(Minghui.org) On May 17, 2013, Chairman of Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Co-Chairman of Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Co-Chairman of US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, senior US Congressman Christopher H. Smith from New Jersey wrote the following welcome letter to Falun Dafa practitioners in congratulation of the International Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference to be held in New York.
In the letter, Congressman Smith strongly condemned the Chinese Communist Party for its persecution of Falun Gong in the past 14 years. He indicated that he planned to reintroduce legislation which will deny entry into the U.S. to any senior leader of the Chinese government and members of their family and members of any branch of the security police who have committed serious human rights violations.
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
May 17, 2013
Dear friends,
I would like to welcome the 8000 plus Falun Dafa practitioners from different cities of the United States and more than 100 countries in the world, including China, to the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area who are to attend the international Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference and activities of raising awareness of human rights violations in China during May 17th to 19th, 2013.
The injustice and human rights violations of 70 plus million peaceful citizens in China who practice “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance” are totally unacceptable. As Co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), I have received extensive testimonies underscoring that the situation in China has gotten worse. The crackdown is pervasive and severe.
The millions of Falun Dafa practitioners in China – and even at one point those here in the United States – have been subjected to acts of violence and assault, property theft and destruction, illegal wiretapping, harassment, intimidation and persecution. In China thousands of practitioners of the peaceful practice have been killed. Hundreds of thousands have been detained and more than 100,000 have been sentenced to forced labor camps, typically without trial. Now the Chinese government is using similar tactics against its burgeoning civil society.
Rest assured I will continue to work to expose the Chinese government’s brutal 14 years persecution of Falun Gong and work toward securing their inalienable rights of religious freedom. In December, I hosted a CECC hearing on the persecution of Falun Gong, and I hosted a joint subcommittee hearing on organ harvesting last September. To further our efforts, I plan to re-introduce legislation which will deny entry into the U.S. to any senior leader of the Chinese government and members of their family who derive benefit from policies or actions that target democratic activists, persecute ethnic minorities, or participated in the trafficking and forcible return of North Korean refugees or the coercive birth limitation policies. My legislation will also bar entry to members of any branch of the security police who have participated in the violent repression of any individual or leaders of religious practices, democracy advocates, human rights lawyers, worker’s right advocates or independent media, journalists, or internet users. I will continue to fight for the freedom and basic rights of the Falun Gong and all those in China who continue to have their human rights and fundamental freedoms abused by the Chinese Communist dictatorship.
I heartily wish all of you a fruitful and successful conference.
Sincerely,
Christopher H. Smith
