Thursday, Nov 20, 2003, Page 8

Last month a Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner, Lin Hsiao-kai, was detained for 20 days by Shanghai's National Security Bureau. He was released thanks to the efforts of government agencies in Taiwan, pressure from the news media and support voiced by people from all walks of life. The Taiwan Falun Dafa Institute extends our boundless gratitude to everyone involved.

While he was detained Lin endured no physical torture. But he was threatened, deceived, interrogated and encouraged to commit crimes. He was forced to sign documents that he could not renounce until he returned to Taiwan. The mental devastation of this experience has seriously traumatized him, leaving him full of fear. He has vowed never to set foot on Chinese soil again.

Lin is not the only Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner to have been persecuted by China, and the effects of the persecution are felt beyond Chinese territory. At least four Chinese women who are married to Taiwanese men have been convicted or jailed by China for practicing Falun Gong. One of them has Republic of China citizenship and three have very young children.

Lin's detention has highlighted the sharp contrast between China and Taiwan in terms of basic human rights and religious freedoms. On the Chinese side is inhumane persecution, while on the Taiwanese side there is widespread sympathy from people all over the country.

Three hundred thousand Taiwanese people now practice Falun Gong; including their family members, they number a million. How can China talk about unification while they persecute this large group of Taiwanese who are not pursuing any political objectives?

Of course, practitioners of Falun Gong in China are the ones who have suffered the most from persecution. China started its persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, mobilizing all its party and government institutions and its media in this persecution, and it has employed the cruelest methods. China's poor treatment of Taiwanese practitioners such as Lin is courteous when compared to the treatment that some others have received. Tens of thousands of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured and sent to labor camps or psychiatric hospitals. They have faced ruthless crackdowns that "ruin them economically, sully their reputations and exterminate them physically." They have lost their jobs and their opportunities to receive an education. They have been separated from their spouses and children. Torture of female practitioners has surpassed in cruelty the violations of Chinese women by the Japanese army. We have records of 816 people who have died as a result of this persecution.

China has also created Falun Gong blacklists abroad and used the state's power to engage in an all-out, systematic crackdown on Falun Gong in Europe, America and Australia. All this has been single-handedly directed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin . This is why Falun Gong practitioners recently launched a global alliance to push for a public trial of Jiang, in the hope of bringing to justice this criminal who has so harmed human society.

Human rights extend beyond national boundaries. Every person's human rights must be respected by others. In recognition of this, the Taiwan Falun Gong Institute has put forth the following demands and requests:

One, we demand that China immediately stop its persecution of Falun Gong and release all Falun Gong practitioners in detention, as well as all innocent Taiwanese.

Two, we call on Taiwanese to join hands with the good, peace-loving people of the world in supporting a public trial of Jiang.

Three, we call on the world to exercise justice and listen to their conscience, and help put an end to this evil human rights scandal.

Translated by Francis Huang