University of Chicago Professor Rejected for Chinese Passport Renewal Because He Practises Falun Gong

Dr. Wu Weibiao, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, lost his Chinese Nationality due to his belief in Falun Gong when the Chinese Consulate in Chicago refused to renew his passport last November. His crime? Wu has been publicly criticizing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its brutal suppression of Falun Gong practitioners. A reporter recently interviewed Dr. Wu regarding this incident. Below is the transcript of the interview.

Reporter: Dr. Wu, please tell us your background.

Wu: I obtained my B.S. degree in Mathematics from a top Chinese University, and went to the University of Michigan in 1997 to study Statistics as a PhD student under the guidance of several prominent scholars in statistics and probability. In 2001, I graduated and joined the University of Chicago as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Statistics.

Reporter: Can you tell us about your research activities?

Wu: Among many other areas of research, I am interested in estimating covariance matrices of temporally observed series. Currently, I am directing three PhD students and much of my funding is from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Two years ago, I was award with an NSF Career Award.

As my interests include both theoretical and applied issues, I have a variety of choices when it comes to publication. In recent years, I have published manuscripts in Annals of Probability, Annals of Statistics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, Econometric Theory and Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Some of my papers can be download at http://www.stat.uchicago.edu/~wbwu/papers.html.

In addition, I am currently serving as associate editor for Bernoulli, a journal for the International Statistical Institute.

Reporter: Are you actively involved in academic activities, such as attending conferences and giving lectures?

Wu: Due to the nature of my job, I have many opportunities to attend academic conferences and give lectures. In 2007, I am planning to go to Australia, France, Hungary and several other regions for academic exchange. However, I am now quite reluctant to accept invitations because the Chinese Consulate in Chicago refused to renew my passport.

Reporter: Why would the Chinese Consulate refuse to renew your passport?

Wu: I went to the Consulate on November 20th to apply for passport renewal. I submitted a completed application form along with my passport. Per their standards, I can get my renewed passport after 4 working days. Four days later, when I gave a consulate staff member my receipt, I was told that my passport could not be found. Later, Consular Zhang Chuyun had a private talk with me. He told me that their database showed that I am a Falun Gong practitioner and said that he will give me an answer several days later. About 10 days later, the consulate decided to not renew my passport.

They knew very well that this will bring me trouble because I often go abroad to participate in academic activities.

Reporter: When did you start to practise Falun Gong? What has the practice brought to you?

Wu: I started to practise Falun Gong in the summer of 1998. I had strong interest in the phenomena reported from cultivation circles, and felt the practice was very unique. The practice places heavy emphasis on raising practitioners' virtue and requests them to let go of attachments to fame and gain and to think of others first before oneself. On my road to becoming a scientist, I had some attachments to fame. Since I started to practise Falun Gong, however, I gradually learned to take it ever so lightly. In the past, I wouldn't be happy if my paper was denied for publication. Now, this issue is so trivial to me and I can concentrate solely on my research with a very calm mind. Of course, Falun Gong has some exercises including a meditation, which helps me relax and stay healthy.

Reporter: The media controlled by the Chinese Communist Party often claim that people who practise Falun Gong become indifferent to work, study and even family members. What is your opinion of these allegations?

Wu: I have read all the literature of Falun Gong, and there is not a single word which tells people not to do a good job at work or school or not to maintain a good relationship with family members. Letting go of attachments to fame and gain doesn't mean to quit work or school. On the contrary, one must do even better. There are many good examples of this kind of thing around me. However, it is the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party that has deprived many practitioners of their right to work and study. I myself am a good example: Without a valid passport, I will have trouble going abroad for scholarly exchanges.

Reporter: Are your parents still in China? What will you face if you go back China?

Wu: Yes, they are still in China and I miss them a lot as I have not seen them for nine years. It is hard to tell what is going to happen if I go back, as I am apparently on the Chinese Communist Party's blacklist.

Reporter: The Chinese Communist Party often attacks Falun Gong in the name of science. As a scientist, what is your position on this?

Wu: The Chinese Communist Party uses "Uphold Science" as a political slogan and base to attack Falun Gong. It uses science as a stick to attack citizens. In fact, it has done too many things against science, including persecuting many intellectuals and scientists. It is the corrupted communist system that is hindering healthy development of science and technology in China.

In the past, the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda has brainwashed many people. I know a professor from our Centre for East Asia Studies. Once, his centre had a visiting scholar from China. The professor asked the scholar: "What is your opinion of Falun Gong?" The scholar simply repeated the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda, saying that Falun Gong is anti-science and so on. The professor then asked him: "Is this your opinion?" He replied: "Yes." The professor then asked: "My question is, as an individual, what is your personal understanding of Falun Gong?" The scholar then pondered for a while and replied: "I know very little about the practice."

