Clearwisdom.net) International human rights lawyer David Matas watched the NTDTV's Chinese New Year Spectacular show held on January 12, 2007 at Ottawa's National Arts Center. Mr. Matas expressed in an interview with the reporter that the Falun Gong community in some way represents the voice of the real China. He reminded non-Chinese governments to be vigilant of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) interference with the NTDTV shows.

Matas at NTDTV's Chinese New Year Spectacular show held on January 12, 2007 at the National Arts Center in Ottawa

Mr. Matas said in an interview, "The Falun Gong community in some way is the voice of the real China, the traditional China, the historical China. I think that the name NTDTV is illustrative because it stands for New Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was a glorious time in Chinese history."

Mr. Matas said, "It's different but the Falun Gong community represents a tie to the past, to Chinese tradition and it's an expression of probably the most organized, the most numerous, the most articulate, the most artistic connection to that old historical tradition. I really sort of see it in some way as the voice of China."

Regarding the CCP's interference with NTDTV shows overseas, Matas said that the interference exists worldwide, though it is not as serious as it is in mainland China. Mr. Matas said, "Right now the CCP is kind of a capper, a muffler, a silencer on the real voice of China and it can't even be heard within China, but outside China through the Falun Gong it can be heard through performances like this."

Mr. Matas said when analyzing the reason for the interference, "What they're (CCP) doing is protecting themselves against the accusations of human rights violations. What they're protecting themselves against is the ideological threat that Falun Gong represents."

"It's [Falun Gong] tied to the Chinese historical traditions of qigong, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, whereas communism is basically a western import. It has no historical Chinese roots." Mr. Matas said, "From the Chinese communist perspective, the Falun Gong Chinese traditions, it is their ideological enemy, so from my perspective, because I obviously disagree with everything that is repressive about Chinese communism, I see that the best hope for ending that repression is through the Falun Gong and their connection to the traditional Chinese culture and it's combating communism."

Mr. Matas said further, "I was actually pleased to see the Canadian government expel the Chinese diplomat who was involved in spying on the Falun Gong. And there's been others. I know in the Chinese consulate in Calgary there was a police report that they were involved in inciting hatred and those people have left. In the Chinese consulate in Toronto there was a libel case that succeeded against a Chinese consulate official and he's left."

Posting date: 1/18/2007
Original article date: 1/18/2007
Category: Eyewitness Accounts
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/1/17/147034.html

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