WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US House of Representatives approved a measure urging
the Chinese government to immediately stop hostile actions against the Falun Gong
(news – web sites) spiritual group both in China and the United States.
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Members of Falun Gong (news – web sites) stage a protest outside the Hong Kong Immigration Department in April 2004. The US House of Representatives approved a measure urging the Chinese government to immediately stop hostile actions against the Falun Gong spiritual group.(AFP/File/Thomas Cheng) |
The measure
urges Beijing to “immediately stop interfering in the exercise of religious
and political freedoms within the United States, such as the right to practice
Falun Gong.”
It also wants the Chinese government to “cease using
the diplomatic missions in the United States to spread falsehoods about the nature
of Falun Gong,” and to “release from detention all prisoners of conscience,
including practitioners of Falun Gong,” incarcerated in China.
China
should “immediately end the harassment, detention, physical abuse, and imprisonment
of individuals who are exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of religion,
including the practices of Falun Gong, freedom of expression, and freedom of association,
as stated in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China,” according
to the measure.
It also wants Beijing to “demonstrate its willingness
to abide by international standards of freedom of belief, expression, and association
by ceasing to restrict those freedoms” in China.
The House also wants
President George W. Bush to issue “a formal protest” to the Chinese
Foreign Ministry “in response to the repeated violations by the Chinese Government
of basic human rights” in China.
And the legislators want US Attorney
General John Ashcroft to “investigate reports that Chinese consular officials
in the United States have committed illegal acts while attempting to intimidate
or inappropriately influence Falun Gong practitioners or local elected officials.”
Falun Gong once claimed millions of followers on mainland China, but has
faced a tough crackdown by the government, which considers it one of the most
serious threats to its rule.
The group claims that at least 1,600 of its
members have been tortured or beaten to death in China since a crackdown ordered
four years ago largely drove the organisation underground.
Posting date:
6/Oct/2004
Original article date: 5/Oct/2004
Category: Media Report
