As Prime Minister John Howard prepares for a state visit to China later this month he has been asked by a human rights group to question Chinese communist leaders about the killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their bodily organs.
"I strongly urge the Prime Minster, John Howard, when he goes to China to request the Chinese authorities to open-up all the doors of concentration camps and labour camps and all jail systems and hospitals to allow third party investigations into the persecution of Falun Gong members," said Mr John Xiao, spokesman for the Australian branch of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), at a press conference outside Federal Parliament House on Monday June 19.
Earlier in March the first report of Falun Gong practitioners being held and killed for their bodily organs in a secret complex of Sujiatun Concentration Camp in north-east China was made by a Chinese journalist, now living in the US.
Further investigations revealed that this is not an isolated case, but part of a widespread practice for several years. International pressure has been mounting on the communist regime to allow independent investigations - beyond the superficial tour given to the US embassy officials at Sujiatun a month after the first reports were made public.
"Now the investigation [into the organ trade] is proceeding in many countries especially Canada and the US, Europe and Australia," said Mr Xiao.
The Australian members of the coalition consist of medical professionals (including a transplant specialist), legal professional, religious representatives, Chinese defectors, civil NGO leaders and media outlets.
One of the members of the coalition, Catholic Priest Father Peter Caruna, was in Canberra to support the requests asking Mr Howard to press the Chinese communist leaders to allow independent investigations. "As a Christian I'd like to do something for those people who are in concentration camps or whose organs are being taken out and being left to die," Fr Peter said.
Two Falun Gong practitioners also addressed the press conference. One was Ms Doris Chen, whose mother has been missing since her detention in China in May for having been in possession of reading material about the persecution. The other was Ms Lee Ying, herself a labour camp survivor, whose brother is currently held in a labour camp.
Before the press conference Australian Democrats leader, Lyn Allison told The Epoch Times that reports on the organ harvesting in China need to be investigated. "I've actually asked some questions in our parliament of the minister to say do we know if there are Australians who are involved in this organ transplant trade and we have asked if the government has pressed China on this issue and protested loudly as it should.
"But first and foremost we need an investigation – we need to know these allegations are accurate or not, there seems to be plenty of evidence to suggest they are, but Australia needs to raise that question with China," said Senator Allison.
Mr Xiao said a Canadian investigation group including Canadian MP David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Mathias will release the findings of their report within a month's time.
This follows a report already made by the Vice President of the European Parliament Mr McMillan-Scott, who conducted a three day investigation in China last month, where he met with two Falun Gong practitioners.
In his report Mr McMillan-Scott stated the practitioners, all former prisoners, told him of "brutal beatings," "torture" and "cadavers… with holes where the organs had been removed."
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