.png)
The West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, the site of the July 14 rally commemorating 12 years of the Chinese regime's persecution of Falun Gong, and celebrating almost 100 million withdrawals from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliates. (Alex Ma/The Epoch Times)
WASHINGTON—Falun Gong practitioners and friends from around the globe converged on the nation’s Capital July 14 for an annual rally that offered them much encouragement that the 12-year persecution of Falun Gong will come to an end.
A new Senate resolution (S. Res. 232) introduced the day before the rally by Senator Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Coburn (R-Okla.) is the first congressional resolution that recognizes the growing movement to renounce the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), called “tuidang” in Chinese.
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla), speaking at a rally on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capital in Washington, DC, Thurs. July 14, said 'the persecution of FG must end, and it must end now.' (Shaoshao Chen/The Epoch Times)
At noon on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen didn’t hold back her disgust for China’s rulers in Beijing. She noted, like several other speakers, China’s intensified suppression since February of internet users, journalists, human rights activists, and Falun Gong practitioners in reaction to changes in the political landscape in the Middle East.
“The paranoid leaders in Beijing even banned the traditional Chinese folk song ‘Jasmine Flower,’ fearing it was a link to the Jasmine Revolutions,” she said.
Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey. (The Epoch Times)
Congressman Chris Smith expressed frustration with the administration, especially with the President: “A president is a Nobel peace prize winner and failed to even mention human rights palpably when Hu Jintao was here [last January].”
Smith also criticized Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for “speaking too softly.” He said people are being tortured to death because of their faith and simply because they are Falun Gong.
The U.S. Government not speaking up “doesn’t have to be this way,” said the frustrated congressman. The Republican congressman was equally critical of Obama’s predecessor; George W. Bush, on the latter’s unwillingness to confront China human rights violations.
Smith said he is introducing a bill that would deny visas to come to the United States of any Chinese official engaged in human rights abuses.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California. (Shaoshao Chen/The Epoch Times)
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) took special aim at those who want to promote business with communist China. “The American businessmen that go to China are making deals with a monstrous regime.”
Rohrabacher said those “deals” do not reflect the values of the American people, and they wind up closing down factories here while the deal makers collect bonuses. The factories over in China don’t allow the right to organize unions—a fundamental difference from what we believe, Rohrabacher said.
“We Americans must stand for something more than short-term profit for big business,” Rohrabacher said.
Continued: Rohrabacher thanks Falun Gong practitioners
