Legislators including Dana Rohrabacher of California and Chris Smith of New Jersey stood up for the civil rights of Falun Gong practitioners in the United States.
Dana Tyron Rohrabacher (R-CA) was present at a June 5th forum in Washington DC. Rohrabacher thanked the journalists of The Epoch Times for doing an excellent job of keeping the public abreast of many issues about China. He applauds The Epoch Times for bringing suppressed issues to light.
"If the Statue of Liberty means anything, it means that here in the United States, those people who would like to bring liberty and justice to different parts of the world will be protected, and some of stories have been coming out, obviously the Chinese government is not satisfied with simply repressing the people of China in China, in order to keep their control there, they are trying to reach out and use their power overseas, and some of the things you've been reporting on, some things have been done to you, are here in United States," said Rohrabacher.
He stresses that the word has to get out that CCP tactics, intimidation strategies, do not have a place in a free society, especially not in the United States. Incidents such as those in Flushing are not tolerated by the U.S. people and its government.
"The American people need to know about it, we need to condemn it, we need to be talking directly to the Chinese government, saying that this type of involvement in United States is totally unacceptable. We will call on the administration today, [to] back up those people who are Chinese in United States who were struggling to bring freedom to China, and who are now being targeted, by the Chinese government, actually being attacked here, and trying to intimidate them here in the United States," stressed Rohrabacher.
Rohrabacher is standing with Falun Gong practitioners and will work to stop any such incidents. He said he clearly understands what Falun Gong represents.
"I want to say the Falun Gong are standing up as a symbol of what the true heart and soul of China could be. If it wasn't polluted and tainted with Communist tyranny, the soul of China could be a benevolent spiritual nature that would not be trapping anyone in the world, and would be part of the human family. And that message of Falun Gong is something that tyrants fear more than guns, more than weapons. What tyrants fear is the facts they are exposed as being evil, and there is a good and positive alternative to that evil," he said.
After Rohrabacher's speech, Falun Gong practitioners delivered information packages detailing the ongoing interference from the CCP representatives to Congressional and Senate staff. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was disturbed about the incidents in Flushing and pledged to help protect practitioners from the long arm of the CCP regime.
"There's no doubt that we will ask the FBI to guard against and protect the abuse that the Chinese government has perpetrated on Falun Gong practitioners in the United States," said Smith.
The CCP-led incident was not well-received by those who believe in justice in the U.S. government.
Smith said, "It just shows the oppressive nature of the Beijing dictatorship. And in fact they feel they could act with impunity and they could do whatever they want, even outside their borders. We know they do it with impunity inside their borders, but now they do it outside and Falun Gong are unfortunately targeted as the top enemy of the Chinese government.
"I think the Chinese government has continued to incite incidents, as they did when the torch was being run through the streets. ... We've tried to make it very clear that you may do such terrible things and practices on your own soil, but you're not going to do it on American soil. Therefore, we're trying to ensure that the FBI and others track down every incident and stop it," said Smith.
Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) let it be known that "The ongoing persecution and prosecution of Falun Gong practitioners is very sad and troubling. We have remained very active in the Foreign Affairs Committee and try to get protection and international attention to the Falun Gong practitioners. What's going on is reprehensible and it shows that the Chinese regime is so insecure, even peaceful practitioners who only want to talk about patience and forbearance and good things are being intimidated by the regime."
Background
U.S. Falun Gong practitioners have maintained the the Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party and all its affiliates outside the Queens Library in Flushing, New York for 4 years. They provide to the Chinese community outside of China and those mainland Chinese visiting the U.S. a venue to hear about the violent history of the CCP and to resign their party membership if they so desire.
Until May 17, 2008, the area was peaceful and quiet. This drastically changed when the CCP regime organized Chinese people who were still under the influence of the communists to attack Falun Gong practitioners. According to eyewitnesses, the instigators of the attack and the participants were brought in from throughout the U.S. and Canada and were paid by the Chinese Embassy.
Through a taped conversation, the Chinese Consul General Peng Keyu admitted to be the behind-the-scenes instigator of the disturbance and although present during the incident, he kept a low profile to prevent being recognized.
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