(Clearwisdom.net) Vienna, April 10, 2002: In the shadow of Jiang's visit to Germany, Austria was also directly affected by the ever-escalating human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners. The Austrian airport in Vienna came under direct pressure from the Chinese Embassy, which threatened the airport with severe economic sanctions in order to have the display of Falun Gong posters that the Austrian Falun Dafa Association had placed on the airport's ad boards removed.

About one month ago a practitioner from Salzburg rented an advertisement column at the Vienna Airport. After inspection, the Administration Office of the airport approved the content of the posters. According to the contract signed by both parties, the rental term was for six months; however, after two weeks, without informing or obtaining the consent of the rental party, the posters were removed. Through inquiry, it was verified that the Chinese Embassy in Vienna had complained about the posters and threatened that if the airport did not remove the posters, they would terminate air traffic between Vienna and China.

This incident is worth our careful consideration. China continues to extend its persecution against Falun Gong practitioners beyond its borders. Now it is even threatening an Austrian enterprise directly with severe economic sanctions.