I welcome members of the Irish Falun Dafa Association who will make a presentation. The witnesses are Mr. Donal Maddock, Mr. Zhao Ming and Mr. Gerald O'Connor. I draw their attention to the fact that while members of the joint committee have privilege, the same privilege does not apply to them. We will first take the presentation, after which members of the committee will put questions and may raise some points.
Irish Falun Dafa Association: Presentation.
Mr. Gerald O’Connor
I am a director of the Irish Falun Dafa Association. I thank the joint committee for inviting us before it to give a presentation. Mr. Maddock, Mr. Ming and I will speak on different aspects of the spread and persecution of Falun Gong in China. Mr. Maddock will discuss what Falun Gong is and how the practice developed in China and spread widely across the country. He will also describe the origins and spread of persecution and the pattern by which it became obvious that, rather than being a decision taken by the whole government, it was being directed by one or two individuals at the top of the Chinese Government who were abusing their power. I will then discuss how Falun Gong affected the Chinese economy when it was first spreading and how the persecution of Falun Gong has wasted a considerable amount of government resources and is largely fuelled by foreign trade.
The final speaker will be Zhao Ming. Some members may be familiar with Mr. Ming whose case was widely publicised in the Irish media. The Government played a major role in the effort to rescue him. Mr. Ming is a student at Trinity College who on his return to China on a Christmas break was detained for his spiritual beliefs. He will relate his personal experience. Since his return to Ireland he has discovered that a number of his close friends, young people who used to do peaceful exercises with him in his university, have died due to torture.
Mr. Donal Maddock
I will discuss the practice of Falun Gong. In essence, its objective is to improve one's mind and body. One of the questions people generally ask about Falun Gong is whether it is a religion. It is not a religion and does not involve religious rituals or worship of a deity. It is properly described as a cultivation practice, a common term in Asian culture which means to refine one's body and mind through exercises. One commonly known example of this type of exercise is Tai Chi, which involves slow-moving exercises and can often be seen practised in parks in early morning in China. Falun Gong is a similar practice. One way in which it differs from the other Chi Gong practices used in China is that it emphasises high moral character and principles as a means of increasing energy levels. This has profound effects on people's health.
Another characteristic of Falun Gong is that is free of charge. There is no membership or coffers and people come and go freely to parks in the mornings. All those who teach the exercises are volunteers and nobody asks for money. Even the books on the subject are available for download free of charge on the Internet.
Falun Gong spread quickly throughout China in the 1990s. By 1998-99, every park in every major city in China was full of Falun Gong practitioners in the mornings. In 1998 a government survey showed that between 70 million and 100 million people in China were practising Falun Gong every day. In a tightly controlled, totalitarian state such as China, this phenomenon of people gathering in groups which were not organised by the communist party was unprecedented and the government quickly became suspicious of it as its popularity increased throughout the country.
As early as 1996, slanderous articles appeared in the media demonising Falun Gong. Practitioners do not get involved in politics and they simply went to the media organisations in question to explain the facts. In many cases, the media outlets retracted or corrected their statements, but in some cases they did not.
The matter came to a head in April 1999 in a city called Tianjin where a newspaper had published slanderous, defamatory articles about Falun Gong. In response, practitioners asked it to retract and when it refused to do so, they returned and held a peaceful appeal outside the newspaper's office. Scores of those involved were arrested and imprisoned in Tianjin city and all appeals were directed to the central government in Beijing.
Falun Gong followed this instruction and on 25 April 1999 more than 10,000 of its practitioners travelled to Beijing to go to the central appeals office, the legal channel for registering an appeal. The then Chinese Premier, Zhu Rongji, met them and ordered the release of those arrested in Tianjin. The practitioners returned home believing the issue had been resolved. However, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, took a different approach and used the incident as a catalyst to spark a campaign of genocide against Falun Gong.
Originally Jiang's campaign was not supported by the seven standing members of the politburo of the communist party. As head of the military and chairman of the party, however, he had considerable power and was able to silence internal party dissent. In July 1999, three months after the incident in April, Jiang banned Falun Gong overnight. This was an illegal act, as he had no power to take such a measure, which is in violation of China's laws and constitution, specifically articles 2, 80 and 81, which state that only the National People's Congress has the power to ban an organisation or group of people. Nevertheless, the relevant executive order was passed down.
The documentation supplied to members includes an appendix entitled ‘Jiang Zemin, architect of a genocide'. I direct members to a quotation at the end of the document taken from an article published in The Washington Post on 2 November 1999 which states:
When [China's Communist leaders] found themselves without the laws they need to rigorously persecute a peaceful meditation society, the Party simply ordered up some new laws. Now these will be applied — retroactively.
