Taipei Times Letter to the Editor: Peace, war and Falun Gong

Much has been said about peace. So what is peace? Some may say that peace is the manifestation of compassion in human nature. For a country, peace is an ideal of mankind and is the optimal state of civilisation in which people live harmoniously and advance together. When talking about peace, many people realise immediately that it is closely linked to war.

In fact, there is something even more devastating than war -- it is called genocide and another face of terror. The unjustified killing and persecution of innocent people carried out by dictatorial regimes in times of peace hardly gets the attention it deserves from the international community -- including the media -- until it's too late.

According to the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party , 80 million Chinese have died unnatural deaths in the last 56 years at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Whenever the CCP encounters an important issue that demands obedience from the populace, it uses "patriotism" and "nationalism" to mobilise people at short notice. In all cases, including matters related to Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Falun Gong, and the collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet, the CCP has used the combined methods of high pressure terror and collective brainwashing, thus bringing people to a war-like state of mind. This method is similar to that used by the German fascists.

Seven years ago former Chinese president Jiang Zemin launched a genocidal campaign targeting Falun Gong. His directive: "destroy them physically, defame their reputations and bankrupt them financially." This persecution is the No.1 genocide in China today.

The tyrannical CCP is responsible for an estimated 10,000 deaths by torture of Falun Gong practitioners alone. Practitioners have been raising awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong since it began.

It is unconscionable that innocent people are having their organs stolen and their bodies desecrated to line the pockets of the employees of corrupt Chinese courts, police and hospitals.

The situation is most urgent. Several weeks ago a Sound of Hope radio reporter called hospitals in China posing as a transplant patient and was told repeatedly to come in before May 1 while organ supplies were plentiful.

After that it was expected that there would be a scarcity of organs due to the introduction of new government regulations. A doctor also confirmed that the organs come from Falun Gong practitioners. More information about this abuse can be found on the Internet (eng.soundofhope.org).

There is a dire need to investigate, report on and bring a halt to this brutality, which has gone largely ignored by world media and governments alike.

While about 80 members of the US Congress and a few representatives from the EU have called for an investigation into this matter, Canada has taken the lead with three prominent human rights lawyers currently investigating the allegations of illegal organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.

We were recently advised that the three lawyers -- David Kilgour, David Matas and Clive Ansley -- will be joined by Edward McMillan-Scott, vice-president of the EU. They are presently awaiting approval from Chinese officials to conduct an independent investigation in China in an attempt to gather more evidence and are getting the run around.

People from all walks of life have joined the International Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, a fact-finding delegation to China to conduct a full investigation into the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners being held in Chinese labour camps and other detention facilities.

To call attention to the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong, Vancouver practitioners have been holding a peaceful vigil for the past five years at their 24-hour appeal site in front of the Chinese Consulate on 3300 Granville Street.

Recently Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has caved in to pressure from the Chinese Consulate and has ordered the practitioners to pack up their exhibit or he will see them in court. This is yet another form of exporting the persecution overseas through the tentacles of the consulate.

But in the face of the most powerful, autocratic and villainous political group ever that conducted the most malicious, horrific and atrocious genocidal atrocities in history, never once have the practitioners resorted to violence. And to this day Falun Gong is still Falun Gong.

Under the principles of truth, compassion and tolerance, peace and justice are building the most splendid moral statutes for the future, which has become the only hope for humankind to return to glory.

Marie Beaulieu

Victoria, Canada