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Friday, March 30, 2007

Chinese diplomat's wife defects to Canada

The Epoch Times, the Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun front page have the best coverage on this news breaking story.

It is noteworthy the defector topic got the media's attention (National Post, Radio-Canada Canoe CBC, CTV , etc) although the fact that 20 million quit the CCP went unreported in some instances. The Globe and Mail’s story is here with a slew of comments—some of them are pretty annoying.

It is clear that Zhang is not an opportunist, as the Globe and Mail lets on, and that her life would be at risk if she was to go back to China given the fact that she is a Falun Gong practitioner. Let’s hope that the Feds can do the math and grant her refugee status.

Epoch Times: 'Not the Last to Part From CCP' Says Diplomat's Wife

Forty-eight-year-old Zhang Jiyan is the wife of a diplomat at the Chinese embassy in Canada. She is also a Falun Gong practitioner. Zhang attracted the attention of the embassy for privately speaking with other embassy staff about the true situation of the Falun Gong and its persecution in China. The embassy began to monitor her and planned to confiscate her passport. Because of this pressure and to escape from being returned to China to face persecution, she made a decision on March 5 to leave the Chinese embassy.

Zhang noted that the Chinese ambassador had mentioned at an embassy all-staff meeting that he has delivered materials defaming Falun Gong to Canadian Members of Parliament, Canadian government officials, and the former Governor General of Canada. In addition, Chinese diplomats control Chinese communities in Canada in order to influence the mainstream society.

Zhang gave the example that, in 2005 when New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) was applying for permission to broadcast in Canada, embassy officials mobilized the Chinese communities and overseas Chinese students to oppose it by writing to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the regulating agency in Canada.

NTDTV is known to be a voice that dares to report the truth about events in China, she said, including China's human rights violations. She noted that in actual fact, the writers were expressing the opinions of the Chinese embassy. Moreover, embassy officials made great effort to lobby Canada's Rogers Cable TV to prevent NTDTV from landing in Canada. (more)

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Rally to Support 20 Million Official Resignations from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

To mark this special occasion, the Vancouver Chapter of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP and other NGOs will hold a rally on Saturday, March 31th, at 12:00 p.m. in Chinatown, at the corner of Gore and Keefer streets, to toll the bell for the approaching downfall of Communist tyranny in China. A series of events will be held in ten cities across Canada to support this phenomenon.

The wave of resignations from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that was triggered by the release of an editorial series called the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party several months ago has now reached a milestone: 20 million official resignations. The withdrawals are continuing at a rate of about 30,000+ per day. The Chinese are saying “No” to the tyrant Chinese Communist regime by publishing their formal announcement on the Quit CCP Announcement Website here.

Since its inception in 1949, the CCP has carried out so-called revolutionary campaigns of persecution and terror against its own people—80 million Chinese Nationals died in the history--the persecution of Falun Gong that has lasted for nearly eight years and continues unabated in China today being the most recent. With the release of their recent updated report into the Chinese illicit organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners titled ‘Bloody Harvest.’ Honourable David Kilgour and David Matas have revealed the Chinese military’s heavy involvement in this scheme, information highly incriminating and damaging to the CCP. Matas and Kilgour have traveled the world to inform government officials of their findings in order to raise awareness and have gained a significant amount of attention and support. Their courage has inspired many people to face their fear and break away from the CCP’s yoke. Observers and China experts believe that the wave of withdrawals from the Party has already reached the tipping point, signaling the CCP’s unavoidable end.

For more information, please visit: http://en.epochtimes.com/211,95,,1.html

Vancouver Chapter of the Quitting CCP Global Service Center
The Epoch Times Western Canada Society
Falun Dafa Association, BC Chapter
China Research Association

Activities in Vancouver:

Speeches and Rally: 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Saturday, March 31st, 2007 in Vancouver Chinatown (Gore at Keefer)
Rally at 12:00 pm followed by “Great Wall of Courage” in Chinatown

Ottawa:

Rally: 10:00 am – 12:30; Parade: 12:30 pm – 1:30pm
Friday, March 30, 2007
Parliament Hill, Ottawa
Parade Route: Downtown Ottawa

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Russian Falun Gong Refugee and Child Unlawfully Repatriated to China, CCP Delegation Believed Responsible; Lives at Risk

Mrs. Hui Ma and her daughter Jing Ma are now on a Russian Polkova Airline Flight No. 215. The plane will need to refuel at Novosibirsk Airport where we have the final chance to help them stay in Russia. Urge officials to stop all deportation procedures by sending a fax to the Ministry of Civil Affairs immediately. (more about Russia)

Fax: 007 495 625 98 85

FDI: NEW YORK, NY -(3/28/2007 14:47)- Falun Gong adherent Ms. Ma Hui and her 8-year-old daughter, Ma Jing, were seized on Tuesday by Russian Immigration officers at their St. Petersburg residence and forcibly put on a plane to China, sources from Russia tell the Falun Dafa Information Center. The Center is deeply concerned for the safety of mother and child, as the action is said to result from pressure by visiting Chinese communist diplomats. Witnesses say that a Chinese man, acting in tandem with a Russian police officer, was seen putting the couple on the plane. Once returned to China, imprisonment, forced labor, and torture, if not execution, are possible forms of punishment awaiting the Ma and child.

Ma Hui and daughter have been recognized as legitimate refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office in Russia the past three years, and were awaiting a March 30 court date regarding its renewal. Their seizure and deportation amounts to a violation of the non-refoulement prohibitions of Convention Against Torture, which Russia has ratified and is obligated to follow, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Ma Hui and her daughter were put on flight FV215, Polkova Airlines, departing from St. Petersburg at 7:50 PM Moscow time (11:50 AM EDT).

The Center is calling for urgent, immediate intervention, as the mother and child’s plane will reportedly land briefly in the Russian city of Novosibirsk for refueling and they might still be returned.

