Thoughts on the Establishment of the "Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" Asia Branch

On December 19th, 2006, the "Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" (CIPFG) held a press conference at the Taiwan Legislative Council to announce the formation of its Asia Branch. Participants included Legislators Tien Chiu-Chin and Chai Trong-Rong, human rights lawyer Chiu Ken H. C. and former Taiwan Health Minister Doctor. Twu Shiing-jer. Taiwan Legislator Doctor Lai Ching-Te heads CIPFG-Asia. He said that the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist regime has gone on for more than 7 years and the regime has even been harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. In order to safeguard basic human rights, the CIPFG has asked to travel to China to start its investigation immediately and without any restrictions. He also called on the Chinese Communist regime to stop such terrible crimes.

CIPFG-Asia has more than 100 members from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia. They include members of parliament, chief executives, leaders of non-governmental organizations, human rights advocates, and people from judicial, medical, academic and media circles. This regional branch was formed after the establishment of the Australia Branch on November 24th, 2006.

The Asian branch demanded that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) open all jails, forced labor camps, detention centers and military hospitals suspected of being involved in live organ harvesting in Liaoning, Shandong, Henan and Tianjin to the international community for a thorough investigation. It also demanded that the CCP abide by international human rights conventions that it has signed and put into practice the suggestions raised in the independent investigation report published by David Kilgour and David Matas. The request included an immediate end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, including an end to organ harvesting from living practitioners.

In March and April of this year, several witnesses exposed atrocities committed by CCP officials in harvesting organs from living practitioners. The witnesses gave their knowledge about the CCP's organ harvesting from living practitioners, pocketing staggering profits and burning the corpses to destroy the evidence. In May, Vice President of the European Parliament Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott made a special trip to Beijing to investigate the persecution of Falun Gong and the organ harvesting from living practitioners. On June 27th, representative of the NGO Human Rights Without Frontiers International Ms. Elise Steyaert read a statement at the third meeting of the Council of Europe (COE) in which she discussed organ harvesting in China. She asked that the COE sent a group to China to investigate the facts.

On July 6th, a Canadian independent investigation group publicly announced that the organ harvesting allegations from living Falun Gong practitioners by the CCP are true and described it as an evil that has never been seen on this planet before. The report found that since 1999 the number of organ transplants in China increased sharply. The source of 41,500 transplants for the six-year period from 2000 to 2005 is unexplained. Besides the persecution of Falun Gong there are no other reasonable answers to explain this sharp increase.

After the independent investigation report was made public, the CCP's crimes caused wide-spread concern in the international community. The Canadian government announced publicly that it would investigate the allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners by the CCP. Rahim Jaffer, the chair of the incumbent Conservative Party, suggested on July 13th that Canada and other countries form an international committee and demand that the CCP government open its doors to an investigation. The investigation should go forward under existing law, and the findings should be taken to the international court.

On June 7th, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer learned about the CCP practice of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners via a constituent letter. In her reply, she expressed her determination to denounce the atrocities by the CCP and stop the persecution. On September 6th, Michigan Senator Mike Goschka denounced the organ harvesting crime by the CCP. On August 18th, the Australian government and the opposition party reached a bipartisan consensus to carry out an independent investigation concerning the CCP's organ harvesting.

On August 15th, David Howarth, British MP for Cambridge, expressed that the Canadian independent investigation group raised a very serious issue and what is happening in China is extremely immoral. He called for the British and other Western governments to demand an explanation from China. On September 4th, Swedish MP's representing 6 political parties issued a joint statement, demanding of China to stop the crimes of stealing practitioners' organs immediately.

The CCP and the Jiang Zemin regime established the policy to "defame the practitioners' reputation, bankrupt them financially and destroy them physically." So far, it has been verified that at least 3,000 practitioners were tortured to death, hundreds of thousands of practitioners are still held in prisons, forced labor camps and detention centers and over 500 practitioners were sentenced to prison terms of at least 18 years. However, no matter how severe the persecution is and how vicious the lies are, nothing will stop the truth from being spread. In the last 7 years, in spite of the persecution, Falun Gong has spread to over 80 countries and received more than 1,400 awards and recognitions. Practitioners from throughout the world have displayed banners; held rallies, parades, candlelight vigils, and anti-torture demonstrations; published press releases and gave performances to expose the inhuman persecution in China.

Many Western government officials who safeguard human rights have called on the CCP to stop persecuting practitioners. On October 24th, 2002, Canadian MP Scott Reid initiated Resolution M236, requesting the Canadian Prime Minister Chretien to ask China to release 13 Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China who are relatives of Canadian permanent residents or citizens. The Canadian Parliament unanimously passed the resolution. With the concerted efforts of the rescue organizations and the Canadian government, at least six of those practitioners have been rescued to Canada.

On October 4th, 2004 the United States passed Resolution 304, expressing the view of the U.S. Congress on the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP. The resolution demanded that the Chinese regime stop interfering in the exercise of religious and political freedom within the United States, such as the right to practice Falun Gong. Such rights are guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The U.S. Congress demanded that China cease using diplomatic missions in the United States to spread falsehoods about the nature of Falun Gong and immediately end the imprisonment of individuals who are exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of religion, including those who practice Falun Gong.

Close to the 2006 Chinese New Year, two resolutions in support of Falun Gong and denouncing the CCP were passed and drew the attention of human rights activists. On January 25th, 2006, at its parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg, France, the Council of Europe made up of 46 member countries passed a resolution condemning the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes. On January 25th, 2006, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution condemning the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP.

The persecution of the belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion and forbearance" is a serious challenge to basic human values and dignity, and it is also a test for justice and conscience of every individual and every country. In recent years, the powerful support for Falun Gong's protests against the persecution in China by the international community has inspired tens of millions of practitioners in China, who live under extreme dangerous conditions. It is also a severe warning to the CCP for continuing the persecution.

The establishment of CIPFG Asia will be a heavy blow to the CCP's persecution. The persecution will be ended; the murderers will eventually be punished; the international community must and will show more concern for and give more support to this undertaking. When the CIPFG is allowed to enter China and conduct its investigation, the world will hear the truth about organ harvesting from living practitioners. We call on China to end the persecution immediately.