Representatives of the Washington D.C. Falun Gong Practitioners’ Association wrote to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice seeking to prevent Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai from obtaining a visa because of his role in the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
According to various media reports, Bo will accompany Chinese President Hu Jintao on his upcoming visit to the United States in September 2005. Bo Xilai is among 102 perpetrators of torture and other crimes against humanity committed against Falun Gong practitioners in China who were named specifically on a list submitted to Secretary of State Colin Powell on March 9, 2004 by Friends of Falun Gong USA and the World Organization to Investigate Persecution of Falun Gong. Bo Xilai is the former Governor of Liaoning Province and one of the leaders in China’s campaign of suppression and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners. This campaign has been particularly intense in Liaoning Province, which has one of the largest number of cases of persecution and death of Falun Gong practitioners.
After Bo Xilai became Governor of Liaoning Province in February 2001, Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning Province became a primary facility for torturing Falun Gong practitioners. Methods of torture include shocking with high voltage electric shock batons for extended periods of time, prolonged sleep deprivation, severe beatings, and sexual abuse of female practitioners by police officers.
In one incident, 18 female Falun Gong practitioners were stripped of their clothing and thrown into male inmates’ cells.
| …to allow Bo Xilai into the United States would send a troubling message that the U.S. government ignores its own… human rights laws when dealing with the People’s Republic of China. - Dr. Shantao Lai |
The letter, signed by Dr. Shantao Lai, Chairman of Washington DC Falun Dafa Practitioners’ Association, cites section 212(a)(2)(G) of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act, which states that foreign government officials who have engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom (as defined in Section 3 of the International Religious Freedom Act) are not allowed in the country.
Bo Xilai is a defendant in various lawsuits brought in countries around the world, including in the United States (2004), Britain (April 2004), Poland (May 2004), Russia (August 2004), Chile (November 2004), and Peru (January 2005). On July 28, 2004, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia judged against defendant Bo Xilai in default because he refused to appear.
Based on these facts, Dr. Lai requests that the State department refuse Bo a visa.
The letter states that allowing Bo into the country would “…violate U.S. law. It would also be a setback to the hundreds of millions of Chinese people who look to this country as a strong supporter of human rights. Indeed, to allow Bo Xilai into the United States would send a troubling message that the U.S. government ignores its own immigration and human rights laws when dealing with the People’s Republic of China. This approach would leave China to continue its genocidal policies against Falun Gong practitioners, and would send a message that the United States will not act against human rights abusers.”
Falun Gong is a traditional exercise and meditation practice that was banned by the Communist Party leadership after the practice became more popular than the Party. The ongoing persecution has claimed thousands of lives and seen millions subjected to torture, imprisonment without trial, forced labor, and brainwashing.
The United States Congress has repeatedly unanimously condemned the persecution, most recently in House Concurrent Resolution 304, which also recognized that agents of the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese government are actively persecuting U.S. Falun Gong practitioners.
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