Mr. Bart Staes, a Member of the European Parliament and former Chairman of the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, sent a letter today to Russian authorities imploring them to stop the deportation. Staes stated that he was “very concerned that Mrs. Ma Hui will be arrested in China as soon as she gets off the plane,”and fears for her fate, given that “practitioners of Falun Gong die every day in China, in the context of organ harvesting and widespread torture…”

This incident is the culmination of several days of diplomatic kowtowing by Russian officials. In what appears an exaggerated attempt to satisfy a large retinue of visiting Chinese communist officials, Russian authorities have unlawfully detained and arrested numerous Falun Gong practitioners since Saturday. In each case persons were attempting to exercise constitutional rights of protest and demonstration in proximity to the Chinese Embassy in Moscow. On Saturday (news) seven Falun Gong were arrested, followed by another 22 on Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, sources in Russia report, adherents were being arrested throughout Moscow for passing out human rights literature or even merely wearing clothing identifying them as Falun Gong (e.g., trademark yellow scarves).

Letter: Falun Gong cynicism useless

Taipei Times: Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007, Page 8 - Although I recognize Jules Quartly's skepticism about the Falun Gong ("Falun Gong finds its own way," March 25, page 17), I can't say I appreciate his sense of cynicism when describing the nine-day workshop.

It's clear to me that his goal, as a starting point, was to write an entertaining piece for the paper rather than to seek personal enlightenment.

Besides the fact that he doesn't appear to have one predestined bone in his body, it's no wonder that the teachings did not seem to appeal to him.

I can't help but notice that Quartly's interpretation of the teachings seems to be stretched a bit far, almost to the point of sensationalism with a nuance of propaganda.

Nevertheless, there are countless reports of people who have experienced physical improvements and spiritual fulfillment through Falun Gong's simple, yet powerful qigong practice -- and they don't feel the need to move on to other practices. I am one of them.

However, finding fulfillment is not a given -- only if you can thoroughly understand the Great Law, Dafa, will you reap the benefits.

Marie Beaulieu
Victoria, British Columbia

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Russia: Epoch Times Reporter Banned From Covering Official "The Year of China" Opening in Russia

Russia is closely linked to China where arresting Epoch Times and NTDTV reporters - is seen as business as usual. Hmm...Where are Reporters without borders when you need them? Update: And now to top it all off - they are deporting Falun Gong practitioners who have their UN Refugee Status...what is wrong with this picture?

Excerpt Epoch Times: At that moment, the phone rang and the policeman repeated loudly an order he had just received: "Cross the Epoch Times reporter's name off the list and do not let him in." No explanations followed. The journalist took one picture of the tower, but in a few seconds, he was approached by a representative from the military commandant's office, who demanded he delete the picture. (more)

Australia: Falun Gong detainee facing deportation

Article 33 of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951, to which Australia is a signatory, declares that no refugee shall be returned to a country where "his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion". So, should we have returned a Falun Gong practitioner to China? (more)
Update: Detainees On Hunger Protest After Woman Deported

Sydney, Australia (AHN) by Sally Grover March 28, 2007 3:15 p.m. EST - - An estimated 60 detainees at Villawood Detention Centre are on a hunger strike after a Chinese woman was deported.

The 35-year-old Falun Gong worker was deported back to China and others are suspected to follow.

According to the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), the woman was wanted by police in China because of her work with with the banned group, Falun Gong.

She was working to expose persecution of Falun Gong members in China.

RAC spokesman Ian Rintoul told AAP, "It is understood that she has been taken to the airport for deportation to China this morning. The Government's actions have placed these asylum seekers' lives in danger."

According to Mr Rintoul, the woman had to be dragged from the detention center, kicking and screaming, by six guards.

The detainees are also protesting because another worker, An Xiang Tao, was taken to an isolation cell. Mr. Rintoul continued, "Detainees had been told that he was going to be deported today." (more)

Send your letters of appeal to Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews NOW to save a life.

Honourable Kevin Andrews, MP
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship

Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600

Phone: 02 6277 7860
Fax: 02 6273 4144
Email: Kevin.Andrews.MP@aph.gov.au

Tell Minister Andrews that Falun Gong practitioners that are sent back to China face torture and often become unwilling organ donors who are routinely killed during the process. He apparently doesn't know this or has chosen to look the other way.

Excerpt - SMH (AU) - March 28, 2007: On February 28, Xiang Tao An's jailmates formed a human barricade and prevented his removal by guards, after he said he feared having his organs removed and sold if he was sent back to China.

Yesterday, they were not given a chance to resist. As Mr An made a visit to the clinic in the detention centre at about 3pm, he was collected by guards and moved to the high-security Stage One section, said fellow detainees.

A Stage One detainee said last night they had been told he would be deported on an Air China flight today or tomorrow.

According to the Refugee Action Coalition, detainees were considering another demonstration last night to hamper Mr An's removal. "This is a vicious and vindictive move by the Minister for Immigration. Kevin Andrews could have used his discretionary powers to review Mr An's case, but instead he is sending this man back to prison or worse in China," said the coalition's Ian Rintoul.

An independent report published in Canada last year accused Chinese authorities of killing Falun Gong practitioners and selling body parts to foreigners. China, which says the Falun Gong group is a cult and banned it in 1999, denies the claim.

The Department of Immigration said Mr. An was an unlawful non-citizen and would not be in danger if he was sent back. (more)

Journalist sparks diplomatic incident at Beehive


Update: March 29, 2007

Why did the cadres become so nervous about this journo who writes about human rights and freedom? It's too easy to blame it on the Falun Gong. To find out what they are really trying to protect, scroll down to the Globe and Mail "The dragon and the kiwi go a-courting".

Radio New Zealand - March 27, 2007 - A journalist at the centre of a diplomatic incident at Parliament on Monday night claims Chinese officials put pressure on the Government.

Capital Chinese News reporter and photographer Nick Wang was asked to leave the Beehive by police and diplomatic protection officers.

He was there to cover a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen and China's visiting Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan.

Mr Wang says Chinese officials have accused him of being a member of the Falun Gong movement and criticised some of his past reporting.

Parliamentary press gallery chair Marie McNicholas,says she was pressured by a Chinese embassy official to have Mr Wang removed. She says she refused, but it appears the police acted instead.

A Government spokesperson says it was a misunderstanding; the office of the Speaker will be asking for a report.

Labour sacrifices free speech for trade deal
Scoop: “This incident is similar to the National Government’s appalling treatment of protesters during the 1999 visit of Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin, treatment which Labour condemned at the time.

What this new episode shows is that when it comes to compromising free speech to get a trade deal with the Chinese Government, Labour and National Governments are just as bad.

