10th of September, 2003

Dear Madam:

The President, Mr. Johannes Rau, thanks you very much for your letter. In your letter, you mentioned the situation of Falun Gong practitioner Xiong Wei and requested for the President to attempt to communicate with China to release her. Mr. Rau has entrusted me to reply to you.

The President cares very much about the issue of human rights and is using every opportunity to improve human rights, including meeting with politicians from other countries. He is also doing this with China. When Mr. Rau met the former President, Jiang Zemin and the former deputy president Hu Jintao, he also raised the issue of human rights.

Human rights, protecting minority groups and parties, as well as the country's law, are all important subjects that the President will be discussing with China. You might be aware that the president will be giving a speech in Nanjing. When he returns, I will send this speech to you.

You and I both hope that China will change their human rights situation. This change will also benefit China because if there are no laws or protection for the human rights of people in China, then China cannot become a modern society. We should tell the Chinese government that this is something that must be done.

I will pass all your information regarding Xiong Wei to the department that is responsible for this issue within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Best wishes!

Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200309/15371.html