Former mayor claims a Chinese consulate official approached him to cut off
support for Falun Gong.
Emily O’Keefe
A former Burwood mayor
has spoken out about an attempt made by Sydney’s Chinese consulate to prevent
the council from supporting any Falun Gong practitioners.
Joseph Tannous,
who was Burwood mayor until 2001, said the incident happened at the end of 2000,
after a group of Falun Gong practitioners were given permission by the mayor to
hold a information day in Burwood Park.
Mr Tannous said he later received
a call from the Chinese Consulate.
” I was taken aback and shocked
by the call,” he said. “I was told that the council should not support
any Falun Gong members.
“He said it would harm relations and that Burwood
had a very large Chinese community and it would not look good.
“I made
it clear that I was going to stand my ground and would support the human rights
of these people.”
Mr Tannous’s statement follows claims made by Chen
Yonglin, a Chinese defector and former consul for political affairs at the Sydney
Chinese consulate, that consulate officials regularly undertook anti-Falun Gong
campaigns to sway the opinion of local councillors and MPs.
Inner West resident
and Falun Gong practitioner Grant Lu said he and his wife Ying Li had been told
by MPs that they had received anti-Falun Gong pamphlets.
“It is happening
all the time,” he said. “The intimidation by the consulate makes it
hard for us to get local politicians to listen to us.”
Mr Lu made headlines
in 2003 when he returned to Australia with his then fiancé Ms Li who had
been held in a Chinese prison farm for her beliefs.
A spokesperson from
the Chinese consulate was not available for comment at the time of going to press.
Posting
date: 6/Sep/2005
Original article date: 25/Aug/2005
Category: Media Report