"Disturbingly, this also follows attempts by the Wellington City Council to exclude Falun Gong from public events in Wellington because the Chinese Embassy doesn’t like it.

“The Government must tell the Chinese Government that when they come to New Zealand they will be exposed to dissenting views because we value freedom of speech, trade deal or no trade deal."
The dragon and the kiwi go a-courting

GLOBE AND MAIL by FRANK CHING: 2006.06.22 - Pundits often focus on the relationship between China and America, Russia or Japan. Few write about China's other, seemingly unlikely, relationship with one of the world's smallest countries: New Zealand.

Yet that relationship is well worth watching. New Zealand was the first developed country to sign a bilateral agreement with China on its accession to the World Trade Organization; to recognize China's status as a market economy; to launch bilateral negotiations with China on a free-trade agreement.

When Premier Wen Jiabao visited Wellington in April, he expressed the hope the talks would conclude positively in a year or two, noting that relations between China and New Zealand can "serve as a model for the harmonious co-existence and reciprocal co-operation between countries with different political systems, different cultural traditions and different historical backgrounds." They are far from equals: China, with its population of 1.3 billion, is New Zealand's fourth-largest market, while New Zealand, with its four million people, is China's 52nd-largest trading partner.

So, what is New Zealand's attraction for China? According to Liu Quan, counsellor at the Chinese embassy, Beijing is opening up more.

"We are starting to deal with developed countries" and the relationship with New Zealand "is a kind of showcase." China has "a lot to learn from New Zealand." In a sense, New Zealand is China's window onto the developed world.

As for New Zealand, an FTA would be a big boon to its economy, since it would mean the elimination, or at least the substantial lowering, of Chinese tariffs. New Zealand removed most of its tariffs more than a decade ago.

The initiative for the FTA negotiations came from New Zealand, but China was happy to respond. "The world doesn't beat a path to our door," said Jim Sutton, New Zealand's associate minister for trade negotiations.

No doubt, China also appreciates New Zealand's independent foreign-policy stance. Wellington ended its alliance with the United States in the 1980s. New Zealand also did not support the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

China has negotiated FTAs with other countries, but never a comprehensive one with a developed economy. In the opening rounds, the New Zealand side repeatedly emphasized its desire for a "comprehensive" agreement, one that would include not only trade in goods but also services, investment and government procurement.

"We found we were getting pushed back on the word comprehensive," Mr. Sutton said, so he and his colleagues switched to the term "high quality." However, when Premier Wen visited, he pointedly used the term "comprehensive," signalling China's desire for a genuine FTA, not just one for window dressing purposes.

Still, Phil Goff, New Zealand's Minister of Trade, acknowledges that any agreement might have to be phased. "China," he said, "is not used to negotiating in a comprehensive way." According to Stuart Ferguson, chairman of the New Zealand China Trade Association, Chinese diplomats are keeping the New Zealand business community informed of the progress of negotiations. "I would meet with the Chinese consul general or commercial representative every other week," he said. This is transparency of a kind rarely found in China and much to be applauded.

Aside from economic relations, China and New Zealand are also developing cultural and educational relationships. China is setting up a Confucius Institute at the University of Auckland later this year. A primary purpose is to upgrade the teaching of the Chinese language in New Zealand. Confucius Institutes are a way of projecting Chinese soft power around the world.

And Peking University, the most prestigious educational institution in China, is scheduled to establish a New Zealand studies centre.

One of its first projects will be a translation of New Zealand literature into Chinese.

Beijing, it appears, is serious about ensuring that its excellent relations with New Zealand will be long-lasting as well.

Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Police Arrest Falun Gong Practitioners in Moscow

Apparently 22 more practitioners were detained and released yesterday and are scheduled to appear in court tomorrow at 10am Moscow time. Please appeal by writing to the embassies here and here.

Epoch Times: Russian police arrested eight Falun Gong practitioners who were holding a peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese embassy in Moscow on Saturday ahead of Hu Jintao's visit....

Participant Tamara Kim commented, "Later in the afternoon there was a Chinese delegation expected to arrive, so the tension immediately grew more acute. We crossed over to the other side of the pond, and sat in meditation, but the police did not hesitate to walk all the way over there to arrest us and take us away in their vans."

Kim said after a couple of hours spent in the Ramenki police division, most Falun Gong practitioners left without having been interrogated or accused of anything since the mission of removing them from the area had been accomplished.

The main activities for Hu Jintao's visit will be held in Moscow on March 26, 2007. (more)

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Pressure on UK government to act over ‘Chinese organ harvesting’

Wouldn't it be great if the governments of the free world would band together and demand some answers from China on live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. Seriously, there is no harm in asking, is there?


Call for action ahead of Beijing Olympics

Sunday Herald (Glasgow) By Bridget Morris - 25 March, 2007 - A SENIOR EXPERT on Asia has demanded Britain "take action now" against China, which he says is continuing to harvest organs "à la carte" from practitioners of the suppressed Falun Gong movement who are executed in prison.

David Kilgour, Canada's former secretary of state for Asia-Pacific, who will visit the Houses of Parliament this week, told the Sunday Herald that Britain is leaving the issue of organ harvesting unchecked and allowing Chinese officials to kill prisoners for their organs with impunity.

He put this down to Britain not wishing to create a diplomatic incident in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, concerns about protecting trade with China and the government "not listening to the expert advice they are given".

Kilgour and his colleague, lawyer David Matas, studied the transplant market in China in 2006 - their report concludes that several thousand organs have been illegally harvested from Falun Gong prisoners since 1999. Kilgour, one of Canada's longest-serving MPs, is now set to warn the UK government and British doctors that China must be brought to book over the practice, which it officially denies takes place.

He said: "I realise it is difficult to comprehend, but prisoners, especially Falun Gong prisoners, are being killed for their organs in China right now. They are executing prisoners à la carte' so that wealthy recipients get organs.

"Pressure must be put on the Chinese government to stop this, especially before the Beijing Olympics next summer. I would also call for doctors, diplomats, politicians, and ordinary people to start demanding answers about this, because, frankly, the Chinese government has none."

Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been jailed in China for holding meetings or owning literature about their faith. According to Amnesty International, China carries out 80% of the global total of sanctioned executions each year. There is also evidence from Kilgour and others that prisoners in many jails are given regular blood tests, the purpose of which is unclear.

