By Greg Berghofer
TOOWOOMBA Falun Gong practitioner Yan Zhao
says she has been warned she has come under the attention of Chinese officials
wanting to crack down on the movement in Australia.
Defecting Chinese embassy
official Hao Feng Jun has claimed Australian members of the spiritual movement
are the Chinese Government’s main targets for surveillance in Australia.
Chinese-born Australian citizen and Chinese language lecturer at the University
of Southern Queensland, Ms Zhao said she was warned about two years ago by a Chinese
national friend that Chinese officials had asked about her.
However, Ms
Zhao doubts Chinese officials’ resources for surveillance are sufficient
to be effective outside Australia’s capital cities.
“Harassment
of practitioners in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, however, is consistent, constant
and very real,” Ms Zhao said.
“It takes various forms such as
threatening phone calls.”
Ms Zhao said there were several dozen Falun
Gong practitioners in Toowoomba and surrounding areas.
As the only Chinese-born
practitioner and the most public face of the movement locally, she would be the
likely target for Chinese Government attention.
“But I’m probably
not thought of as a big threat in that sense,” Ms Zhao said.
She said
all levels of government in Australia, including Toowoomba civic leaders, were
afraid to be seen to be associated with Falun Gong for fear of losing business
with China.
Ms Zhao said Falun Gong was not a religion as such or a political
movement, but a practice to improve spirit, mind and body.
Falun Gong’s
guiding principles were Truth, Compassion and Tolerance.
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3640792&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
Posting date: 22/Jun/2005
Original article date: 22/Jun/2005
Category:
Media Report
