What I Experienced When I Tried to Renew My Passport at the Chinese Consulate in Japan

My name is Ma Shuhua. I live in Japan and am a Chinese citizen. I am a Falun Gong practitioner. My husband is a foreign student and my child is now in the sixth grade. We obtained our visas for Japan because of my husband's student status.

On April 18, 2003, I went to the Chinese Consulate in Japan to submit my passport renewal application, because all pages had been stamped. They accepted my application and asked me to return for pickup on April 23. Before that date, staff from the consulate called me and I talked to a secretary with the last name of Wu. In summary, I was told that I would only receive a new passport if I agreed to give up Falun Gong. I did not cave in to this demand.

On Feb 2, 2004, my child's and my passport expired and I again submitted the application for renewal. When turning in my application I told the clerk that I didn't get my new passport earlier because I practiced Falun Gong. She told me that this was no longer the case. I was told that I should return for our passports on February 5th. On Feb 2nd, a secretary from the consulate, with the last name of Lu, called me at 5 pm and asked me to come for an interview. After two interviews, he proposed two conditions:

Not to hurt the economic benefits of the country and not to damage the image of the country (government);
Not to appeal outside the consulate for a period of time.

He thought that my appealing outside the consulate would prevent foreigners from investing in China's businesses. I did not accept these conditions, as I had not done anything to hurt the image of the country. A free country and its government would attract more investments and a government that persecutes its citizen and commits human rights violations would prevent foreign investments. It was the persecution of Falun Gong that sullied the image of China and thus lost economic opportunities.

He called me and I called him back. He told me that he had sent a message to China to ask authority to renew my passport, but he did not know when he would get a reply. I didn't know how long I would have to wait. Among the people who did not receive their passports were Falun Gong practitioners.

I am a Chinese citizen. I have not done anything that sullied the country's image, or anything that would have made China lose economic benefits. I have never broken any law. I had no idea when and how I was put on their blacklist. The refusal of issuing new passports or renewals of passports to overseas practitioners is definitely persecution and discrimination.

I came to Japan in March 1999 and started to practice Falun Gong in April. I became healthy and was feeling happy. My chronic shoulder bursitis and arthritis were gone within two months. When I saw the suppression against Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, I felt it was unreasonable and decided to continue the practice.

Around Dec 10, 1999, I traveled to Hong Kong to attend the Falun Dafa Asia Experience Sharing Conference. Regulations in Hong Kong required me and other Chinese practitioners from Japan to enter through customs in Shenzhen. At customs, the officer realized that we were Falun Gong practitioners and detained us. After 5 or 6 hours, they sent us back to Japan and some practitioners' passports were stamped "cancel".

After we returned to Japan, we understood how the propaganda in China was deceiving all Chinese people. They even claimed that overseas Chinese were forbidden to practice Falun Gong. I was very sad.

On Dec 20, 1999, Macau was going to be returned to China. On the 19th, some practitioners and I traveled to Macau and participated in the group exercise on a big plaza. We wanted officials from China and the world's media to see how peaceful Falun Gong was. Under pressure, the Macau police arrested us in front of everyone, including the media, and took us to a police station. After 7-8 hours, without receiving an explanation, we were sent back to Hong Kong.

After what happened to us, some of us practitioners decided to go to Beijing to appeal. We wanted to speak for overseas practitioners and appeal for an end to the suppression of Falun Gong. On Dec 29, 1999, our flight arrived in Shanghai. Armed officers at customs arrested us. A female officer at customs was looking at the computer screen and kept repeating, "There are more of them." Seven of the eight of us were locked in a hotel that night. Police were assigned to all the rooms to monitor us and we were not allowed to leave the room. The next morning around 9 o'clock we were sent back to Japan against our will and our visas were all stamped "cancel." We were not able to appeal in Beijing.

From that time on, I could no longer return to my country. I had become an outcast.

In March 2004, as I had not heard any news from the consulate, I faxed a letter that I had prepared for the media and public to the Chinese consulate. After an hour, the secretary with the last name of Lu called me and asked if I had sent out the letter. As soon as he heard that I had not done so, he said, "It would create a lot of problems if you did. Come tomorrow and apply for your passport." I got my passport within three days.

Though I received my passport, which was supposed to be issued to me a long time ago, there are still a lot of practitioners in Japan who have not received their passports. I ask the public for their support. Please help us end the persecution of Falun Gong.