Edward McMillan-Scott, the vice-president of the European Parliament, was in China for four days from May 20 to 24, 2006. During his stay in China, he met with Falun Gong practitioners and also planned to meet Mr. Gao Zhisheng, the famous human rights attorney, but did not have the chance to do so.
Afterwards, this European political dignitary expressed his views in public about those Falun Gong practitioners who have been missing since the meeting, about the increasing trend of withdrawals from the Chinese communist Party (CCP), and about the CCP’s present situation.
On May 29, 2006, Mr. Gao Zhisheng had an interview with The Epoch Times and shared his thoughts on this subject.
Reporter: Hello, Mr. Gao. Would you share with us your thoughts on what happened after Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice-President of the European Parliament, left China?
Mr. Gao: First of all, I would like to express my personal respect for Edward McMillan-Scott.
After the U.S. Congress passed a resolution to support my actions, I made some criticisms of the U.S. government. Some people accused me of being arrogant and ungrateful, but they didn’t understand me.
I will salute McMillan-Scott if I have the chance to meet him in person because he is concerned about a larger group of victims than me. That’s what truly matters. I will express the same sincere respect for those western politicians and governments that make the same choice or will take the same actions. As I have said before in one of my articles, this [China’s persecution of Falun Gong] is not just a disaster that has happened to a group or a people, but a disgrace and disaster for all of mankind.
Solving the problems that I face will not end such a disaster because the Chinese communist government has never stopped its persecution against the Falun Gong group since I started to urge it to end the persecution. Instead, the Chinese communist government continues to create disasters on various scales day after day.
Reporter: In the past few interviews, you have said a few times, “I like Edward McMillan-Scott, this European guy, very much.” I can feel your heartfelt respect for him.
Mr. Gao: Yes. The fear towards the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal fascist reign of terror does not only belong to the Chinese people. Forgive me for my candidness, but we see the same type of fear in many western politicians. McMillan-Scott, however, is different. I must speak my mind—I see the glory of humanity in him.
As a politician and as vice-president of the European Parliament, McMillan-Scott did not use any of the trite political language to describe the CCP’s tyranny or the pitiful human rights situation in China. This is what I admire in him the most. He did not use any typical diplomatic language to describe the tyrannical CCP’s human rights violations. This is what I respect him the most for.
In an interview, McMillan-Scott told the media very specifically that the CCP’s tyranny might end in a few months. This is a very refreshing and different judgment and viewpoint. I have always thought that this is now an age when man and god coexist in the human realm. As a politician, McMillan-Scott is expected to be very prudent in his speech. To me, his prediction must be a message from heaven.
When I learned about his speech at a press conference, I told my wife Genghe that in a few months or a few years after the CCP’s regime of tyranny collapses, the first thing I will do is to bring two bottles of China’s finest wine and have a drink with him!
Why does he stand out? Among all western politicians, only McMillan-Scott explicitly expressed his opinion that the CCP will collapse, and he did not bother to hide his opinion. In the future, we shall see the impact of his speeches in the world outside of China.
Reporter: McMillan-Scott met two Falun Gong practitioners during his stay in China in order to learn their personal stories as victims of the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. This is the first time a western political dignitary has done such a thing.
Mr. Gao: McMillan-Scott and I have made the same prediction about the CCP. In addition, we also share something in common. When Falun Gong became a forbidden subject in China and when I learned that Falun Gong is a group of victims of the CCP’s brutal genocide, I did not hesitate to reveal the truth in public. When the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong has become a forbidden subject in the international society and when all the politicians in the world avoid talking about this subject, McMillan-Scott set an example by revealing the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. This is something we absolutely share in common.
He is the first western politician of stature that has personally met Falun Gong practitioners in China and revealed the persecution against them in public and to the media. He went all the way to China in order to understand the most severely and brutally suppressed group in China and to learn the atrocious facts of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.
He also found such a victim as Mr. Niu Jinping. (The persecution Niu Jinping was subjected to is not the most severe. I know Niu Jinping. I have talked to him over the phone. His wife has suffered from very severe torture.) He revealed what he learned about the persecution against Niu Jinping. This is a truly admirable act. He has exhibited his great compassion.
He risked attacks and slanders from his fellow western politicians who have been silent about China’s persecution of Falun Gong for the obscene amount of profits from China. [He did so] in order to voice his concern for Falun Gong, the most brutally persecuted group. To some extent, he is facing even more pressure than I am.
Reporter: If you have an opportunity to communicate with McMillan-Scott, what would you like to say to him?
Mr. Gao: McMillan-Scott has seen some of the reality in China and has revealed the truth about the CCP’s tyrannical nature, as well as China’s persecution of Falun Gong. I hope that he will continue to speak out. He is not a civilian like me. He is an outspoken man. He has spoken out for Falun Gong, a group of severely persecuted victims. Divine beings and mankind will always remember him!
In addition, please relay my wish to McMillan-Scott. I solemnly recommend that he read my three open letters about Falun Gong. These letters are my investigation reports. I would also like to ask him for a favor. Because he is a man of stature, he has many opportunities to meet many western political moguls. I hope that he will consider sending these three letters in English, German and French to those western politicians in suits so that they can no longer back off morally and no longer have any excuse to keep their silence!
I hope western politicians will seriously contemplate whether allowing China to host the Olympic Games complies with human moral values. When China continues to persecute Falun Gong and suppresses the Chinese people from fighting for their rights, is it a moral decision to allow China to host the Olympic Games?
We may tell McMillan-Scott and other western politicians through him that the very year when China hosts the Olympic Games will be the year of the worst human rights conditions in China. This is very typical of the CCP. During all significant events, millions of Chinese people will be deprived of their personal freedom, including myself.
Reporter: It has been said that McMillan-Scott had planned to meet you in person. However, he was concerned for your safety after two Falun Gong practitioners had gone missing, and a western translator was deported. Of course, there are other obvious reasons why he was prevented from meeting you. If you had known that McMillan-Scott wished to meet you in person, would you have attempted to meet him?
Mr. Gao: I would try to meet him in person regardless of danger. Last time, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on Torture wanted to meet me in person. The CCP’s special agents tried to threaten me and stop me from meeting them by attempting to create a car accident on a highway, but they did not deter my will to meet Manfred Nowak, the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on Torture.
This time I didn’t have the chance to meet McMillan-Scott, and the two Falun Gong practitioners he met are now missing. However, I believe he has already experienced the real human rights conditions in China, the very country the EU praised for its “progress in human rights.” I also heard that McMillan-Scott called for the rescue of those two Falun Gong practitioners, but there is a fact we must face. This is something that everyone, including McMillan-Scott, is fully aware of. Those two missing Falun Gong practitioners are but the small tip of the iceberg. In China, no Falun Gong practitioner is safe!
Reporter: If McMillan-Scott has any chance to visit China again, what would you expect him to do?
Mr. Gao: If he has a chance to come to China, I hope that he will experience what it feels like to be followed by special agents around the clock. (Chuckles) Nowak witnessed a thick crowd of special agents following me. As I am speaking to you, there is a group of male and female special agents that are drinking beer right downstairs from my home.
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