The decision to persecute Falun Gong was not taken by the Chinese Government but was initiated as a personal campaign by Jiang Zemin and used to make Falun Gong a scapegoat and consolidate his political power.
I described the persecution of Falun Gong as a "genocide", a term we are more used to hearing in connection with the concentration camps of the Second World War, the militia's actions in Rwanda and so forth. We can demonstrate today that the persecution of Falun Gong is genocide. The United Nations definition of genocide, which is in the appendix, states that genocide includes, but is not limited to, acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
In terms of the killing of group members, so far we have received 955 reports of Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death. That number has been obtained despite the Chinese information blockade. This is indeed a campaign of genocide.
Before I hand over to Mr. O'Connor, I would like to direct the committee through the documentation we have received. Page 3 of the report outlines the stories of two students from Dún Laoghaire college, Liu Feng and Yang Fang, who are still registered as students here. Liu Feng was detained when they returned to China in 1999 and they have been prevented from returning here. We would like to rescue these students and allow them to continue their studies should they so wish. Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Ming will speak further on the matter.
I also direct the committee's attention to page 11 of the document, which is a brief summary of various law suits against Jiang Zemin and some of the other main perpetrators of these crimes against humanity perpetrated against the Falun Gong in China. Some 16 countries have filed law suits, all of which are still in progress. One was filed in October in the United States. I will leave details on these for the information of members. I will hand over to Mr. O'Connor who will speak about the economic aspects of the matter.
I would like to inform Mr. O'Connor that the Dáil session is commencing and the Seanad will meet at 3 p.m. We may be called for votes shortly after 3 p.m. I am sure my colleagues will have some questions so I suggest we expedite the presentation and then move to questions.
Mr. O’Connor
We often hear about China in the media because of trade issues. Everyone sees the opportunities presented by this big market which people cannot afford to ignore. People are unaware of many things regarding the Chinese market. Foreign companies are forced to break human rights laws. Certain companies have been prosecuted in different countries for breaking laws while in China.
An example is the Mary Kay cosmetics corporation. An employee of that company spoke at a conference about her work which included a reference to Falun Gong. Somebody in government heard about this and forced the Mary Kay company to make every employee sign a letter saying they would not practise Falun Gong or advocate it. This fact was reported in the media and the American government was up in arms about this because it is an American company. When practitioners in the west heard about this illegal behaviour, Mary Kay retracted its decision to make employees sign letters.
In Burma, a court case was taken against the Unocal Corporation for turning a blind eye to alleged human rights abuses which included rape and murder. Although the company did not directly take part in the persecution, it was deemed liable because it was aware of what was happening.
Everything in Dunnes Stores is made in China where slave labour is widely used. How can we be sure that Irish companies operating there are aware of the risks that face them when they trade in China? It is a difficult environment in which to trade. How many Irish companies have taken part in the persecution of Falun Gong?
Slave labour is another issue I wish to raise. Most people consider it a thing of the past but it is widely used in China, mainly to control dissidents. Mr. Zhao Ming will talk about his personal experience. A Chinese citizen can be placed in a labour camp for three years without trial. Conditions in labour camps are bad. Goods are made there which are sold on the international market. This is a worrying development. People like Mr. Zhao Ming pick cashmere from wool to be made into products that are sold in our shops. How can we ensure the goods we buy were not made by innocent people who were put in labour camps?
At a recent meeting in the Department of Foreign Affairs to discuss the EU-China human rights dialogue that took place this year, the director of the human rights unit, John Biggar, said 70% of people in labour camps are Falun Gong practitioners. On 10 February 2004, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for overseas development and human rights, Deputy Kitt, said that forced labour is a truly global problem and he believed that Ireland should strengthen national and international efforts to combat it in all its manifestations. He made no direct reference to slave labour in China. The Falun Gong practitioners in slave labour camps in China are innocent people who have been detained for their spiritual beliefs and the products they make could be sold in the Irish market.
Mr. Zhao Ming
I thank Members of the Irish Parliament for raising the matter in the Dáil to support me and other practitioners of Falun Gong. I also thank them for organising this meeting. When I was back in China at the end of 1999 for Christmas, I was arrested twice. The first time was when I went to the central government appeals office in Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. I was arrested because of my intention of talking with them. My passport was confiscated.
The second arrest happened a month later when I was talking to fellow practitioners in a friend's dormitory. We were not doing anything illegal but plainclothes police rushed in to the room without arrest warrants or identifying badges. They kidnapped all of us and put me into a labour camp without trial. Usually, when people are sent there for illegal behaviour, they are forced to do things like wrapping chopsticks with paper or working with cashmere. Women make clothes or toys. Most of the time the police tried to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs. They also used torture. I suffered from sleep deprivation. I also suffered physical punishments like being forced to squat for a long time.
