13/08/2002

Esther Wong, whose mother is being held in a labour camp for distributing information about Falun Gong. Picture: GARY SCHAFER

Private bureaucratic talks between Australia and China were no way to address China's human-rights abuses, ACT Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker said yesterday.

Ms Tucker was hosting a public hearing for a group of Chinese-born Australian citizens persecuted because of their Falun Gong (otherwise known as Falun Dafa) meditation practices.

The hearing came as foreign affairs officials from both countries prepare to meet in Canberra later this week for the 6th Annual Bilateral China-Australia Human Rights Dialogue.

Ms Tucker criticised the Federal Government's reaction to human-rights abuses committed against Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese regime. She said recent trade agreements between the two countries stood in the way of concern for human-rights violations.

"We are being told by the Government that human rights are less important than trade, but trade is less important than the war on terror," Ms Tucker said.

She said the annual human-rights dialogue between the two countries had to be made transparent, with both the public and Parliament being briefed on the outcome of the talks.

Amnesty International spokesman John Greenwell echoed Ms Tucker's calls for open dialogue between the two countries over the protection of human rights.

"The talks are secret," he said. "Neither Parliament nor the public will be aware of the results of the meetings."

Mr Greenwell labelled the treatment of Falun Gong by the Chinese Government as "organised and systematic oppression" and said the dialogue between the two countries was ineffective.

"Amnesty doesn't see any improvement since the dialogues began in 1997," he said.

Among the speakers at the hearing was Esther Wong, a Chinese-Australian whose mother is being held in a Chinese labour camp after being arrested for distributing information leaflets on Falun Gong practices.

Ms Wong's sister and brother-in-law were also arrested by Chinese authorities and their homes ransacked and bank accounts seized.

"I haven't heard from my mother in two years," Ms Wong said.

"She is in a labour camp jail because she handed out leaflets that said the whole world did not think Falun Gong is evil."

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