Chinese spiritual group calls on Taoiseach to address 'severe persecution' of members with premier
Li Meets Picture: President Higgins Premier Qiang Maxwells
Irish members of a spiritual movement persecuted in China are appealing to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to voice their plight in his meeting on Wednesday with the Chinese premier during his State visit to Ireland.
Prime minister Li Qiang and a sizeable political delegation as well as a large cohort of Chinese state media was escorted through Dublin city on Wednesday morning.
The 15-strong cavalcade of vehicles was first brought to Áras an Uachtaráin to visit President Michael D Higgins, a long-time campaigner on human rights.
They then travelled the short distance to Farmleigh, for official government meetings, including one between the Chinese premier and the Taoiseach.
The Irish Falun Dafa Association (IFDA) has urged Mr Varadkar to raise the abuses their colleagues have suffered in China, ever since the movement was banned as an “evil cult” and a threat to the Communist Party in 1999.
“The severe persecution of Falun Gong in China has been going on for over 24 years,” Shuting Liu of the IFDA said.
Ms Liu added: “The Irish people from all walks of life and from all parts of the country express their desire and their wish to demand the immediate end of this horrible persecution of Falun Gong.”
She said that, as of January 9, 2024, they have got almost 85,000 signatures from Irish people calling for an end to their persecution in China.
A reminder that due to Chinese Premier, H.E. Mr. Li Qiang's brief State Visit to Ireland, The Phoenix Park is closed to all access including pedestrians until 7pm at the latest this evening.#heretohelp pic.twitter.com/FKNwsAzPtc
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 17, 2024
The Amnesty International 2022 annual report highlighted harassment and imprisonment of people for practising their religion in China.
“Religious leaders and practitioners, including those belonging to house churches, Uyghur imams, Tibetan Buddist monks and Falun Gong members, were among those subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention during 2022,” the report said.
In a separate report, published last November, the British Home Office said Falun Gong practitioners “face harassment, arrest and detention” in China, with members being sentenced to long prison terms.
“Detained practitioners are reportedly subjected to various methods of physical and psychological coercion, including torture, sexual abuse and involuntary drug administration in attempts to force them to renounce their beliefs and practice,” it said.
It said the practice — which uses meditation techniques and physical exercise for health and peace of mind — has somewhere between seven and 40 million practitioners in China.
The report said an international expert inquiry, set up in 2019, found forced organ harvesting had been committed for years on a significant scale in China and that “Falun Gong practitioners were one, and probably the main source of organ supply”.
The Home Office document said that, in May 2022, the European Parliament expressed serious concern about reports of “persistent, systematic, inhumane and state-sanctioned” organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners.
The Chinese government has consistently denied the claims.
Ms Liu said the persecution had “extended into other countries” and noted a report compiled by the Falun Dafa community in Canada, published last October, documenting alleged cases of Chinese Community Party’s surveillance and targeted harassment of the Falun Gong community there.
Ms Liu said efforts by democratic countries, such as Ireland, to raise humanitarian issues with Chinese authorities can be effective in deterring persecution in China.
The Chinese delegation flies out from Dublin Airport later today. The Chinese premier was in Europe to attend the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, but had also planned to travel to Ireland specifically as part of his itinerary.
As the reported on earlier this week, Human Rights Watch published a report at the weekend which said repression has “deepened” in China after 10 years of rule by Chinese president Xi Jinping.
In its World Report 2024, the agency said China’s policies in the province on Xinjiang, against Uyghurs and other Muslims, amounted to “crimes against humanity”.
Mr Li is widely considered a close ally of President Xi, who nominated him for the position last March, a day after Mr Xi secured a third five-year term as leader.