Hello, and welcome to the weekly FGMtv news review. I'm Susan Mitchell.
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Here at
FGMtv we focus on programs and news that illuminate the truth of Falun Gong,
which is also known as Falun Dafa.
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Falun Dafa is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that
includes exercise and meditation. Its principles are based on being good, true
and enduring.
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The practice began in China in 1992 and quickly spread by word of
mouth throughout the country.
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In 1998, a government survey concluded that the number of practitioners
exceeded membership in the communist party.
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One year later, dictator Jiang Zemin began a brutal persecution
that violates not only the Chinese constitution, but also international
treaties signed by China.
In this week's update from China…
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720 Falun Gong
practitioners are verified to have died from torture while in custody. However,
reliable sources inside China put the actual total death count in the
thousands.
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Torture reports in the
last seven days have come in from provinces across the country, and from the
cities of Beijing and Nanjing.
Our top story this week:
American citizen is
beaten and brutally force-fed in China's Nanjing Prison
And some of our other stories:
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Jiang
Zemin declared to be 'the greatest threat to Regional and American security' by
former U.S. Ambassador
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Human
Rights Rally in Sydney, Australia
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Plaintiff
in U.S. Genocide Lawsuit Suing Jiang Zemin is thrown into a Chinese Labor Camp
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Falun
Gong Entry Wins President's Award in Vancouver area parade
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Falun
Gong at a Health Congress in Croatia
First, our top story:
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According to sources in the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, Dr.
Charles Li, a U.S. citizen and practitioner of Falun Gong, who is being held in
a Chinese prison, has been on hunger strike since May 27. He has been force-fed
since May 31 in a hospital inside the Nanjing Prison.
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Force-feeding accounts for more than 10% of all deaths of Falun
Gong practitioners in Chinese custody. The reason for this is because untrained
non-medical personnel insert the tubes and often the victim is choked or the
tube perforates the esophegus or other parts of the body. Also, the tubes
themselves are often large and unclean.
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Mr. Stuart Patt, a spokesperson for the Consular Affairs Bureau of
the U.S. State Department, said in an interview with the Epoch Times
Chinese-language newspaper: “If Charles Li is injured because of his hunger
strike, we will hold the relevant Chinese officials responsible.”
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Upon hearing about Dr. Li’s situation, a U.S. consulate official
drove from Shanghai to the Nanjing Prison to see Dr. Li. However, prison
officials would not allow him to see Dr. Li.
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Dr. Charles Li was imprisoned in China after being ushered through
a “show trial” in April for allegedly “preparing” to tap into Chinese state-run
T.V. and broadcast programs exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
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According to recent United Nations Human Rights Commission annual
reports, many Falun Gong practitioners have been killed as a result of
force-feeding while on hunger strikes in Chinese prisons and labor camps.
FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR CALLS JIANG
ZEMIN "THE GREATEST THREAT TO REGIONAL AND AMERICAN SECURITY."
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U.S.
Newswire has reported that in an interview with Friends of Falun Gong USA,
former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Mark Palmer has called upon the U.S.
government to support true democracy in China by exposing corrupt Communist
officials.
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He
warned that former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin is the
"greatest threat to regional and American security." Mr. Palmer
discussed the accountability of the Jiang regime in the persecution of Falun
Gong, and the corruption of the Party's elite, who have brought vast sums of
money out of China into the United States and other countries.
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When
asked about Party leaders with illegal assets in the U.S., Palmer suggested the
majority of Chinese people would support the U.S. exposing them. He said,
"It would encourage them to demand an honest, accountable system in China,
one in which judges act according to the law and not the Communist bosses and
their personal interests."
Human Rights Rally in Sydney,
Australia
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On
Sunday, 1 June 2003, a Human Rights Rally was held at Town Hall Square in the
center of Sydney, Australia. It was organized by the "Anti Hong Kong
Article 23 Association," to raise the awareness that "Exposing Lies,
Saving Lives" is a call for the freedom of basic human rights in Hong Kong
and China.
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Many
groups attended the rally, including the Chinese Labor Party, The Federation
for A Democratic China (FDC), The Chinese Alliance for Democracy (CAD), World
Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), as well as
academic representatives, NSW State government M.L.C's and Falun Gong
practitioners.
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The
rally was hosted by Mr Stephen Sim from Radio 2NBS FM NSW. He explained that
the importance of the event was to bring a greater awareness of the facts about
China's coverup of the SARS epidemic, the new draconian law in Hong Kong known
as "Article 23," and the former leader of China being sued for
genocide. These are all matters that China does not want the world to know
about.
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From
the recent SARS epidemic, people have awakened to how the Jiang regime's
cover-up endangered the whole world. In addition to killing people globally, it
was pointed out that SARS has aggravated Australia's worst trade deficit.
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Participants
wore masks during the event to symbolize the lies and the lack of freedom that
cannot be expressed, and called it "Masked by Deception."
Plaintiff in U.S. Lawsuit is sent
to Chinese labor camp
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Ms.
Lanxiang Zhao, a Chinese-American resident of Maryland, has reported that her
sister, Meiyu Zhao, has been taken from her home and thrown into a Chinese
labor camp. Meiyu Zhao, a 25 year-old Falun Gong practitioner, survived one and
a half years of torture in Sanshui Women's Forced Labor Camp in Guangdong
province. Her crime? She travelled to Beijing to file an appeal with the
government appeals office.
