By a practitioner from Australia
On April 15, 2004, the 60th session of
the United Nations Human Rights Commission entered its voting period. China
escaped being censured for its human rights violations with a No-Action motion.
Sixteen democratic countries including the U.S., Australia, Japan and some
European countries voted against China’s “No-Action” measure, but
twenty-eight other countries voted for the measure.
  News conference |
  Sending forth righteous thoughts |
At 2:30 pm on April 17, several dozen Falun Gong practitioners from Sydney
gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate and held a press conference. They
strongly condemned Jiang and his followers for spreading lies at the UNHRC
meeting and using economic incentives to convince other countries to vote
against the motion. Practitioners demanded an immediate stop to the suppression
of Falun Gong and called upon people from all walks of life to work together to
stop the persecution and killing of Falun Gong practitioners.
In order to cover up its brutal persecution of Falun Gong, Jiang’s followers
spread lies to deceive other countries at the UNHRC meeting and exchanged
economic interests for not being condemned for its human rights record. In an
attempt to cover up the brutal persecution, the Jiang group dispatched
“non-governmental organizations” to spread lies and propaganda, while
they were very much government sponsored agencies. An international
investigation organization verified that the “Chinese anti-cult
association” sent to Geneva was in fact an organization directly controlled
by the Chinese government. The association spread lies at the UNHRC meeting
under the banner of a NGO. In one instance, overseas media exposed the identity
of a Chinese government official named Wang Yusheng who attended the meeting as
a Chinese NGO representative.
Ms. Li Ying, a Falun Gong practitioner who personally experienced the
persecution in China, expressed during an interview that she was not surprised
that Jiang’s group avoided censure through deception, as this was not the first
time they did so. She said that China’s labor camps were flooded with lies
slandering Falun Gong. For example, they charged that overseas Falun Gong
practitioners were paid to hold peaceful appeals in front of the Chinese
Consulates or Embassies and to go to other countries to attend events promoting
Falun Gong. In fact, all of Falun Gong practitioners’ events are initiated and
carried out by the practitioners themselves. Ms. Li said that Jiang and his
followers’ persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, who believe in
“Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance”, was in fact a challenge to
mankind’s goodness and conscience. Jiang used lies to deceive not only the
Chinese people but also people around the world.
Jiang and his followers have also falsely painted a picture of economic
prosperity. According to the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution
of Falun Gong, Jiang and his followers used a quarter of the nation’s financial
resources to suppress Falun Gong. For example, in December 2001, Jiang Zemin
spent 4.2 billion Yuan to set up re-education centers or bases to
brainwash Falun Gong practitioners. On July 4, 2001, an American radio station
reported that nearly half of the people imprisoned in China’s labor camps were
Falun Gong practitioners. To hold more practitioners, many provinces and cities
spent large amounts of money to expand their labor camps. For example, 19.37
million Yuan were invested to relocate a labor camp in Shanxi Province.
Over the past more than four years, Falun Gong practitioners have
persistently used peaceful and rational ways to clarify the truth about Falun
Gong and expose the persecution to people all over the world. Democratic
countries including the United States, Australia, Japan and European countries
supported the resolution condemning China’s human rights record at the UNHRC
meeting.
Australian New South Wales Falun Dafa Association spokesperson Dai Dongni and
Mr. Taylor spoke at the press conference. They expressed that China’s escaping
being censured does not mean that its human right record has improved. It does
not mean that the world would be silent towards the persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners. They said that practitioners would continue clarifying the truth
and exposing the persecution to people from all walks of life throughout the
world. In the end, they called upon more people in the world to pay attention to
the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and to help stop
the suppression.
Posting date: 20/April/2004
Original article date: 18/April/2004
Category: Australian News
