The Persecution of Falun Gong Outside China: Beatings and Arson

The U.S. House of Representatives recently unanimously passed Resolution 304, citing cases in which Chinese government agents targeted U.S. officials, residents, and citizens. The resolution calls upon the regime to immediately stop interfering with basic freedoms in America. It states that the Chinese government should "cease using the diplomatic missions in the United States to spread falsehoods about the nature of Falun Gong." In this article we will look into beating and arson cases against Falun Gong practitioners that occurred outside China.

Canadian Member of Parliament Mr. Rob Anders said in a letter to Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. John Manley: "In February 2000 I was invited to a Chinese New Year's celebration hosted by Member of Parliament Sophie Leung in Room 200 of West Block in the House of Commons. I attended wearing clothing with statements regarding a free Tibet and an end to the repression of followers of Falun Dafa. Staff members of the People's Republic [of China] physically assaulted me in the House of Commons for wearing these slogans. They also tried to steal a camera away from a Canadian photo-journalist taking pictures of the event."

On September 7, 2001, Carolyn Lu, Bill Fang, and Yibing Huang were attacked by Mr. Jiming Zheng and Mr. Yujun Weng outside the Chinese consulate in Chicago (Mr. Jiming Zheng testified to this and were put on one year of supervision). Both men were known to have close ties with the Chinese consulate.

On December 26, 2001, at 6:00 a.m., Mr. Zhantou Lin left his home in Chicago to go on a trip. He soon got a report from the police that not a half-hour after he left on his trip his '94 Dodge Spirit was firebombed near Chinatown. Mr. Lin frequently used his car to transport Falun Gong materials and reports that staff of the Chinese consulate would videotape him during appeals outside the consulate.

On December 31, 2001, Leon Wang was invited to a "New Year's movie party" at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa. As Mr. Wang took pictures of an anti-Falun Gong exhibition during the party, staff of the Chinese embassy beat him up and tried to take away his camera.

On June 23, 2003, a group of people led by chairman Liang Guanjun of Chinese Associations General in New York City assaulted several Falun Gong practitioners (Liang Guanjun was taken into police custody). Mr. Liang is known to have close ties to the Chinese consulate, as he was hosting a banquet for Wang Yingfan, the departing UN ambassador from China.

The above are just a few examples of how officials and staff of Chinese embassies and consulates, or thugs hired by the embassies and consulates, physically assault residents of countries' outside China, and even assault elected officials in their own country and place of work.

These assaults demonstrate that the Jiang regime is willing to do whatever it takes to intimidate and injure Falun Gong practitioners and its supporters outside of China. From the cases above, we can clearly see that the persecution of Falun Gong is not just a "China thing," it is something that directly affects citizens of countries around the world. People outside China have freedoms like speech and belief protected by their governments, but the Jiang regime directly stomps on these freedoms by attacking people in these countries outside China.

If the Jiang regime is allowed to get away with attacking the citizens of other countries, where will this stop? This can only escalate, and it has. On June 28, 2004, Australian Falun Gong practitioners were shot by an AK-47 in a drive-by shooting after arriving in South Africa. The practitioners were on their way to file a lawsuit against Zeng Qinghong, the vice president of China who has been heavily involved in the persecution of Falun Gong, who was visiting South Africa at the time. This blatant disregard for the rule of law in other countries exemplifies the extreme danger the Jiang regime possesses to the people and governments of nations across the world. If the Jiang regime is already hiring gunmen to hunt down citizens of countries outside China, what's next?

After seeing how the Jiang regime will act with violence in foreign countries, we must raise the question as to why they would do this. Seeing that their methods are virtually identical to gangsters, we can use this as an example. Gangsters beat and kill people mostly for money and power (control of an area, etc.). Jiang Zemin's regime in China, the instigators of the persecution of Falun Gong, persecutes Falun Gong for very similar reasons. By showing their power in persecuting Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin and his group can effectively intimidate rivals within the communist party, thereby consolidating their power and controlling the nation's finances. This is basically the same manner that gangsters act in order to keep their power and money. Jiang's regime is no different than a band of gangsters--it's just a band that's in control of the largest country in the world. Gangsters do whatever they can get away with, as does Jiang's regime. These kinds of people cannot be reasoned with, as they are not rational and are in constant fear of losing their power, or having the bad deeds they have done come back to haunt them. In such a state, they are irrational and will do anything to protect themselves. This is a serious threat to all countries and their citizens.