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On
hearing of the U.S. lawsuit suing former President Jiang Zemin with genocide,
Meiyu decided to add her name to the list of plaintiffs in the case. In
mid-May, police from her hometown of Huizhou in Guangdong Province traveled
over 100 miles to the city of Shenzhen where she was living with her brother.
They ransacked her brother's home, stole many valuables, confiscated the draft
document of her charges against Jiang, and arrested her. She was taken to
Huizhou police station and then sent to a labor camp.
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Ms.
Lanxiang Zhao said, "My family is overcome with fear. They are very
nervous and afraid of talking about my sister. The police have declared this a
'major case.'"
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The
plaintiffs' attorney Terri Marsh said, "Jiang's good friend, the former
leader of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, is currently being tried in the same
court [that is trying Nazi war criminals]. In China, the persecution against
Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to give up
Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is taking place, and it is the world's
responsibility to put Jiang on trial."
Falun Gong Entry Wins President's
Award in Vancouver Area Parade
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On
May 24, 2003, 140 groups from different cities of the Vancouver Area
participated in the Hyack Festival Parade in New Westminster. The Falun Gong
group won the President's Award--first place among the Club and Association
Groups.
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Colorful
floats and cheerful people brought a festive and fun atmosphere to the small
city. Many people lined the road. At the front of the Falun Gong procession
were banners reading, "Falun Dafa" and
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."
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Young
practitioners on a beautiful float performed the five sets of exercises, and a
graceful Fan Dance and elegant Chinese Tang Dynasty Dance followed. Passersby
were heard to say, 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' is good! I support
that."
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When
the prize was awarded, the host expressed a hope that Falun Gong practitioners
would be sure to participate in next year's event, as well as other upcoming
community festivities.
Our Special Report this week comes
from Toronto, where Christine Loftus interviewed Connie Chipkar:
Christine:
Hi Connie, thanks for meeting with us today. I understand there are a lot of
people gathered here in front of the Chinese Consulate in Toronto. Can you tell
us why they are here?
Connie:
We are here today on a hunger strike. We are telling America that we are with
them. An American citizen, Charles Lee, has been imprisoned as soon as he
landed in China in January. And he has been put through a show trial. And now
the only way that he could tell everyone that he is mistreated, and he is
innocent is by hunger-strike. This is his 5th day. We are here at the Toronto
Consulate so that every one could be made aware.
We had a letter that was presented to the
American Council General here in Toronto. The US Government has said that the
Chinese Government is completely responsible to Charles' well being. We agree
with that. We cannot know the truth about what's happening over there until
Charles is home again, on free soil. So we join him in his hunger strike, and
hope he will soon be released.
Christine:
So what do you hope to achieve here today?
Connie: Today, as in the letter we state:
we express our commitment in mind and
in our words, to work together with all our hearts, to free innocent Charles
Lee, to stop this brutal and unjust persecution.
Christine:
Thank you, Connie.
Thanks
Christine and Connie.
Moving now to Washington D.C.,
where inconsistencies are being uncovered in
CCTV's story of the tragic self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square
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On last week's program, we told you
that a senior reporter for China's state run TV Network, CCTV, is being
investigated for her role in producing fabricated programs to incite hatred
against Falun Gong. The main program is the tragic self-immolation incident
where some people set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square and the Chinese
government claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners.
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We mentioned one man who was holding an
unburned plastic pop bottle between his legs, even though he himself was badly
burned on Tiananmen Square. CCTV said that his name was Mr. Jindong Wang.
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Mr. John Jaw, president of The World
Organization for the Investigation of the Persecution of Falun Gong,
presented more new findings on the self-immolation incident during a news
conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC recently.
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He advised that speech identification
technology at a world-renowned lab for Chinese speech identification, synthesis
and verification determined that the "Jindong Wang," who appeared
several times on China's state-run CCTV programs, was actually played by two
different people.
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Also, medical personnel at Jishuitan
Hospital, where the victims were taken after the incident, revealed that the
ambulance carrying the self-immolators arrived two hours after leaving
Tiananmen Square. Why should a 6 mile 15 minute trip take two hours? Where were the victims during these two
hours?
Falun Gong at a Health Congress in Zagreb,
Croatia
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Falun Dafa practitioners from Austria and Sweden were invited to
introduce Falun Gong at the 4th Croatian Congress on the Collaboration of
Conventional and Alternative Medicine.
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The congress was sponsored by the Croatian Ministry of Health, and
took place in the "Pavilion of the People's Republic of China" in
Zagreb, on May 24, 2003.
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Practitioners briefly introduced the practice and demonstrated the
exercises. They talked about the health benefits that Falun Gong has brought to
millions of practitioners around the world, and emphasized that it is not a
healing method but a practice for improving a person's character. They told the
audience about the brutal persecution in China and the peaceful activities of
practitioners around the world who are kindly appealing for help to stop the
persecution. The audience responded with warm applause.
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A detailed article describing Falun Gong also appeared in the
official congress book.
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Practitioners
said that the people of Croatia are very open and supportive towards Falun
Gong. An introductory book of the practice and also a Falun Dafa Web site are
available in Croatian, and in a short period of time, Falun Gong has spread to
many cities in the country of Croatia.
Thanks for watching the FGMtv weekly news review.
I'm Susan Mitchell. See you next week!