Credit Alexander George
On the occasion of the visit to France of Xi Jinping – the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – the Asia Europe Culture Association will be organising events in Paris on Monday, 6 May, 2024. The aim of these events will be to express our concerns about the absence of issues relating to human rights violations committed by the CCP in the programme of previous meetings between the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and the General Secretary of the CCP Xi Jinping and, reading the press release from the Elysée Palace announcing Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to France, we fear that this will once again be the case.
Through these events, we also want to inform the public about the seriousness of the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP, of which Xi Jinping is currently the supreme leader. Falun Gong is a method of cultivation and practice also known as Falun Dafa, and espouses the universal values of “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.” One of the most serious forms of persecution in China is the forced removal of organs from living people, which is practised on a large scale by the CCP on Falun Gong practitioners, as well as on many other Chinese, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians, and other prisoners of conscience.
Our two events on Monday, 6 May, 2024 will be static and will take place:
From 12.30 p.m. to 21.00 p.m Place de la République
The aim of our rally will be:
- To encourage the French people’s deputies to put more pressure on the French government to ask more questions about the human rights violations of the Chinese communist regime, in particular those relating to the persecution of Falun Gong, Uighurs, Tibetans and other Chinese minority groups and, in particular, the forced organ harvesting practised on a large scale by this communist regime on Chinese prisoners of conscience for almost two decades.
- To revisit the case of the bill written by Ms. Frédérique Dumas, a former MP in the 15th legislature, on measures “to ensure ethical compliance with organ donation by our non-European partners,” including the PRC, suspected of illegally practising large-scale forced organ removal.
This bill was – in the words of Le Figaro – gutted “of its substance via so-called ‘deletion’ amendments by the LREM group” in February 2022, preventing it from being debated by the elected representatives of the French people in the National Assembly. This case of the bill written by Ms. Dumas is a perfect example that justifies our concerns about the lack of a resolution by the National Assembly against the persecution of Falun Gong and, in particular, the forced organ harvesting practised in China by the CCP; and this, despite the existence of numerous pieces of evidence demonstrating the seriousness and scale of these crimes, including:
- European Parliament resolutions strongly condemning these crimes;
- The judgement of the China Tribunal in London on large-scale forced organ harvesting in China, presided over by Sir Geoffrey Nice (prosecutor at the international tribunal in The Hague during the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, former president of the former Yugoslavia):
“Forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been one – and probably the main – source of organ supply. The concerted persecution and medical testing of the Uyghurs is more recent and it may be that evidence of forced organ harvesting of this group may emerge in due course. The Tribunal has had no evidence that the significant infrastructure associated with China’s transplantation industry has been dismantled and absent a satisfactory explanation as to the source of readily available organs concludes that forced organ harvesting continues till today.”
- Independent investigative work by: David Kilgour (former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific), David Matas (Canadian human rights lawyer), and Ethan Gutmann (American researcher and human rights investigator).
- To refer to the resolution dated 18 January 2024, in which the European Parliament “calls on the EU and its Member States to condemn publicly the abuses committed in the context of organ transplants in China, and to make use of the EU’s global human rights sanctions regime and national human rights sanctions regimes against all those responsible for, and entities contributing to, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and abroad;”
- To warn of the danger of cooperating with the CCP in the defence and mental health of young French people. Indeed, the defence and mental health of young people will be on the agenda of the National Assembly that day.
- To call on the National Assembly to follow the European Resolution of 18 January, 2024 on the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, notably the case of the Chinese Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ding Yuande, which strongly urges the CCP to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Ding Yuande, who has been illegally detained in Shandong Province Prison since 20 March, 2024.
On 12 May, 2023, the Chinese married couple Mr. Ding Yuande and his wife Mrs. Ma Ruimei were illegally arrested while working in their tea field in Wulian County, Rizhao City in Shandong Province. They are being persecuted solely because of their adherence to the Chinese spiritual practice Falun Gong (also called “Falun Dafa”).
Their son, Mr. Ding Lebin, has since then been active in engaging European officials to call for the release of his parents. Due to international pressure, his mother was released, but currently remains under surveillance by Chinese authorities.
Solely because of his faith, Mr. Ding Yuande has been detained since 20 March, 2024 in Shandong Province Prison, after he was sentenced to a prison term of three years and given a fine of 15,000 RMB (around 2,000 euro) last December – without any legal basis.
Falun Gong practitioner and human rights activist Ding Lebin, who is now living in Berlin, Germany, and who is attending our peaceful protest activities, says: “My father has not done anything to contravene Chinese law. Moreover, there is no legal basis whatsoever for the persecution of Falun Gong. While the Chinese Communist Party considers itself to be above the law, the CCP is well aware that what they have done to millions of Falun Gong practitioners like my parents are real crimes according to Chinese law,” he said. “That’s why the CCP is trying all kinds of methods – both in China and abroad – to justify the persecution of Falun Gong, which it started on July 20, 1999. I am extremely worried about the fate and safety of my father, not only because of the risk of his being tortured, but also because of the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting carried out by the CCP in China.”
On 18 January, 2024, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong and the persecution of Mr. Ding’s parents. The European Parliament strongly urges the CCP to immediately and unconditionally release his father, Mr. Ding Yuande, and calls on the EU and its member states to sanction all the perpetrators and entities who have been involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and abroad. “I was deeply touched that the European Parliament has addressed the safety and fate of my parents,” added the Chinese human rights activist. “It is also the first time in the history of the EU that the European Parliament has addressed the fate and safety of a Chinese farming family.”
Ms. Françoise Hostalier (R), former Secretary of State at the French Ministry of Education, calling for the release of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China, such as Mr. Ding Yuande, father of Mr. Ding Lebin (Credit: Matthias Kehrein).
Last year, in the course of his rescue campaign for his parents, Mr. Ding was targeted by the CCP and the Chinese Embassy in Germany, which are trying to silence him by means of transnational repression and even intelligence agent activities. “More than 400 parliamentarians worldwide have had their computers hacked by the CCP in recent years without being informed about these espionage activities by their own government. I am only an individual Chinese person in exile. I don’t really feel 100-percent secure and safe in Germany, but I will definitely continue – with all my dedication and a full heart – to speak out for the millions of Falun Gong practitioners like my parents in China,” he said. “The CCP perpetrators are deeply fearful of international attention, as well as of being sanctioned by the member states of the EU. Your courageous voices – made heard by posting information about the persecution of Falun Gong on your social media, and your writing protest letters to the Chinese Embassy – will not only help free my parents, but also contribute to ending the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China.”
For more information, please consult (among others):
Contact for the organising association: PHAM Cao-Tung, +33 6 99 62 10 47, asie.europe.culture@proton.me
