(Clearwisdom.net, April 21, 2004) The sixth Asia-Europe summit was held at the K Club hotel in County Kildare, Ireland on the 17th and18th of April. The foreign ministers of the member states of the European Union and ten Asian nations attended the summit (Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). As part of the current Presidency of the EU, Irish foreign minister Brian Cowen chaired the meeting.

In the press conference on the 18th, a question was raised regarding the rescue of two Falun Gong practitioners being held in China who were studying overseas in Ireland.

Reporter: "Do you think the Chinese foreign minister would agree to the return of Liu Feng and Yang Fang to Ireland to resume their studies?" (the two were students in Ireland who were detained in China because of their belief in Falun Gong)

Irish foreign minister:" When I visited China last time, I mentioned another Chinese student (Zhao Ming) to Chinese leaders. This student was later returned to Ireland. We are also working on these two students and hope progress will be made. I will take this issue to the meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister later this evening."

During the two-day meeting, Falun Gong practitioners held peaceful appeals and exercised in front of the K Club hotel for the whole duration, despite the heavy rain on the first day and very low temperatures. The spokesman for the Irish Falun Dafa Association said, "China has widely used forced labour from the labour camps and prisons to produce goods for export. European businessmen may violate the EU laws by selling goods produced through slave labour. Europe has practically assisted the abuse of human rights in China by ignoring the human rights issues and increasing trade with China. The income from the trade does not benefit the Chinese people, and is actually used by the Chinese regime to support its persecution of Falun Gong. Trade itself does not naturally bring progress to China's human rights."

Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200404/19150.html

Chinese version available

Category: April 25 Events