WBBM News Radio 780 (Chicago): Chinese Man Here In Bind Over Practicing Falun Gong

June 5, 2002

A Chinese man working at Motorola in Schaumburg is wondering about his future -- now that he says the Chinese Consulate has refused to renew his passport -- calling him a "threat to state security"

WBBM's Steve Miller reports.

[...]

Tommy Xu believes he is no threat to security. He says the reasons the Chinese consulate won't renew his passport is because he is a practitioner of Falun Gong -- the exercise and meditation discipline banned by the Chinese government [...].

Xu's passport expires in less than two weeks -- and he says he cannot take his wife and one-year old son back to China.

"I think I cannot do that because the persecution of Falun Gong in China is very serious. My mother is an innocent, retired old lady, and she was arrested twice, simply because she practiced Falun Gong."

Tommy Xu is a research scientist at Motorola in Schaumburg. He says Motorola has already stepped in to do as much as it can for him. He says he wishes the American government could do more -- and he says he will probably apply for asylum.

[...]