Others also back Kilgour's research. British transplant expert Professor Tom Treasure described organ harvesting from prisoners as a "holocaust", noting in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine this month that health tourists from the West are contributing to the problem of Falun Gong convicts being killed for their kidneys, hearts, lungs and corneas.

Comparing the practice in China to the organised euthanasia of institutionalised patients in 1930s Germany, and noting the oddity of the high number of transplants offered in China at short notice, Treasure wrote of his "horror" at colleagues being complicit in the trade, and that "the story seems horrific to the point of being almost beyond belief".

There are signs China may be ready to deal with the issue, though. In November deputy health minister Huang Jiefu admitted "most of the organs for sale are from executed prisoners", but said huge domestic and international demand is causing "a shortfall". Although Huang promised to introduce a code of conduct, Kilgour says that, as most Falun Gong convicts are young and healthy, they are at huge risk of being executed "to order" for their organs.

He said: "People in Scotland may find this so beyond normal comprehension so as not to believe it. But it is true."

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that while concerns about organ harvesting had been brought up with China as recently as February, "to date we have not seen evidence to verify the reports, and therefore there is nothing to justify using public funds to mount an investigation."

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Amnesty International Urgent Action: 8 Falun Gong get re-education through labour, risk of torture

Please send your letters of support to the officials listed at the end, urging them to release the practitioners illegally detained ASAP. Many thanks!

20 March 2007

Fear of torture or ill-treatment*PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 17/014/2007

Liang Wenjian (f), aged 39

Lin Zhiyong (m), aged about 40, her husband

Li Dongmei (f)

Wang He (sex unknown)

Wu Jiangyan (sex unknown)

Three others (names unknown)

Seven of the eight Falun Gong practitioners listed above have reportedly been assigned to two years ‘Re-education through Labou’(RTL), a form of administrative detention imposed without charge, trial or judicial review, in connection with their Falun Gong activities. One, an elderly woman (unnamed), has reportedly been assigned to one-and-half-years. They are reportedly being held at Panyu detention centre in Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, awaiting transfer to an RTL facility. They are at risk of torture and ill-treatment. Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience, detained for the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of religion.

All eight were detained on 10 February by around 10 plainclothes police officers, for participating in an ‘illegal gathering’ at the home of Liang Wenjian and Lin Zhiyong. The police also searched their home, and confiscated Falun Gong literature and their computer.

According to unofficial sources, the eight were assigned to RTL about a month later. However, their families have not been officially informed, and have not been allowed to meet with them.

Liang Wenjian had previously been assigned to RTL at Guangzhou Chaitou Xiaodao RTL facility from February 2000 to April 2001. During this, she reportedly suffered torture and ill-treatment, which included being hung by her wrists so that her feet could barely touch the ground for two hours for doing Falun Gong exercises in detention. She was also reportedly required to work up to 14 hours a day making artificial flowers.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been arbitrarily detained in China since the spiritual movement was banned as a ''threat to social and political stability'' in July 1999. Those accused of being Falun Gong leaders or organizers have been imprisoned, while others have been held in psychiatric hospitals. The vast majority, however, have been held in RTL facilities. Many detained Falun Gong practitioners have reportedly been tortured or ill-treated, particularly those who refuse to renounce their beliefs.

Overseas Falun Gong organizations have recorded the deaths in custody of over 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners since the crackdown began. It has recently been alleged that many Falun Gong detainees who died in custody had been used to provide organs for transplant through "organ harvesting". Amnesty International is investigating these reports, but is not yet able to verify them.

RTL is used extensively in China despite repeated calls from overseas and within China for the system to be abolished. The Beijing authorities have reportedly approved the use of RTL to target vagrants and petty criminals in their attempts to "clean up" the city before it hosts the Olympics in 2008. China’s National People’s Congress is reportedly considering new legislation known as the "Illegal Behaviour Correction Law" (IBCL) to replace RTL. A draft is not publicly available but it appears to fall short of international fair trial standards. Amnesty International is continuing to urge the authorities to abolish the system altogether by bringing all offences punishable with deprivation of liberty within the scope of the Criminal Law.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Chinese or your own language:

  • expressing concern that the eight Falun Gong practitioners were detained in violation of their fundamental human rights to freedom of expression, association and religious belief, and calling on the authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally;
  • calling on the authorities to guarantee their safety while they remain in custody;
  • calling on the authorities to clarify their names and legal status and allow their families to conduct regular family visits while they remain in custody;
  • urging the authorities to ensure they have access to lawyers and any necessary medical treatment while they remain in detention;
  • calling on the authorities to end the political crackdown against the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which has resulted in numerous human rights violations;
  • urging the authorities to abolish "Re-education through Labour" (RTL) and ensure that all offences punishable with deprivation of liberty are brought within the scope of the Criminal Law.

APPEALS TO:

Prime Minister

WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council
9 Xihuangcheng Genbeijie
Beijingshi 100032, People’s Republic of China
Fax: 011+8610 6596 1109
011+8610 6596 2260 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Salutation: Your Excellency

Governor of the Guangdong Provincial People's Government

HUANG Huahua Shengzhang
Guangdongsheng Renmin Zhengfu
9 Lou, 305 Dongfeng Zhonglu
Guangzhoushi 510031
Guangdongsheng, People's Republic of China
Fax: 011+8620 83132377
Salutation: Dear Governor

Director of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security

LIANG Guoju Tingzhang
Guangdongsheng Gong'anting
97 Huanghualu
Guangzhoushi 510050
Guangdongsheng, People's Republic of China
Fax: 011+8620 83113979
Salutation: Dear Director

COPIES TO:

Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee

ZHANG Dejiang Shuji
Zhonggong Guangdongsheng Weiyuanhui
45 Shamian Dajie
Guangzhouzhi, Guangdongsheng, People's Republic of China
Fax:011 +8620 81218569 (c/o Foreign Affairs Office)
Salutation: Dear Secretary

and to diplomatic representatives of China accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International

Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 1 May 2007.

Working to protect human rights worldwide.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Radio Station Beaming News About Falun Gong Persecution to China

Minghui radio station is on duy 24/7 now to educate Asia about the Persecution of Falun Gong --they deserve to hear the truth about the CCP's evil deeds.

