Article from a Swedish Newspaper: “What Makes the Consul of an Authoritarian Country do such a Stupid Thing?”

On September the 23rd 2003, in response to a Chinese consul’s answer to questions raised by a TT News Agency reporter, Gothenburg Post writer Maria Haldesten wrote an article entitled “Is it a sect or a good cultivation practice?” In the article, she seriously rebutted the Chinese consul’s lies. The following is a translation of part of this article:

It sounds like a joke that the Chinese consul in Gothenburg entered a local radio station to stop the station from broadcasting a programme that he didn’t like. However, this is a true story.

When the Chinese consul’s request was rejected, he went to the local authorities to pressurise them to terminate financial support for the radio station.

It is really incredible. What makes the consul of a totalitarian country do such a stupid thing?

The answer is Falun Gong. The Chinese consul said that Falun Gong has tarnished China’s image. Actually, what Falun Gong practitioners did was nothing more than expose the facts about the Chinese government’s crackdown and persecution of Falun Gong.

The Chinese consul insisted that these accusations were untrue. However, many human right organisations, including Amnesty International, have come up with materials contrary to what the consul has said. All of their reports show that Falun Gong practitioners in China have been sent to forced labour camps or prisons without any legal process, and have even been tortured to death.

The Chinese government also admits that some practitioners died in prisons, but they allege that they have committed suicide or died from heart attacks.

Then why is Falun Gong persecuted, and why does the Chinese consul describe Falun Gong as an xxx sect?

Falun Gong practitioners state that they are not an xxx sect. After reading the books of Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi, I think they deal with spiritual cultivation.
[...]

I don’t know much about spiritual cultivation, so it seems inconceivable to me. However, everybody has the right to choose his own belief as long as it doesn’t hurt others. It is ridiculous to say that Falun Gong is a threat to society.

The reason why Falun Gong was regarded as a threat to China is that they [Jiang Zemin] thought this cultivation practice could overthrow the Chinese Communist Party. In the spring of 1999, about ten thousand people peacefully gathered at the premises of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership in Beijing. This incident shocked Chinese leaders. They thought that an organisation that could gather so many people and have such a large-scale influence is something that should not be ignored, so Falun Gong was outlawed. From then on, practitioners were arrested.

This persecution has surely infringed upon human freedom and other basic rights. The Chinese abusing human rights in their own territory is already a serious mistake, but now they even use their embassies and consulates overseas to further extend the persecution. What evil this is!

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200309/24594.html