Germany: Practitioners Appeal to the EU to Stop China from Extending the Persecution of Falun Gong to Russia

On May 14th, 2007 on the eve of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue in Berlin, the international media carried the shocking news that the Russian government, bowing to pressure from the Chinese Communist Regime, forcibly kidnapped and deported Falun Gong practitioner Gao Chunman to China. Mr. Gao, 73, a former professor from Tsinghua University in China. He was granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office in Russia in 2003 and his wife is a Russian citizen. Many German Falun Gong practitioners wrote to EU officials who were to participate in the EU-China Dialogue, urging them to stop the Russian authorities from cooperating with the Chinese regime in abusing human rights.

This is another vicious incident, which took place after Falun Gong practitioner Ma Hui and her eight year old daughter were kidnapped from St. Petersburg and illegally deported to China on March 28th, 2007, which has caused grave concern in the international community. On learning of the illegal and forcible deportation of Professor Gao to China, Falun Gong practitioners in Germany immediately contacted the German Ministry of Foreign Affair to bring this incident to the German government’s attention. They called on the German government to condemn the Chinese regime at the Human Rights Dialogue to be held the following day for China’s attempt to extend its persecution against Falun Gong overseas by means of tempting other Western democratic countries with economic benefits.

It was reported that the EU-Russia Summit would be held in Russia on May 17th and 18th, 2007, and the topics would include freedom, legal systems and human rights, etc. With the German EU presidency in 2007, Chancellor Angela Merkel would make it to the summit and presided over the meeting. The German Falun Gong Association and the German Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group thus appealed to the Chancellor for the illegal deportation of Gao Chunman and urged the Russian Federation to stop the severe violation of human rights.

In the petition, the Falun Gong Association stated, “As the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners is still ongoing in China, it is very dangerous to deport Falun Gong practitioners back to China. The cooperation in dealing with Falun Gong issues between the Russian government and the Chinese Communist regime is against the U.N. Refugees Convention.” It also added: “On May 10th, 2007, the German parliament passed a historic resolution to condemn China’s forced labour system and call on the Chinese Communist regime to put an end to this inhuman system. We support this resolution and appreciate the German government’s courage and the efforts it has made to uplift justice. We request that Chancellor Merkel urge the Russian government to stop deporting Falun Gong practitioners and help Ma Hui, her daughter and Professor Gao return to Russia, while meeting with Russian President Putin.”

In the meantime, many Falun Gong practitioners wrote to EU officials attending the EU-China Dialogue. The episodes of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners happened time and again whilst human right issues were discussed during the EU-China Dialogue and the EU-Russia Summit. That has caused the international community grave concern.

The Chinese Communist regime has done its utmost to take advantage of the Western communities. On the surface, it discussed human rights issues with Western democratic countries; in reality, it deceived them and tried to make them become accomplices of the persecution of Falun Gong so as to maintain the atrocities. Therefore, Falun Gong practitioners called on Western governments to openly condemn the Chinese Communist regime, so as to uplift justice and put an end to the persecution.