Mr. O’Connor
In the last two pages on the UN report in the pack, there are diagrams of the torture methods used by Chinese police in labour camps, detention centres and prisons.
Mr. Zhao Ming
That is a collection of UN reports mentioning Falun Gong practitioners. My case has been included in two of the reports, the detention and torture reports. I was once beaten by ten inmates who were told to beat me by the police. After the beating, I could not walk for two weeks and both my thighs became black all over from bruises.
The most horrible torture was by electric shock. They once bound me on a bed board and five police guards shocked me using six batons at the same time, which exerted great pain on my nervous system. I felt I could not rationally endure any more. Deprivation of sleep or long-term physical punishment can be endured with a rational mind but electric shocking cannot. It is horrible. The police guards tortured me for at least half an hour and did not stop until I agreed to sign the forms they required me to sign. They did all of these things only to make me renounce Falun Gong. The nature of this persecution is not commensurate with any political threat we are perceived to represent. It is only to deprive us of our freedom of belief and to wipe out this spiritual system from Chinese people's minds.
More than 18 practitioners have been sent to prisons from the site where I practised when in China, Tsinghua university, one of the best universities in the country. More than 18 have been sent to labour camps. More than 50 have been sent to detention centres for doing nothing illegal and more than 50 have been deprived of their right to receive education and do their jobs. One practitioner from our practice site, Mr. Yuan Jiang, has been tortured to death in his home city for doing nothing illegal.
No other government in the world has done such as a thing. It is state terrorism carried out by the whole police system and all levels of government are involved. It is authorised by the top authority, the former President Jiang Zemin, who still maintains a dictatorship.
Mr. O’Connor
Can I summarise? What we hope to achieve today is illustrate to all that there is a genocide happening in China. We also hope to illustrate that we do not believe it is being carried out on behalf of all members of the Chinese Government but that one or two people in power abuse their positions. All the newspapers and media in China have been used for four years to spread lies, and therefore many Chinese people, including Ministers and those visiting Ireland today, may not be aware of the true circumstances.
Any support we can obtain to make more people aware of the genocide taking place in China and end it as soon as possible will be greatly appreciated.
I welcome the delegates, some of whom have already met some members of the committee. It is opportune that the delegation is attending the committee on the day the Chinese Prime Minister is visiting Government Buildings and when Ireland is having a month-long festival in Beijing to promote trade and cultural interaction with Ireland and to afford the Chinese Government the opportunity to listen to what we have to say.
I was in Washington with some of my Oireachtas colleagues on behalf of UNFPA the week before last. We were advocating against the coercive policy China adopts on family planning matters, particularly the use of the social compensation fee payable by those who do not adhere to the one-child family policy. We all have considerable concerns about human rights abuses in China. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, has raised these previously and the Taoiseach will be raising them this evening.
Apart from highlighting the issue of rampant abuse of human rights in China, what else can Irish Members of Parliament do? I am very aware of the anxiety of the Chinese Government to be regarded as internationally acceptable and to be seen to be promoting a new approach and perception of itself.
Is China a signatory to any recognised human rights convention, such as the International Convention on Human Rights or the Geneva Conventions? The sketches with which we have been provided bear a most remarkable resemblance to the recently published photographs of abuses perpetrated by the American and British forces in Iraq. Clearly, abuses of human rights are not the preserve of one type of regime. What can we do to address the problem?
Mr. Maddock
As far as the UN is concerned, China has signed various treaties and shows progress on UN human rights treaties. The important point is that the original persecution of Falun Gong is absolutely illegal and in violation of Chinese laws. The fact that China makes more laws and signs more treaties to facilitate its ability to trade with the west does not tend to have much effect on the ground. As one can see from the human rights report, various individual cases are raised with Chinese officials and their responses vary from complete denial to the use of the opportunity to further slander Falun Gong.
In so far as international treaties are concerned, progress has not been good. Mr. Ming was recently in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Commission. Over the past 11 years, various countries have tabled motions to censure China on its human rights abuses, but each time this happens China tables what is called a no-action motion. Each year, due to the economic influence China has over Third World countries, the matter has not even been brought to the table for discussion. That happened again this March.
Mr. O’Connor
On the question of what can be done, we can raise a louder voice to say the human rights abuses are unacceptable. This year, three Dublin county councils tabled a very strong motion to condemn the persecution, demand an immediate end thereto and also to ask the Government to raise the case of the two Dún Laoghaire students, Liu Feng and Yang Fang. These councils represent approximately 1 million people. Other councils have also passed the relevant resolutions.
