United States: Three U.S. Congressmen Voice Their Support for Falun Gong

U.S. Congressman Smith: I call on the administration to step up its efforts to speak up for the Falun Gong and out against the actions of the Chinese government immediately

October 4, 2004

Reference: U.S. House of Representatives Unanimously Passes Resolution Urging Chinese Government to Cease Its Oppression of Falun Gong Practitioners in the United States and in China

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge passage of H. Con. Res. 304, expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the People's Republic of China should cease its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the United States and in China. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, I commend you for introducing this legislation and for speaking out against human rights abuses throughout the world.

Members of Congress need to be aware of the brutal suppression of human rights and religious freedoms being carried out by the People's Republic of China. From forced abortion and labor camps, to the imprisonment and sometimes even execution of brave Chinese who dare to stand up for their faith or political beliefs, Hu Jintao's regime, like that of Jiang Zemin before, is one of the worst violators of human rights in the world.

While Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, and Muslim Uighurs are all being persecuted for the faith, the suffering of peaceful Falun Gong practitioners has been especially intense. In 1999, China's dictators launched a brutal campaign to completely eradicate Falun Gong from their country through whatever means necessary, claiming that Falun Gong was a threat to "social order" in China. The reason behind this campaign of brutality is clear: by the mid to late 1990s, the number of Falun Gong practitioners began to exceed the number of members of the Communist Party. Like all dictators and totalitarian terror systems, the PRC fears and hates what it cannot control. So it sought to destroy and intimidate those who practice Falun Gong. I would also note that the regime has labeled as "cults" and is now oppressing other groups with followings comparable to that of the Falun Gong, such as the Xiang Gong, Guo Gong, and Zhong Gong qigong groups.

Falun Gong is not a religion, per se, but rather more like a philosophy. Based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, Falun Gong uses a series of five physical and mental exercises to assist its members to purify themselves spiritually and peacefully resolve conflicts. Whatever one may say about the merits of their beliefs, the evidence is very clear that Falun Gong practitioners are peaceful individuals who want to be left alone to practice their beliefs as they see fit.

To carry out the task of smashing those who practice Falun Gong, the Beijing dictatorship created "610 Offices" throughout China to oversee and direct the persecution of Falun Gong through brainwashing, torture, and murder.

The State Department Human Rights Report for 2003 has several pages documenting the plight of the Falun Gong. We know at least 250 Falun Gong members have died as a result of torture thus far. For instance, in only a three-month period from June to August last year, more than 50 Falun Gong died in custody, many from torture in detention camps. Other estimates place the total body count higher. Bodies of the tortured victims are often cremated immediately to conceal evidence of torture. The report indicated that Falun Gong adherents sent to mental health institutions have been administered psychiatric drugs and electric shock treatments by Chinese authorities.

Several thousand Falun Gong practitioners--estimated at 125,000 or higher--are held in labor camps, prisons, and mental hospitals, where they are forced to endure torture brainwashing sessions. For example, in December 2003, Liu Chengjun, sentenced to 19 years in prison in March 2002 for involvement in illegal Falun Gong television broadcasts, was reportedly beaten to death by police in Jilin City Prison.

The government continues to find new ways to crack down on Falun Gong. Over the past year, the Government initiated a comprehensive effort to round up practitioners not already in custody and sanctioned the use of high-pressure tactics and mandatory anti-Falun Gong study sessions to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong. Even practitioners who had not protested or made other public demonstrations of belief reportedly were forced to attend anti-Falun Gong classes or were sent directly to reeducation-through-labor camps, where in some cases, beatings and torture reportedly were used to force them to recant. These tactics reportedly resulted in large number of practitioners signing pledges to renounce the movement.

At the National People's Congress session in March, Premier Wen Jiabao's Government Work Report emphasized that the Government would "expand and deepen its battle against cults," including Falun Gong. Thousands of individuals were still undergoing criminal, administrative, and extrajudicial punishment for engaging in Falun Gong practices, admitting that they adhered to the teachings of Falun Gong, or refusing to criticize the organization or its founder.

During April to June 2003, the Government launched fresh accusations that Falun Gong practitioners were disrupting SARS-prevention efforts. State-run media claimed that, beginning in April, Falun Gong followers "incited public panic" and otherwise "sabotaged" anti-SARS efforts in many provinces by preaching that belief in Falun Gong will prevent persons from contracting SARS. Authorities detained hundreds of Falun Gong adherents on such charges, including 69 in Jiangsu Province during May and 180 in Hebei Province during June.

But Beijing is not confining its disgusting torture and brainwashing campaign to its own people. Chinese-American citizens and permanent residents are also victims. One American citizen, Dr. Charles Li, was arrested January 22, 2003 in China upon his arrival at an airport. A Falun Gong practitioner, the Chinese government alleges he attempted to sabotage television and radio equipment, even though he had just arrived in the country. Dr. Li has gone on continual hunger strikes to protest his arrest but been subject to forced feedings. There are reports that he is being subjected to brainwashing and anti-Falun Gong propaganda. At least 37 other Falun Gong practitioners who have family members that are residing in the U.S. are also in prison in China. Authorities also detained foreign Falun Gong practitioners from other countries. For example, in January 2003, two Australian citizens were deported for engaging in Falun Gong activities in Sichuan Province.

