[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14386]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT CHINA SHOULD CEASE PERSECUTION OF 
                        FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 22, 2002

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to strongly support H. 
Con. Res. 188, Sense of Congress that the Government of the People's 
Republic of China Should Cease Its Persecution of Falun Gong 
Practitioners. I urge the immediate release of the organization's 
leaders and members arbitrarily detained in a nationwide sweep aimed at 
suppressing the group. When the Chinese government judged the 
organization of Falun Gong as illegal, and banned all its activities, 
stories about Falun Gong have made headlines of major news media around 
the world. The Chinese authorities have launched a crackdown on the 
practice of Falun Gong on the Chinese mainland.
  The suppression of Falun Gong in China has been brutal. It has been 
systematic. The police used force against the group, reportedly kicking 
and jumping on the peaceful protesters before removing them. The 
leaders of the People's Republic of China have arrested, jailed, beaten 
and tortured thousands of peaceful followers of Falun Gong, a religious 
synthesis of traditional Chinese physical exercises and Buddhist and 
Taoist teachings. Adherents to this meditation movement have done 
nothing more than express their humble belief that people should be 
kind to one another and work on themselves to change their own lives. 
They are nonviolent and have not adopted any so-called foreign beliefs. 
They do not promote nor do they use drugs. They are not a cult. They 
only want to meditate, take their lives into their own hands and 
attempt to live productive and peaceful lives.
  H. Con. Res. 188 expresses the sense of Congress that the Government 
of the People's Republic of China should cease its persecution of Falun 
Gong practitioners. Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of 
personal belief and practice with millions of adherents. There are 
millions of practitioners in the United States. This is wrong and must 
be stopped. H. Con. Res. 188 requires that the United States Government 
use every appropriate public and private forum to urge the Government 
of the People's Republic of China to (1) release from detention all 
Falun Gong practitioners and put an end to the practices of torture and 
other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment against them and other 
prisoners of conscience; and (2) abide by the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights by allowing Falun Gong practitioners to pursue their personal 
beliefs.
  China should stop persecuting the practitioners of Falun Gong and 
stop exporting its tactics of terrors.
  Therefore, I strongly support H. Con. Res. 188.

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