Ireland is a small country but we can at least urge central Government, in conjunction with local government, to state the abuses are unacceptable and must stop. A small step towards this goal would be to ask the Chinese premier, during his visit today and tomorrow, to do something for the two students from Dun Laoghaire. I believe we can rescue them and I hope it can be achieved today.
Mr. O'Connor raised the issue of Irish companies which are now trading in China. I am aware of one very large multinational — Glen Dimplex — which is operating there. Do you have any linkages with companies like Glen Dimplex or IDA or Enterprise Ireland in regard to their industrial promotions policy? Do they take the human rights records of states like China into account when identifying suitable locations for foreign investment?
Mr. O’Connor
When the President went with IDA officials to the trade mission in September last year, we sent packages to the IDA and other groups telling them about these human rights abuses. However, we have not followed it up and we did not get a response. The worse thing that could happen is that an Irish company would be forced into doing these things, which it would not do willingly.
If one has a company in China and an employee goes to the central government in Beijing to appeal, the company will be fined. Therefore, it becomes in the company's interest that no one should complain that the company is violating human rights. This has happened with Mary Kay, the American cosmetic giant, and it also happened with the German company, Volkswagen.
There are three of us and we can try to tell Irish companies what is happening but it is very difficult. We are either in full-time work or are full-time students but we will do our best. If there was another way of letting Irish companies know about these facts, it would be very good.
I welcome the delegation and I support their calls for us to do whatever we can to have the case of the two students raised. Having listened to the presentation, I am still confused to understand the basis for this persecution. The delegation stated that perhaps the Chinese system felt threatened by groups of people gathering together and using a spiritual system. The delegation also emphasised that there are only one or two people in government who are responsible. I do not understand how such an extensive campaign of persecution is based, involving all the methods and torture which were outlined. Is there no basis for this other than the personal campaign of one individual? I find it difficult to understand the reasoning or logic behind this campaign.
Mr. Ming
According to my personal experience, practitioners sent to the labour camp included many well-educated people, even professors, PhD students and company managers and doctors from all walks of life. The police guards admired our educational backgrounds and careers. They knew clearly that we were law-abiding people but the authorities told them what to do, paid them to do it and gave them excuses to do so. They committed torture, knowing it was illegal. I find that western people want to measure their minds in the normal way but they are not normal — they do not have a normal mind. It is nonsense, unreasonable and irrational. Why did ancient Rome persecute the Christians? For example, when a woman is raped, no one will ask why the man raped her. It is just wrong, it is evil.
I was tortured by five police guards using six batons and we have to explain why I was tortured as if they are reasonable. They are not reasonable. It is just wrong.
Mr. Maddock
I found it amazing when I started to practise Falun Gong two years ago. I could not find why they were persecuting members. Since then, I have learnt that a major factor is the propaganda in China. The reason Jiang Zemin could have felt threatened by this practice is the principles which Falun Gong practitioners practise such as truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. In our everyday life we try to be more honest people and go about our work better in society. If one is a dictator in China and rules by bribery and corruption and 100 million people all around are starting to practise Falun Gong, also at high levels of the communist party, one cannot control these people. They are not after one's power and they cannot be controlled through bribery or corruption. Whatever mentality Jiang Zemin had at the time, he viewed Falun Ging as a threat. That is the way I have been able to understand why he did it.
A propaganda campaign was also initiated, which has enabled the sustaining of this brutal persecution. In the report I mentioned one particular case. In Tiananmen Square people burned themselves alive in 2001 around the new year holiday period when everyone was at home. The footage was taken to the West and analysed by reporters and it is a completely staged event. It is a complete demonisation which has allowed 1.3 billion people in China to think that Falun Gong is evil and that the government is right to put them in jail.
How many people now practise Falun Gong? A member of the delegation mentioned earlier that at one stage it was 100 million and certainly more than 70 million. Has the campaign of repression, as you term it, succeeded in reducing the number of people practising?
Mr. Maddock
Absolutely. Many people probably gave up the practice but to state that the Chinese government has succeeded in wiping out Falun Gong is wrong. At the beginning of the persecution, many practitioners went to Tiananmen Square because all the appeals offices were closed. They went with a banner and the people were rounded up in their tens of thousands and put in labour camps. The approach now being taken by Falun Gong practitioners is that they are going to the streets and telling people one by one that this persecution is bad. When labour camp directors initiate persecution, the practitioners send letters to the homes of labour camp guards to tell their wives and children what is happening. In many cases, this is having the effect of stopping the persecution one by one. Each person is coming to know the truth, knowing that Falun Gong is good and the government is wrong. In this way the persecution is coming to an end.
