Report from The Epoch Times: UK MP Patsy Calton Supports a Chinese Scholar in Rescuing His Fiancée

Mrs. Calton MP and Mr. Weiguo Xie in front of the Houses of Parliament, London.

On June 2nd 2003, UK Member of Parliament Mrs. Patsy Calton invited Mr. Weiguo Xie, a Chinese scholar who practises Falun Gong, to her office in the London’s Houses of Parliament, and offered her full support in his efforts to rescue his fiancée, Miss Yongjie Zhu, who is now suffering in a labour camp in China.

Weiguo Xie completed his PhD at UMIST recently, and is now a Research Fellow at City University in London. His fiancée, Miss Yongjie Zhu, was kidnapped by thugs from the Chinese Ministry of National Security last November, and was later thrown into a labour camp to serve a 2-year term because she refused to give up practising Falun Gong. Since he received this bad news, Weiguo has been trying his best to rescue her. Up until now, Weiguo, together with other Falun Gong practitioners, has collected more than 12 thousand signatures and signed petition letters. The support from the British public has been overwhelming.

Mrs. Calton is a Member of Parliament from the Liberal Democrats, the third largest party in the UK Parliament. In her constituency in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, there are a number of Falun Gong practitioners who have told her about Falun Gong and the persecution in China. As a result, she is very concerned about the. When she heard that a girl, who was soon to be married, had been detained and subjected to forced labour merely because of her belief in the peaceful and harmless practice of Falun Gong, she was very sympathetic and offered to help. Coincidentally, Mrs. Calton and Weiguo are both alumni from UMIST. Therefore, she specially invited Weiguo to come to the House of Commons to talk about the situation over tea.

Weiguo told her in detail the entire story of Yongjie’s arrest, and said that he hopes the UK government can help in Yongjie’s rescue. Mrs. Calton said that she had raised questions in the House of Commons about Falun Gong’s situation in general, and had talked about this issue with the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner. Now she would like to contact the Foreign Office to follow up on Yongjie’s case.

When interviewed by the Epoch Times, Mrs. Calton said that the issue of Falun Gong deserves to be kept at the forefront of understanding. She commented, “Falun Gong believes in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, and doesn’t pose a threat to any state. On the contrary, it brings about many benefits to those who practise it, as they believe.” She said, “If China wants to develop trade and relationship with the rest of the world, it should explain why people whose only agenda is to keep practising their peaceful and non-violent beliefs could be arrested and persecuted.”

Chinese version available at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200306/21053.html