As my colleagues know, a sizeable number of Falun Gong practitioners reside here in the United States. They attempt to raise awareness about the horrors their fellow believers are subject to through meeting with government officials and through holding peaceful protests. Just this past August, Falun Gong members gathered on the Mall to pass out literature and inform Americans of the great suffering those in their faith are enduring. When Hu Jintao and other state leaders responsible for this purge are visiting foreign countries, Falun Gong members travel overseas to protest and raise awareness of the brutal persecution.

In response, China's persecution against the Falun Gong has moved outside of China's own borders. Large numbers of Falun Gong in the United States have reported to have been harassed. The FBI is currently investigating beatings of Falun Gong practitioners in Atlanta and Chicago. On June 23, 2003, Falun Gong practitioners in New York were harassed and physically violated by Chinese nationals associated with the consulate. Charges have been filed with the authorities. Li Li and some of her friends were involved with this incident.

Persecution of Falun Gong in China is horrific enough itself. The fact that China is now exporting its repression to weaker foreign nations under the guise of ''safety'' and ''public order'' is even worse. The cancer of China's repression is spreading all over the world. The PRC is not content to beat and torture and silence those inside its own borders. Now it is seeking to bully other nations into doing its bidding. When will this country wake up and stand up to this kind of nonsense?

I call upon all members of this body to support H. Con. Res. 304. I call on the administration to step up its efforts to speak up for the Falun Gong and out against the actions of the Chinese government immediately.

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U.S. Congressman Hoyer: Foreign observers estimate that half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in the country's reeducation-through-labor camps are Falun Gong adherents

October 4, 2004

Reference: U.S. House of Representatives Unanimously Passes Resolution Urging Chinese Government to Cease Its Oppression of Falun Gong Practitioners in the United States and in China

Mr. Speaker, the U.S. State Department's 2004 International Religious Freedom report for China begins as follows: "During the period covered by this report, the Government's respect for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience remained poor, especially for many unregistered religious groups and spiritual movements such as the Falun Gong."

According to the report, the arrest, detention, and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners continued, and practitioners who refuse to recant their beliefs are sometimes subjected to harsh treatment in prisons and reeducation-through-labor camps and there have been credible reports of deaths due to torture and abuse.

Foreign observers estimate that half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in the country's reeducation-through-labor camps are Falun Gong adherents.

Falun Gong blends aspects of Taoism, Buddhism, and the meditation techniques and physical exercises of qigong (a traditional Chinese exercise discipline) with the teachings of Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi. Despite its spiritual content, Falun Gong does not consider itself a religion and has no clergy or places of worship.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution calls upon the government of China to immediately end the harassment, detention, physical abuse, and imprisonment of individuals who are exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and freedom of association as stated in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.

The importance of this cannot be overstated--the protection of religious freedom is intimately connected to the protection of other fundamental human and civil rights, as well as to the growth of democracy.

A government that acknowledges and protects freedom of religion and conscience is one that understands the inherent and inviolable dignity of the human person, and is more likely to protect, the other rights fundamental to human dignity, such as freedom from arbitrary arrest or seizure, or freedom from torture and murder.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution sends an important message to the government of China that we will not look the other way when they violate the basic rights of their people, and that we demand of our partners in the international community the protection of the most basic human rights--freedom to worship freely.

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U.S. Congressman Pallone: Sadly, the unwarranted and unprovoked aggression against Falun Gong has not ceased, nor is it limited to China. There have been unprovoked attacks in the United States and Falun Gong members have been subjected to a humiliating and denigrating blacklist

October 4, 2004

Reference: U.S. House of Representatives Unanimously Passes Resolution Urging Chinese Government to Cease Its Oppression of Falun Gong Practitioners in the United States and in China

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my support for H. Con. Res. 304, a resolution honoring the tradition and practice of Falun Gong. As a cosponsor of this resolution, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this important piece of legislation.

H. Con. Res. 304 calls on the Chinese Government to stop interfering with the religious and political rights of individuals in the United States to practice Falun Gong. The Chinese Government has gone so far as to spread falsehoods about Falun Gong and to harass, detain, abuse and imprison Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners are simply exercising their legitimate right to freedom of religion and expression, and the actions of the Chinese Government conflict with international standards of freedom and human rights and must end immediately.

I have an admiration for the practitioners and adherents of Falun Gong and I am invested in the movement both in the United States and abroad. I remain committed to the task of making Falun Gong safe to practice in any country in the world. The members of Falun Gong are opposed by a Chinese government that unjustly views them as dissenters. This view is entirely without merit. In reality, Falun Gong is an inherently peaceful, apolitical movement that stresses nonviolence and meditation. Since Falun Gong was outlawed in 1999, hundreds of nonviolent practitioners have been arrested, tortured, libeled, and detained without charge or proof of any wrongdoing.

Sadly, the unwarranted and unprovoked aggression against Falun Gong has not ceased, nor is it limited to China. There have been unprovoked attacks in the United States and Falun Gong members have been subjected to a humiliating and denigrating blacklist.

One incident that I found particularly offensive took place in June 2003. Falun Gong members were attacked and beaten while holding a nonviolent protest in New York City. In an effort to end the discrimination that confronts Falun Gong practitioners, I wrote a letter to the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau, requesting an investigation of this case. I hope that justice prevails in this case.

With passage of H. Con. Res. 304, we can send a strong signal condemning China's human rights abuses and we can take one step closer to ensuring Falun Gong members the freedom of religion and assembly guaranteed to them by law.