Has the public practice of Falun Gong disappeared from the streets?
Mr. Maddock
Yes. If one went to any public park and started doing these exercises, one would be arrested.
Is public practice now officially illegal?
Mr. O’Connor
It became illegal after Jiang Zemin stated in a letter that it was illegal from 20 July.
Is it deemed to be illegal even for individuals to practise at home?
Mr. Ming
If I practised in any public place and it became known by the police, I would be detained at once. The local police system set up brainwashing classes to kidnap people into them and force them to renounce. If they knew I was practising at home, they would kidnap me to brainwash me.
How extensive world-wide is the practice of Falun Gong?
Mr. Zhao Ming
The books of Falun Gong have been translated into 30 languages and more than 20 are formally published. In a book exhibition in Frankfurt, more than 20 were exhibited. Practitioners are present in more than 60 countries and regions.
How many are in Ireland?
Mr. O’Connor
I have been responsible for the classes in Ireland for years. Mr. Maddock has been doing it for two years. I have been involved in it a great deal. Of people who are interested in human rights and are willing to go out on the street and do something about it, there are fewer than 50.
After listening to this presentation, the committee members could go to www.falundafa.org, download the book and learn how to do the exercises. They can do them at home. Thousands of people have been to our classes. It takes one or two classes to learn the exercises and then one can do them oneself at home. It is difficult to say how many people are practising in Ireland.
From what we have read, the practice is meditation and self-improvement, but Mr. Zhao Ming referred to the spiritual side. Does he see a religious or spiritual dimension to this, or is it simply self-improvement?
Mr. Ming
It shares a common spiritual part with religion. We emphasise the co-operation of mind and nature according to spiritual principles of truth, compassion and tolerance. In Oriental culture, our way of practising mind and body takes the form of Tai Chi or yoga in one's spare time and to have movement and spiritual principles to guard our hearts. In Western culture this takes the form of religion, but in Oriental culture there are many systems such as this.
If there are spiritual aspects to it, could there be political aspects? Could it be regarded as part of a political movement in some cases?
Mr. Ming
It has nothing to do with politics. The Chinese communist regime has been wiping out all other ideologies in China's history. In the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were wiped out. The best parts of China's tradition and culture were damaged. The regime wants to manipulate people's minds. When Falun Gong attracted lots of people, those in the communist regime became jealous. They never allowed it. This is their way of monopolising people's minds. They took us as an enemy in their politics. Their way of politics is to manipulate people's minds. Falun Gong teaches something spiritual to people, so they do not allow it.
I endorse what has been said so far. On the basis of much that we have been hearing, those of us who follow Chinese economic and political development have reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is not the same concept of human rights in Chinese culture as there is in Western society. That is the primary difficulty.
Those of us who have had the opportunity of meeting the Chinese ambassador to Ireland, who has been doing a round of visits with members of the Foreign Affairs committee, have come to the conclusion — I certainly did — that he deeply resents western European parliamentarians having any interest in what he perceives to be the internal affairs of China. He gives the impression that the world has moved on and he is living in some sort of time warp. He considers that China does not have the same international obligations as other countries in the context of the interdependence of nations over recent decades. I am sure the representatives know that the Chinese Government takes a proactive view against the Falun Dafa movement and any attempts to highlight, in a political context, the issues raised here.
On the basis that even a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, I suggest that the committee send an urgent note to the Taoiseach, specifically focusing on the two students registered in Irish universities, requesting that he raise this issue with the Chinese delegation and ask whether they will be allowed to return to Ireland to complete their studies.
Is the proposal agreed to? Agreed. We asked the representatives what they were expecting of this meeting and they said they wanted us to try to illustrate what they consider to be a problem of genocidal proportions and do whatever we can to counter the propaganda campaign against the movement. The presence of the organisation at a public forum of the Oireachtas sends a message that we are listening and that we are sympathetic to the arguments put forward. As far as we can we will keep a watching brief on the situation. Do members have any specific proposals apart from the earlier suggestion of Senator Mooney?
This is a long-term issue for the committee. There are concerns about human rights abuses in China. I hope other opportunities to compile an agenda of those items will present themselves over the coming months and we can follow them up with the authorities through the forums in which we are involved.
We all recognise that China has changed dramatically in economic terms over the past decade. We can only hope that change will be matched politically and in the broader area of human rights. We thank the delegation for their presentation. We have met some of them before and we are impressed with the arguments they have made. As far as we can we will continue to highlight the issues of concern to them.
The sub-committee adjourned at 3.10 p.m. sine die.