October 7, 2005
By Crikey reporter Jane Nethercote
Is this the biggest diplomatic upset between Australia and China since the defection of Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin and his family in June?
The Sydney Dance Company is in Shanghai, minus one dancer. Chinese-born Australian Xue-Jun Wang, one of the Company's longest-serving members, and part of the troupe collaborating with the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble to produce a full-length dance work on the legend of Mulan, has been deported for allegedly carrying banned books into the communist state.
So what was an enormous coup for the SDC the production marks the first time a foreign choreographer has collaborated with a Chinese ensemble has quickly transformed from a PR dream into a diplomatic headache.
It's the biggest upset between Australia and China "since the defection of Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin and his family in June," says Jonathan Porter in The Oz. It will be interesting to see if the Australian government comments on the latest incident.
SDC artistic director Graeme Murphy tried to intervene, says The SMH, standing in between Wang and the police, but it was hopeless. All he could do was accompany Wang as police escorted him to his Shanghai hotel, where his bags were searched. He was then driven to the airport and put on a China Eastern flight back to Sydney, "still in shorts and a T-shirt." Wang arrived home yesterday.
A DFAT statement said that Wang "was alleged to have Falun Gong material in his possession." And as DFAT's travel advice explains: "Falun Gong activities are banned in China. Participants in Falun Gong activities or Falun Gong related demonstrations contravene Chinese laws and can expect to be dealt with according to those laws. Penalties include detention, deportation, arrest and imprisonment." (1)
But in fact, corrects Wang, who has been a Falun Gong practitioner for ten years, "I was carrying a Chinese translation of Nine Commentaries, which is by the newspaper The Epoch Times." Last week, he says, "I had a chat with a Shanghainese man about the Communist Party and showed him a copy of the book. I think I showed it to the wrong person." The Epoch Times, which publishes several editions throughout the world, is a strident critic of communist [...], notes Porter.
"For a professional artist to be taken so abruptly without consultation with the company is of great concern to the safety of citizens travelling in China," Falun Gong spokesperson, Kay Rubacek told Crikey this morning. "It raises the question of the level of monitoring of private citizens heading to China." Their beliefs, "even personal belongings" are under the microscope.
Crikey was unable to get hold of Wang and the Sydney Dance Company this morning for comment.
(1) Editor's note: Contrary to what former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, and the Chinese Communist Party would like the world to believe, practicing Falun Gong is NOT illegal in China. Although the Public Security Department issued an unconstitutional set of restraints on the practice at the onset of the persecution in 1999, no laws have been passed by the only legislative body in China, the People's Congress, banning Falun Gong or granting the police the authority to arrest Falun Gong practitioners for practicing the exercises or distributing flyers. Freedom of belief and of expression is in fact guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution. For a more complete discussion of the illegality of the persecution of Falun Gong, please refer to the article "The Ban on Falun Gong--A Dictator's Whim, Not the Rule of Law" http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/7/30/50842.html
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Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
