(Minghui.org) Senator Simon Birmingham of Australia, who is also the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, wrote to a local resident on June 30, 2023, expressing his concern for the resident’s aunt, who was arrested for practicing Falun Gong and held in a psychiatric hospital even though she was mentally healthy.

Hon. Simon Birmingham, Australian senator and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs

Senator Birmingham said that the Australian government takes the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China seriously. He urged the government to work with their Chinese counterparts to secure the release of incarcerated practitioners.

Senator Birmingham wrote, “The Coalition remains deeply concerned that religious and other minorities in China, including Falun Gong practitioners, continue to be targeted on the basis of their beliefs. In Government, the Coalition ensured that Australia raised these concerns directly with the Chinese Government on many occasions, including as recently as earlier this year.”

He also said, “In addition to making representations about the human rights situation facing practitioners of Falun Gong in China, Australia under the Coalition has also raised individual cases of concern on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners.

“The Coalition strongly urges the Labor Government to continue Australia’s strong and direct approach to the Chinese Government regarding the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners and other minorities.

He added that they had also encouraged the Government to ensure senior representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade continue to meet directly with Falun Gong representatives, as well as practitioners’ family members, to ensure they hear first-hand the evidence, so that these can be raised with Chinese authorities as part of efforts to help secure practitioners’ release.

He closed his letter by saying, “I will ensure the Coalition continues to seek updates from the Government on matters related to the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Government.”

The Australian resident’s aunt, Ms. Liu Chunxia, a former engineer in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, was seized at work at around 5 p.m. on May 6, 2023, thirteen days before the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit was to be held in Xi’an. Communist Party leader Xi Jinping was scheduled to attend.

According to the arresting officers, the local authorities were carrying out an operation dubbed “net-tightening” ahead of the summit. Usually before such major events or political meetings, the authorities in the host city often ramp up the arrests and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners to prevent them from raising awareness of the persecution and “causing trouble” for the regime.

After the local detention center refused to keep Ms. Liu due to her extremely high blood pressure, the police moved her to Ankang Hospital, where mentally healthy practitioners are subjected to the involuntary administration of psychiatric drugs. Her family is now deeply worried about her well-being in that hospital.

This is not the first time that Ms. Liu has been targeted for her faith. She was sentenced to five years in prison after she was arrested in October 2001 for attending an experience sharing conference held by local Falun Gong practitioners. Her term was extended by 70 days and she wasn’t released until December 9, 2006.

Her employer at the time, Huibang Company of the Huian Group in Shaanxi Province, fired her after she was released. She had to do odd jobs to make a living. She was arrested again on March 21, 2017, and sentenced to four years in prison on January 4, 2018. Her husband divorced her while she was incarcerated, and she moved in with her son after she was released in March 2021. She landed a job at a property management company and her hard work earned her the respect of her boss and colleagues.

Related report:

Mentally Healthy Woman Held in Psychiatric Hospital for Her Faith in Falun Gong