Australia: Falun Gong Practitioners Hold Rally in front of the Chinese Consulate

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 labour 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 (1) to set up re-education centres 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 labour camps were Falun Gong practitioners. To hold more practitioners, many provinces and cities spent large amounts of money to expand their labour camps. For example, 19.37 million Yuan were invested to relocate a labour 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.