It is true that Falun Gong's teachings touch upon some issues beyond modern science. However, many teachings from other religions are also beyond science. Nevertheless, no one can deprive people their rights of belief.

One of the core values of science is free thinking and free exchange. As an overseas Falun Gong practitioner, I can freely obtain any information and express my opinion. However, the Chinese Communist Party uses taxpayers' money to build an Internet firewall in order to block Chinese people from accessing information from the free world. Chinese people in China never have freedom of speech. At the same time, the communist regime arrests Falun Gong practitioners and throws them into prisons, labour camps, and brainwashing centres, where it uses torture to force the practitioners to denounce Falun Gong. This is how the Chinese Communist Party upholds science!

Reporter: Before you, were there other practitioners who had trouble renewing passports? Were there any cases in which the Chinese Consulate in Chicago harassed practitioners?

Wu: To my knowledge, at least one practitioner who worked at a high-tech company in Chicago was not able to get his passport renewed. In September 2001, two Falun Gong practitioners were assaulted when they were holding a hunger strike outside the Consulate. The assailants, Zhen Zhiming and Wong Yujun, pleaded guilty in November and December 2002 respectively. (Please see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/8/7/51113p.html for more detail.)

Reporter: The Chinese Consulates refuse to renew Chinese citizens' passports and have built a blacklist of overseas practitioners. What is western countries' position on this issue?

Wu: [In the case of China,] A diplomatic institution's normal function has been systematically used to persecute Falun Gong, and Chinese Communist diplomats, including consuls, have been harassing and spying on overseas Falun Gong practitioners. You have to know that all these activities are beyond the normal function of diplomats. Western countries have taken some concrete measures against this. For example, the Canadian government recently refused to extend the visa of Wang Pengfei, the second secretary for the Education Office of the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa. Denial of his visa extension is a declaration that the diplomat is "not welcome" and is "showing him the door." Wang had to leave Canada before October 25th. Sources say Wang Pengfei was denied the visa because he collected information on Falun Gong practitioners in Canada and participated in other anti-Falun Gong activities, which exceeded his proscribed diplomatic duties. In February 2004, Pan Xinchun, deputy consulate general of the Chinese Consulate in Toronto was found guilty of libel by the Ontario Supreme Court for slandering Falun Gong in a Canadian newspaper.

Reporter: What is your response to the passport denial? Are you planning to tell mainstream society and local civilians about this incident?

Wu: I am going to let people from all circles, including the media and VIPs, know about this. Since the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, many Falun Gong practitioners have been denied passport renewal. Scholars who invited me to attend academic conferences found hard it to believe: How can a normal government function be used to persecute Falun Gong?

Reporter: Do you have any advice to Chinese Consulate staff members who are involved in this case?

Wu: I hope that Chinese diplomats will not become overseas persecutors. You know that everyone will be held accountable for what they have done. On August 27th, 2004, an 84-year-old German-American was deported because he was a Nazi member during the World War II. His name is Joseph Wittje. A statement from the Department of Justice on his case can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/September/03_crm_494.htm.

In the near future, the communist party will be even more notorious than the Nazis. What are you going to do when the time comes?

Reporter: What do you want to share with overseas Chinese scholars and students?

Wu: I want to tell my fellow citizens that I also hope that China will have a bright future. My parents, teachers and friends live there. Falun Gong has become an integrated part of the societies of Europe, the U.S., Taiwan and many other countries. The practice has nothing to do with political struggles. In the free China to come, Falun Gong will also have a healthy relation with society. The high moral requirement of the practice will only benefit society. In the current 7-year persecution, the peacefulness, rationality and nonviolence demonstrated by practitioners have confirmed that Falun Gong practitioners are a group of kindhearted people.

We resist the CCP's persecution, clarify the slander and lies spread by the CCP and expose the evil nature of the CCP. In the past 50+ years, the CCP has repeatedly used lies and violence to deceive and control Chinese citizens. It is the true anti-China force. While Falun Gong practitioners are suffering enormously to fight for their freedom of belief, speech and assembly and the dignity of believers, they are in fact also fighting for the rights of all Chinese and the dignity of all citizens. We cannot allow the CCP to arbitrarily trample our people and culture. We must step up to stop the evil regime's crimes.

Reporter: Dr. Wu, thank you for your time. We hope that your work and life won't be affected much by this passport issue. We wish you the best in your career.

Wu: Thank you.