Epoch Times: Mar 17, 2007 - A Tibetan girl listens to a radio at her home in Lhasa, Tibetan Autonomous Region, China. Minghui Radio Station has been broadcasting programs 24 hours a day to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to Asia.

Minghui.net announced that since March 5, 2007, Minghui (which means "clear wisdom" in English) Radio Station has been broadcasting programs 24 hours a day to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to Asia. These broadcasts are being directed primarily towards China and Taiwan via the Eutelsat W5 satellite.

Broadcast 24 hrs a Day Via Eutelsat W5 Satellite

According to Kevin, one of the program producers for Minghui Radio, the station was founded in November 2005. Like Minghui.net, Minghui Radio is a station that clarifies the truth about Falun Gong. Currently there are dozens of programs in its lineup. It was originally broadcast to China via short wave radio, but now, along with New Tang Dynasty TV, Sound of Hope, Voice of America, and Free Asia Radio Stations, Minghui Radio uses the Eutelsat W5 satellite to broadcast 24 hours a day throughout Asia, including mainland China.

Kevin went on to say that the Minghui websites' reader base is be broken down into three different primary groups. They are Falun Gong practitioners, folks from all walks of life, and those who have participated in the persecution of Falun Gong. Minghui Radio takes this into consideration when preparing programs so as to appeal to all three of these groups.

Program Content

Kevin explained that since 1999, the Chinese communist regime has persecuted Falun Gong. Because of this persecution, a large number of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China lost their free environment of group study, group practice and experience sharing. In response to this, Minghui Radio developed programs such as "Group Practice Time," "Minghui Briefs," and "Cultivation World" so that Falun Gong practitioners are able to obtain current information regarding the situation surrounding truth clarification [of the persecution] and experience sharing via the Internet and/or radio.

Kevin also noted that Minghui Radio has been producing such programs as "Minghui Briefs," "Minghui Comments," "Celestial Music," "News Focus," "Traditional Culture," and "Science World." He said all of the songs broadcast in the "Celestial Music" program were composed by Falun Gong practitioners after 1999.

For those people who have committed crimes against Falun Gong, Minghui.net creates columns such as "News Focus" and "Goodness and Evil Between One Thought." Kevin said that after those people who have wronged Falun Gong practitioners listen to these programs, they will have received fair warning. Some already know that they have been exposed by Minghui, and as a result they no longer dare to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Others changed their minds after coming to understand that "goodness will be rewarded and evil will be punished" and no longer participate in the persecution.

How to Listen to Minghui Radio

Kevin said that Minghui Radio currently covers mainland China extensively. The majority of regions located south of Liaoning Province, east of Gansu Province can receive the Minghui signal via 60-90 cm plate antennas (also called little-ear, plate or pot). The signal is not encrypted, and even the most common receiver can receive it. For those who can already receive signals from W5 satellite, after a re-scan of the signal is performed, Minghui Radio can be found.

The parameters for receiving Minghui Radio Station from W5 Satellite (E70.5 degrees) are:

Position£ÂºE70.5 degrees, Downlink frequency: 11334 MHz, Polarity: Vertical, FEC: ½, Symbol Rate: 6511, Kevin pointed out that the advantage of satellite radio is that the signal is difficult to block. The Chinese communist regime is, for the most part, unable to block, interfere, or monitor it, and it is therefore, more secure.

On top of this, Minghui Radio still employs two SW frequencies for broadcasting to mainland China, twice a day, one hour a piece. These two frequencies are: Beijing Time, 6-7a.m. every morning, 7105 KH; and 9-10p.m. every night, 6030 KH.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

French Falun Gong Business Manager Arrested in Beijing

The 6-10 Office is at it again. When will they ever learn to leave the Falun Gong alone...and chase real criminals instead.

The Epoch Times (Paris) Mar 17, 2007 —He was supposed to take part in a managers' meeting of his company on March 14 in Angers, France, but Ma Jiang, manager of PCM company's Beijing office, which sells commercial oil pumps, was taken away by police on February 28 in Beijing as he was working.

The police have refused to reveal where he is being held, or for what reason, and all contact or information for his family or company has been refused.

His workmates at PCM said that six plain clothes policemen arriving at the business premises and were alone with Ma Jiang in his office. A secretary recounted that after much aggression and ransacking of the office, the police took away Ma Jiang and a Falun Gong book. The phone line had been torn out and the office was a mess.

Ma Jiang's wife, now in Canada, appealed to the French Association of Falun Gong, the PCM company, and any institution or person able to help free him because his life is in great danger. (more) .

Friday, March 16, 2007

US State Dept. Report shows persecution of Falun Gong in China still severe

Canada Falun Info Center – This month, the U.S. State Department released its congressionally-mandated 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights, naming China among the world's worst human rights offenders. In particular, the report cites information showing that Falun Gong remains the most severely and widely persecuted group in China. See excerpts below.

"UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reaffirmed earlier findings that torture remained widespread," the report says. "Nowak reported that beatings with fists, sticks, and electric batons continued to be the most common tortures. He also found that prisoners continued to suffer cigarette burns, prolonged periods of solitary confinement, and submersion in water or sewage…”.

Quotes from the report regarding the persecution of Falun Gong:

  • “UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reported in March that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture while in government custody”.

  • “Some foreign observers estimated that Falun Gong adherents constituted at least half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in reeducation-through-labor camps, while Falun Gong sources overseas placed the number even higher”.

  • “A special form of reeducation centers was used to detain Falun Gong practitioners who had completed terms in reeducation through labor but whom authorities decided to continue detaining”.

  • The government continued to wage a severe campaign against the Falun Gong movement. Falun Gong practitioners were subject to close scrutiny by local security personnel, and their personal mobility was tightly restricted, particularly at times when the government believed public protests were likely …”.
  • “Since the government banned the Falun Gong in 1999, the mere belief in the discipline (even without any public manifestation of its tenets) has been sufficient grounds for practitioners to receive punishments ranging from loss of employment to imprisonment. Although the vast majority of practitioners detained have been released, many were detained again after release”.
  • “Police continued to detain current and former Falun Gong practitioners and place them in reeducation camps. Police reportedly had quotas for Falun Gong arrests and targeted former practitioners, even if they were no longer practicing. The government continued its use of high-pressure tactics and mandatory anti-Falun Gong study sessions to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong.”
Look at the full report here.

