The New Zealand Falun Dafa Association signed a one-year contract with Look Outdoor, an advertising company, for a sign in the Auckland Airport. According to the contract, Look would display a sign 1.5 x 1 meters in size showing a girl meditating and the words, "The World Needs Truth, Compassion and Forbearance," at the exit of the Auckland International Airport. Local Falun Dafa practitioners had prepaid the first three months of the contract.
In June this year, Look and the Auckland International Airport each received several phone calls from the Chinese Embassy in Wellington and the consulate in Auckland. The phone calls were to request them to take down the advertisement on the grounds that Falun Gong was banned in China and the content of the ad offended the tourists from China. Look refused the request many times, replying that Falun Gong was legal in New Zealand and that it would honour its contract with the Falun Dafa Association. However, on July 5th, the Advertisement Company received an order from the Auckland Airport to remove the billboard. The New Zealand Falun Dafa Association received no prior notification.
On July 15th, several Falun Dafa practitioners spoke face-to-face with the staff at Look. Company representatives provided written proof of the pressure the company had received from the Chinese Embassy.
Due to interference from the Chinese Embassy and consulate, the advertising contract had been unilaterally cancelled. This violated basic consumer interest and has damaged the reputations of Look and the Auckland International Airport. The Chinese Embassy has violated international diplomatic norms requiring that they not interfere in another country's internal affairs. Also, New Zealand practitioners have been deprived of their freedom of speech.
Look planned to reimburse part of the advertising fee to the Falun Dafa Association, but the Association expressed that it would appeal to have the advertisement be put back up as soon as possible.
The New Zealand Herald, the largest newspaper in New Zealand, gave front-page coverage of the news. The report described that the Auckland International Airport bowed to pressure from the Chinese government and acted servility, which led to the removal of Falun Dafa's advertisement. The spokesman for the Chinese Embassy alleged that the consulate in Auckland had complained because "Chinese residents and tourists were offended by the message."
On the same day, Channel One of the New Zealand State Television broadcast the report in its 6 o'clock news. In the report the interviewee Barry Wilson of Auckland Council for Civil Liberties said "Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual movement and pursues the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. And the advertisement displayed at the airport only showed a girl meditating and the words, The World Needs Truth, Compassion and Forbearance." This will not harm anyone, so taking down the ad because of the interference by the Chinese Embassy is a shameful thing.
Local television host Paul Holmes did a live interview with the Chinese Ambassador, Chen Mingming. The program first showed the Falun Dafa billboard at the airport. The host asked Ambassador Chen, "May I ask you, Mr. Ambassador, why did the Chinese Embassy want the Auckland Airport to remove Falun Dafa advertisement?" Chen Mingming just ignored his question and started to recite his lines about the so-called Falun Dafa hacking TV programs. The host interrupted his recitation. "I'm sorry, Mr. Ambassador, Falun Gong is a peaceful exercise with Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance as its guidelines. Please tell our audience why the Chinese Embassy wanted the Auckland International airport to take down the advertisement introducing this exercise?" Chen Mingming continued to recite his lines. The host interrupted him again. "I'm sorry, Mr. Ambassador, but I am not interested in what happened in China. The reason I am inviting you to come to the program is to ask you, the ambassador from the People's Republic of China, to explain to our audience, the New Zealand people, in a democratic country like New Zealand, why did the Chinese Embassy want to remove a Falun Gong advertisement."
Chen Mingming started a new round of recitation. The host tried to stop the recitation, and for quite some time the two of them talked at the same time. Apparently, the host could not bear the rudeness of the Chinese Ambassador any longer. The host reminded the Ambassador once again, "I'm sorry, you are the ambassador of the People's Republic of China. You must explain to our audience why the Chinese Embassy wanted to take down the advertisement introducing the exercise of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance?" It was apparent that the Chinese Ambassador had lost control of himself. His facial muscles looked very tight. With his hand pointing at the host, the ambassador continued to recite his broken lines. The host again returned to the topic of the advertisement at the airport. But Chen Mingming accused the ad of having political content. The host then asked a Falun Dafa practitioner if the ad was involved in politics. The practitioner replied, "This ad says, in both English and Chinese, that Falun Dafa is good, people in over 50 countries in the world all know that Falun Dafa is good, and Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. The host asked, "May I ask you, does believing in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance involve politics?" Chen Mingming started to repeat his lies again. Finally, the host had to drown out this Chinese Ambassador's lines. Then the host had to end the live broadcast.
The host talked to Falun Dafa practitioners during the commercial break, "I'm sorry for not giving you much time to talk." He then invited one practitioner for a live interview at his morning news program at a New Zealand radio station.
Ten minutes after the live TV interview, a Chinese male phoned one of the Falun Dafa practitioners saying, "In the past when you Falun Gong practitioners came to Wellington to hand out Falun Dafa materials I dared not to take them. Today I saw the performance of the ambassador, I think he was disgraceful. How could the Chinese government be like that?
New Zealand Herald published a follow-up report on July 18th. The report said the airport had changed their statement made yesterday, saying that the decision to remove Falun Dafa's ad was because the airport wanted to remain politically neutral.
Amnesty International said it was shocked to learn the incident.
Keith Locke, a foreign affairs spokesman for the New Zealand Green Party, described the airport's behaviour of bowing to the pressure of the Chinese government as weak-kneed. The Green senator was shocked by the acts of the Chinese Embassy and held that it was very bad for such a thing to have happened in New Zealand. The Green Party wrote to the Auckland International Airport to express their concern. In the letter, they first made it clear that the airport should not compromise to the Chinese Embassy to take down the advertisement. Secondly, referring to the fact that the airport mentioned that people lodged complaints about the billboard, the letter held that only those having close contacts with the Chinese Embassy would make such complaints, while a normal everyday person would not complain about Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. This is because Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance are the principles that everyone can identify with. Referring to the airport's saying that it wanted to remain politically neutral, the letter held that believing and promoting Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance is not political. The only one that played politics is the Chinese government. The spokesman also mentioned that during the 1999 Asia Pacific summit meeting, the police tried to prevent people from expressing their views to the Chinese government, and that Congress specifically held hearings for the matter. The Green Party Senator said the New Zealand government should express its stand on this issue, because the Chinese government interfered and obstructed the freedom enjoyed by the New Zealand citizens.
At 1 o'clock July 18th, the New Zealand Falun Dafa practitioners held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland to further expose the conduct of the Chinese government and the Chinese Embassy by interfering in the internal affairs of a peaceful and democratic country, and violating their citizens' freedom of speech.
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