(Clearwisdom.net, August 19, 2003) On the evening of August 13, New Jersey Congressman Mr. Frank Pallone Jr. held a Town Hall meeting in his district of Edison and met with his constituents. Falun Gong practitioners used this opportunity to introduce Falun Gong and the on-going persecution in China to the Congressman and local residents attending the meeting. They also talked about the incident that occurred at the end of June in New York City in which some pro-communist personnel assaulted Falun Gong practitioners. At the same time, practitioners expressed their gratitude towards the Congressman for his support of Falun Gong.

After Mr. Pallone listened to the practitioners' speech, he made the following remarks. "There are many times, because of our business and trade contacts with China, we forget that this party and regime are still suppressing their people. They deemed those people who practice Falun Gong as a threat to them and therefore they started the persecution. However, we don't look it this way."

He said, "We often talk about Iraq. But at the same time, there are other regimes oppressing democracy, opposing freedoms of expression and religious beliefs. We have to clearly realize this. We cannot tolerate this persecution for the sake of trade and business."

Congressman Pallone suggested that practitioners stay after the meeting to continue discussing how to specifically help Falun Gong practitioners. He proposed that he would raise the discussion in the Congress about the issue that the Chinese government has extended its persecution of Falun Gong to the soil of the United States. At the same time, he would raise his concerns to related U.S. government agencies about the pro-communist personnel, including Liang Guanjun and Hua Junxiong. He expressed that he would continue to help practitioners rescue their family members who are still enduring persecution in China.