About 25 mainly Chinese detainees in Villawood have been held separately from other inmates. The letter’s author said he was a Falun Gong asylum seeker and that on May 16 he had been called for an interview with three “Chinese middlemen”.
Professor Michael McKinley, a senior lecturer in international relations at the Australian National University, said Chen Yonglin would face persecution if he returned to China after sympathising with Falun Gong.
Mr Chen has confessed to monitoring the Falun Gong movement in Australia but now says he sympathises with them. Falun Gong member Kay Rubacek admits to being shocked by Mr Chen’s public about-face.
Mr Chen said he walked out of the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney four days ago, saying he could no longer support his country’s refusal to embrace democratic reform and its persecution of religious group Falun Gong.
Mr Chen said he walked out of the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney four days ago, saying he could no longer support his country’s refusal to embrace democratic reform and its persecution of religious group Falun Gong.
Mr Chen, who holds the rank of first secretary, said he wanted to defect because he could no longer support his country’s persecution of dissidents. As consul, Mr Chen said he monitored political dissidents, including members of the Falun Gong religious sect, during the past four years, but had not been reporting on them in protest against Beijing’s policies.
TIANJIN Mayor Dai Xianglong’s four-day tour of Melbourne was briefly marred by a small group of protesters last Tuesday night. The protesters were waving signs and banners calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong meditation practitioners in Tianjin, China.
Peter started to practice Falun Gong two years ago. In order to read the Falun Gong books in their original language, he started to learn Chinese by himself over a year ago; he can now read “Zhuan Falun” and some other Falun Dafa books in Chinese. Out of his appreciation for Chinese culture, he visited China. His intention was to travel, visit his old friends and to improve his spoken Chinese
Mr. Tang Xianhui, 42, a former democracy activist and current Falun Gong practitioner of six years, has been blacklisted in China for his democratic activities several years ago and is currently facing severe persecution for his practice of Falun Gong if he is deported back to China.
June 1 is International Children’s Day, when children around the world are celebrating their own holiday. On this very day and under the same heaven, however, an unbelievable tragedy is happening to a large group of children in China.
