TODAYonline (AFP): Falun Gong has US Congress hearing, Washington rally

July 21

Supporters of Falun Gong display a banner in Sydney, 20 July 2005, showing torture re-enactments. China has deployed a network of some 1,000 spies to keep tabs on the Falun Gong spiritual movement in Australia, and the number of agents in the United States is likely even higher, a former Chinese diplomat said(AFP/Greg Wood)

Falun Gong has US Congress hearing, Washington rally

July 22, 2005

China has deployed a network of some 1,000 spies to keep tabs on the Falun Gong spiritual movement in Australia, and the number of agents in the United States is likely even higher, a former Chinese diplomat said.

Chen Yonglin, a former diplomat who defected to Australia in May, likened Beijing's actions to a "war" against the movement, which is banned in China, and decried the "massive and extremely harsh measures" used to suppress it.

"In each Chinese mission overseas, there must be at least one official in charge of the Falun Gong affairs, and the head and the deputy head of the mission will be responsible for the Falun Gong affairs," said Chen.

"I am aware there are over 1,000 Chinese secret agents and informants in Australia who have played a role in persecuting the Falun Gong, and the number in the United States should be higher," he said in testimony before the House of Representatives' subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.

"The war against Falun Gong is one of the main tasks of the Chinese overseas missions," said Chen.

The subcommittee's Republican chairman, Chris Smith, said that while China has been roundly condemned for its treatment of religious and ethnic minorities, "the suffering of peaceful Falun Gong practitioners ... has been especially intense," he said.

Smith cited human right reports detailing "hundreds, perhaps thousands dead as a result of torture, tens of thousands jailed without trial, held in labor camps, prisons and mental hospitals, where they are forced to endure torture brainwashing sessions."

Meanwhile, hundreds of Falun Gong followers assembled for a meditation rally and march in Washington Thursday, hoping to ramp up world pressure against Beijing for persecuting the group.

On the sidelines of the event, posters graphically depicted the effects of torture allegedly carried out by Chinese authorities against practitioners.

Followers said they could not fathom why the Beijing government would outlaw a practice that they said has improved the physical and emotional well-being of millions of people.

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