    Wednesday, March 14, 2007

    Is CDP World-Ready?

    John Kusumi is right to question why the media has been silent in covering the 19 million Chinese who’ve quit the Chinese Communist Party and live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. It seems the media and politicians have opted to look the other way until they are completely ‘defragged’ and enlighten to the truth or does it have to do with trade?

    The Conservative Voice by John Kusumi - On March 19-21 there will be a global congress of Chinese dissidents related to the Chinese Democratic party (CDP), to be held in a 'Chinatown' section of New York City�Flushing, Queens.

    The major U.S. TV Networks - and their so-called "news divisions"- long ago kicked the Chinese democracy movement to the curb. Their very sympathetic story of brave individuals standing up to the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "went dark" on U.S. television screens.

    It appears that managing editors prefer their work to be pleasing to the Chinese regime�the bloodiest and most murderous regime in history (responsible for more deaths inside China than World War II caused globally).

    And so these editors have been missing out on one big story after another. Two years ago, began the "jiuping" and "tuidang" campaigns. Jiuping refers to a book, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, published by The Epoch Times. That book was released, smuggled around China, and began to drive the tuidang phenomenon.

    Tuidang means "quit the party," meaning the CCP that rules China. The campaigns were largely driven by the Epoch Times and by the practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that is being brutally persecuted in Mainland China.

    However, the original (paleo-?) Chinese dissidents, many of them secular or Christian, also joined in, piled on, and vocally led in heaping opprobrium upon the CCP, and in encouraging resignations from it. That is to say that what is at hand is not just an "Epoch Times story" or a "Falun Gong story," but rather a "Chinese story."

    How dramatic is the news we are missing? Two years ago, I wrote an article and noted that 300,000 people had recently quit from the CCP. The tuidang counter has now surpassed 19 million, and when Chinese dissidents have their political convention next week, the number will be around 20 million. This backlash against the Communist Party has indeed been gaining traction.

    In the past year, there has been another piece of historic news that if covered would shake the CCP and arouse opposition to it around the world: credible reports that the Chinese government has been selling human organs, harvested from prisoners of conscience, who are also killed in the process. This has shades of Nazi medical experiments performed upon prisoners, and it underscores the holocaust-like nature of the Falun Gong crackdown. The crackdown has become more deadly than the Tiananmen Square crackdown - more people are thought to have lost their lives - and, it has been available for the U.S. news media to cover for the past seven years. Rather than cover it, they have covered it up.

    Now we have another dramatic story: after a long period of disunity, Chinese dissidents are coming together. Will the media let the world know what is happening? (more)

    Letter to the President of the International Olympic Committee

    David Kilgour and David Matas send a letter to the IOC President pointing to the obvious. It would be great if the IOC would take this plea seriously. Genocide Olympics shouldn't be allowed in the first place.

    Excerpt - Epoch Times: Amnesty International, Human Rights in China and Human Rights Watch have noted increasingly deteriorating human rights conditions in China. We are confident that the IOC would not have awarded the Games to Beijing had they then known of the human rights abuses happening in China.

    Please, consider the following:

    1) How will the Games benefit China's citizenry if the IOC doesn't speak out against China's human rights violations?

    2) Can the IOC assure the rights and safety of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other peaceful groups repressed by China's regime if they wish to attend the Games without fear of being arrested and imprisoned?

    3) Will Falun Gong practitioners travelling from abroad be allowed entry into China without reprisal?

    We urge you to please take effective action by calling on the Chinese authorities to bring an end to the ongoing persecution against millions of innocent citizens in China, and we hope that the 2008 Games will embody the principles of the Olympic Charter. (more)

    Cross-posted at Boycott 2008


    Tuesday, March 13, 2007

    Divine Performance Premiers to Osaka Audiences


    The NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular is still going strong.

    Epoch Times: After photographer Yoshitaka Sakai saw the performance, he praised the show as being elegant and of world-class artistic merit. To him, culture is something very important and the arts are a means to vividly portray and express the inner meaning of culture.

    He added that elements of traditional culture from various Chinese minorities appeared within the dances. Through viewing the dances, he noticed that he was able to sense the choreographers’ openness and generosity, as well as their respect for the traditional cultures of other nationalities. Believing that the Tang Dynasty was the most culturally brilliant and flourishing era of China, Yoshitaka Sakai expressed his gratitude to the performance for presenting the essence of the Tang Dynasty to the audience.

    Yoshitaka Sakai hopes that the Chinese New Year Spectacular will have the opportunity to perform in China in the near future. He said, “Such a great performance should be shown in Beijing, Shanghai, and even Tiananmen Square.” (more)

    It's never too late to say Happy New Year of the Pig!


    Monday, March 12, 2007

    China Human Rights Report

    Can the US walk the walk? Hmm....

    The U.S. is committed to calling every government to account that treats the basic rights of its citizens as options rather than, as President George W. Bush put it, "the non-negotiable demands of human dignity."

    VOA: 12 March 2007 - The U.S. State Department has released its latest human rights reports. In the words of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Barry Lowenkron, "As the worldwide push for greater personal and political freedom grows stronger, it is being met with increasing resistance from those who feel threatened by change."

    A disturbing number of countries passed or selectively applied laws and regulations against non-governmental organizations and the media. China, said Mr. Lowenkron, is a case in point.

    According to the human rights report, journalists in China are consistently harassed, detained, arrested, and imprisoned for reporting unfavorably on the government. In August 2006, a Beijing court sentenced reporter Ching Cheong of the Singapore Straits Times to five years in prison for alleged espionage. He had reportedly been working on a story about a former Chinese government leader.

    In a further attempt to control the flow of information, the Chinese government continues its efforts to restrict internet access and content. Authorities consistently block access to sites they deems controversial, such as those discussing Taiwan and Tibetan independence, underground religious and spiritual organizations, democracy activists, and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

    The report says freedom of religion continues to be seriously circumscribed in China, particularly for members of religious organizations and spiritual groups not sanctioned by the state. But despite continuing tight enforcement of regulations implemented in 2005, the numbers of religious practitioners, both in official and unofficial organizations, continued to grow.

