UK Foreign Affairs Minister: "We will not step back from pressing the Chinese on the Falun Gong and the treatment of people who practise Falun Gong"

Earlier this year, the UK Foreign Office Minister, John Battle, gave an important speech just before the 57th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights and expressed strongly his support for the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners. He said "We will not step back from pressing the Chinese on the Falun Gong and the treatment of people who practise Falun Gong"

He expressed grave dissatisfaction with the Chinese regime's continuation of persecution: "I personally raised that with the Chinese ambassador. We insist that they answer for a list of people in China whom we know are being tortured or are missing, and we will not step back from that. It is important to keep momentum behind that dialogue. We have the mechanism to push it, but there has not been sufficient action. We are not happy with progress on that matter."

An extract of his speech is given below:

"My hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Central (Mr Lloyd) mentioned China. We raise the matter of human rights regularly with China. Dialogue took place in February and, when Mary Robinson was there, there was some progress on China. We will not step back from pressing the Chinese on the Falun Gong and the treatment of people who practice Falun Gong and are being harassed, even in this country. I personally raised that with the Chinese ambassador. We insist that they answer for a list of people in China whom we know are being tortured or are missing, and we will not step back from that. It is important to keep momentum behind that dialogue. We have the mechanism to push it, but there has not been sufficient action. We are not happy with progress on that matter. "

The orignial text of the speech can be found at
http://www.fco.gov.uk/news/newstext.asp?4771