    Another longstanding human rights abuse in China is coercive family planning. The penalties for violating the law leave some women little choice but to seek abortions. There continue to be credible reports of forced sterilizations and abortions, even though such practices violate China's own laws and regulations.

    The United States is committed to standing with the courageous men and women in China who are struggling for their rights. The U.S. is committed to calling every government to account that treats the basic rights of its citizens as options rather than, as President George W. Bush put it, "the non-negotiable demands of human dignity."

    The Chinese Unease about Falun Gong

    Jürgen Kremb's piece about Falun Gong and the CCP is excellent. Although I'd like to make a couple of corrections -- the 6-10 Office mandated to eradicate Falun Gong was set up on June 10, 1999 (not in 2004). There's a bit more below about this modern Chinese Gestapo. Also Master Li wasn't a waiter but a grain clerk and trumpet player; Falun Gong is not funded by the CIA and you can verify the resignations from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on this website: http://declaration.epochtimes.com/

    FDI: The "610 Office" was set up on June 10, 1999. It is a standing member of the Political and Judiciary Committee that reports to the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. Headed by Luo Gan, it is the highest authority deployed by Jiang Zemin and his accomplices to persecute Falun Gong. It specializes in political persecution and it can completely override any law. In nature, it is very similar to the product of the Cultural Revolution -- the Cultural Revolution Leading Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches. All plots for the framing of and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners have originated from the "610" during the past two (+) years since its inception. (more)

    Spiegel (Germany) March 12, 2007 - The Chinese Unease about Falun Gong

    China's communists use torture and long prison sentences to repress Falun Gong, fearing that the fast-growing meditation movement might ultimately usurp their power.

    It was one of those beautiful nights in the hills west of Beijing. On September 23, 1993, a small crowd had gathered outside the Jietai Temple to celebrate the Festival of the Moon. Joining the few foreigners in attendance were several highranking army officers and party officials who lived in the ritzy neighborhood. All of them hoped to catch a glimpse of the full moon.

    One man seemed strangely out of place. His business card identified him as "Master Li Hongzhi" from the "Falun Gong" movement. A flier he distributed referred to Falun Gong as "the path to perfection."

    The character "Fa" means "law" and "Lun" stands for "wheel." These teachings, Li said, had already attracted tens of thousands of followers. When one of the men in uniform called him a "crackpot," the wiry, medium-sized man with a burred northern Chinese accent silently turned and vanished into the temple. The officers burst into scornful laughter.

    A few years later, they - like many other top Chinese mandarins - were no longer laughing; the mysterious Li had drawn a following that rivaled the Communist Party of China in size. Since then, the party has branded Li as a serious threat to its rule, claiming that the CIA is financing his organization in a bid to topple the Chinese government.

    Falun Gong owes its existence largely to the spiritual vacuum created by the communists in the early 1990s. With the launch of the economic reforms, the party stopped caring for the masses, subjecting them instead to the short sharp shock of turbo-capitalism. That was too much for many Chinese, who yearned for spiritual stability, which they found by rediscovering their own cultural roots and traditions. Many Chinese began frequenting parks again in the mornings, meditating and performing ancient exercises that the state had long prohibited.

    Qigong, an old Chinese exercise derived from Taoism and Buddhism, was especially popular, and Falun Gong proved most expert at teaching it. Li Hongzhi, the quirky master of meditation and former waiter, became the movement's leading light. His recipe for spiritual bliss is enticingly simple, based as it is on ingredients from well-known religious teachings. People need to be "cultivated, merciful and good," he wrote, introducing a dash of Taoism. He also added a pinch of Buddhism, calling the regular breathing exercises learned by all Buddhists the "wheel of law" that turns within the human body. In truth, Falun Gong is little more than a new age philosophy. But it made the people of China feel good. Li helped them cope with stress, reducing the time they took off sick from work.

    Soon Li was rallying tens of thousands of people who, seated in the lotus position, filled entire stadiums in northern China, his home region. No longer was Lei Feng - Mao's good soldier, a product of the communist propaganda machine - inspiring the masses to perform good deeds. Master Li had stepped into his boots.

    During the mid-1990s, Shanghai television reported that the Qigong guru could boast 70 million supporters. Soon afterward, Li emigrated to the United States, likely suspecting that the party wouldn't tolerate a popular challenger - as indeed proved to be the case.

    In April 1999, the party launched a bitter attack on Falun Gong in a university newspaper published in the port city of Tianjin. The article condemned Li's exercises as dangerous, arguing that they encouraged insanity and suicidal tendencies among the young.

    At that point, Falun Gong supporters laid siege to the newspaper's offices, demanding that it publish their response. When the party refused, thousands surrounded the politburo's headquarters in Beijing on April 25, 1999. It was an eerily quiet gathering of mostly elderly women and men - people who otherwise form the silent majority in the 1.3 billion strong nation. As though heeding a clandestine call, they had converged on Beijing to challenge the communists.

    Jiang Zemin, the general secretary at the time, spoke of a "second Tiananmen," a reference to the student revolt of June 1989, and a foreign "conspiracy aimed at toppling the party." On July 22, 1999, Falun Gong was outlawed. Subsequently, Amnesty International reported a surge in arrests among Li's supporters.

    Anyone found meditating in a park in the morning ended up behind bars. Resistance became a ticket to the labor camp. Many of Li's supporters, including numerous elderly women, were beaten so severely in prison that they collapsed and died.

    The party's initial hostility to the group has sparked a bizarre religious war. A special secret service unit created in 2004 (Department 610) persecutes Falun Gong members in China and even targets Chinese nationals living abroad.

    But the movement has refused to fold. A constant thorn in the party's side, it has responded to repression with a series of unusual protests. In 2002, Li's disciples manipulated the signals of a Chinese TV satellite and briefly aired the movement's insignia on state television. Two years later, foreign adherents staged a demonstration at Tiananmen Square. The once peaceful meditation group has gone underground.

    Outside China, supporters launched the daily newspaper The Epoch Times, which is published in Chinese and numerous other languages. Its online edition urges communist party members to resign.

    The paper states that millions have already done so, a claim that is impossible to verify. It is clear, though, that the ranks of Falun Gong supporters outside China are swelling fast. From Canada to Indonesia, from New Zealand to Chile, millions subscribe to Li's teachings.

    Falun Gong disciples have also become a nightmare for those responsible for protocol whenever Chinese politicians venture abroad. They sneak into press pools and brandish banners along the visitors' routes, infuriating the Beijing leaders who suppress any other opposition.

    Master Li never shows his own face at these demonstrations. Fearing Chinese hit squads, he is only ever seen at meditation seminars attended by loyal disciples; even here his appearances are few and far between. Via intermediaries, he urges disciples to study his book: if possible, every single day

    Sunday, March 11, 2007

    China to relax labour camps and strip police powers

    This all sounds like rational thinking to improve the laojiao and laogai systems but CCP boss Luo Gan doesn’t think so. With China's kangaroo courts, it is doubtful that any new laws will make much difference, although it will look good on paper.

    Earlier this year, China's most senior security official, Luo Gan, wrote in the Communist Party's leading journal that the system should be advanced, not scrapped.


    BTW, Luo Gan is one of the initiatiors of the deadly '6-10 Office', a Chinese modern Gestapo, mandated to eradicate Falun Gong from Chinese society before the 2008 Olympics.

    The Independent by Clifford Coonan: 02 March 2007 - China's infamous "re-education through labour" system, which allows the police to jail everyone from political dissidents to drug addicts and prostitutes for up to four years without going through the courts, may be scrapped soon as part of the country's efforts to reform its legal system.

    "Initially a relatively mild suppression of counter-revolutionary activities, "laojiao" (re-education through labour) served as a useful way to punish dissent," the China Daily reported.

    The system gives police the power to sentence a person guilty of minor offences such as petty theft or prostitution to up to four years' in jail without trial. There are 310 "re-education centres" around the country and around 400,000 people have been imprisoned in the 50 years since the rules were introduced.

    Sentences are typically one or two years and detainees are required to carry out penal labour.

    The proposal is the latest in a series of efforts to reform China's legal system. China is aware that next year's Olympic Games will bring the attention of the world to bear on its human rights record and the government is also keen to stop the potentially destabilising effects of calls for judicial reform.

    Central to the debate is the issue about who decides on China's judicial system - the courts or the public security apparatus.

    Under the current "lanjiao" system, there is no judicial review at all until the punishment has been imposed. The police say it is a useful way of controlling petty crime and rehabilitating drug addicts, and also simplifies the process of investigative detention. The reform is a limited one. While Beijing may abolish re-education through labour, it retains a labour camp system known as "reform through labour", or laogai, where political activists have also been imprisoned.

    The proposal is one of 20 laws and amendments to be discussed at China's annual parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), which starts its meeting next week.

    Critics within China say the system undermines the rule of law. Human rights campaigners, including the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, have argued for years that re-education through labour should be abolished, saying it targets political activists, ethnic minorities and religious believers and allows for the inhuman and degrading treatment of political prisoners.

    Others say that dissidents are much less harshly treated in the re-education through labour centres than in full prisons and the sentences are generally shorter.

    The plan would rename the re-education centres as correctional centres, and bars and gates will be taken away. The new centres will be more school-like, the reformers say, and the incarceration period will also be shortened to less than 18 months, depending on the offence.

    Wang Gongyi, vice-director of a judicial research insistute attached to the Ministry of Justice, is one of the legal experts trying to draft the new law abolishing re-education through labour.

    China's Supreme People's Court backs making detention decisions a matter for the courts and legal experts describe the proposed rule change as "a concrete step to protect human rights as endowed by the Constitution".

    The Ministry of Public Security wants to keep the current proposes to maintain the current practice.

    Earlier this year, China's most senior security official, Luo Gan, wrote in the Communist Party's leading journal that the system should be advanced, not scrapped.

    Chinese political advisors call for early formulation of anti-cult law

    It's quite obvious what the Party is up to -- this anti-cult law is merely a convenient license to kill the undesirables including religious people, before the 2008 Olympics. An excerpt from one of my letters explains further.

    The persecution of Falun Gong by the regime (CCP), now in its eighth year, is based on lies and hate propaganda. Practitioners are subjected to torture and even killed for refusing to give up their beliefs based on Buddhism and Taoism. In fact, the cadres labeled Falun Gong an ‘evil cult’ in mid 1999 to turn the public opinion against them in order to justify the killing. Human Rights Lawyer Terri Marsh stated:

    “Its (the CCP) tactics are virtually identical to those used in Nazi Germany, in Rwanda during the massacre of the Tutsi by the Hutu, and in Yugoslavia under Slobodan Milosevic. In all of these massacres, not only is the message always the same (‘Destroy them or they will destroy you’), but the name of the mass crime that follows is genocide or ethnic cleansing, and now we’re seeing something similar propagated against Falun Gong in China.”

    Xinhua: UPDATED: 15:50, March 11, 2007

    Chinese political advisors call for early formulation of anti-cult law

    Chinese political advisors have called on the nation's legislature for drafting a systematic anti- cult law as early as possible to provide a solid legal foundation in the fight against cults.

    The call was aired during the ongoing annual session of Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC), the top advisory body of China.

    Master Gen Tong, vice chairman of the Buddhist Association of China and a CPPCC member, urged the legislature to sift through the existing laws and regulations of the country before giving a clear-cut definition of cults for the drafting of an anti-cult law.

    "We really have some legal stipulations in some legal documents, but I don't think they are enough for providing a sound legal basis in our fight against cults," said the Buddhist monk.

    One of the most important legal documents was a decision issued by the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) in October 1999 on quashing cult organizations and preventing and punishing cult activities.

    The Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate also issued legal interpretations on the decision, and the Ministry of Public Security formulated stipulations on handling cases related to cults.

    "All this provides certain basis for the fight against cults," said Master Gen Tong.

    However, he said, the absence of a complete anti-cult legal system cannot meet the need for the fight. "What we're going to do is to build a systematic and complete anti-cult legal system as early as possible."

    He said that the abolition of cults is an important task to respect the international norm of human rights and protect people from the harms of cults.

    France passed an anti-cult law in June 2001. Many other countries also have promulgated their laws on fighting cults, he noted. China should learn from their successful experience.

    In July 1999, the Chinese government banned according to law the Falun Gong cult that claimed more than 1,500 deaths.