Letter from the US State Department to Senator Bob Graham Regarding the Arrest of Charles Li and Persecution of Falun Gong in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Senator Bob Graham wrote to Falun Gong practitioners and enclosed a copy of a letter he received from the US State Department regarding the arrest of American citizen Dr. Charles Li, and the persecution of the Falun Gong movement in China. Below is an exceprt of the letter from the US State Department.

United States Department of State
Washington, DC 20520

February 19, 2004

Dear Senator Graham:

This is in response to your letter of January 26 forwarding correspondence from your constituent [name omitted] regarding the arrest of American citizen Dr. Charles Li, and the persecution of the Falun Gong movement in China.

We are aware of Mr. Li's case, and are doing everything possible to ensure his fare and humanitarian treatment. ....

Upon notification of Mr. Li's detention, a US consular officer visited him to offer consular assistance. The consular officer saw Mr. Li at his place of detention, ascertained that he had no immediate health problems, provided a list of local attorneys, and obtained his authorization concerning release of details of his case through the Privacy Act. A consular official was present at Mr. Li's March 21, 2003 trial in Yangzhou. The US Consulate General in Shanghai continues to maintain frequent contact with Mr. Li, and is closely monitoring his situation to ensure that he is treated in a fare and humanitarian manner. In the year since his arrest, consular officials have met or spoken with Mr. Li at least twice every month. The State Department, the US Embassy in Beijing, and the US Consulate General in Shanghai have all raised his case with Chinese authorities and will continue to do so.

On the topic of Falun Gong generally, the United States has been vigorous and consistent over the last several years in pressing China at every level to stop oppressing the Falun Gong. We have raised our concerns over China's repression of the Falun Gong repeatedly with senior Chinese authorities both in Washington and in Beijing. In March 2003, the Secretary of State designated China a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom. This was the fifth consecutive year that Secretary of State has designated China a CPC.

Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Lorne W. Craner raised numerous cases of individuals detained for Falun Gong activities during the last session of the U.S.-China human rights dialogue, and called for the release of all those held for the peaceful expression of their spiritual or religious views. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John V. Hanford and U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt have also raised, and will continue to raise, our deep concerns over the detention and mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China. We have documented our concerns in our annual country reports on human rights practices and on international religious freedom, which can be found on the State Department website: www.state.gov

We will continue to raise these issues with the Chinese government through diplomatic channels, in addition to making our position clear in public statements.

We hope this information is useful to you. If we may be of further assistance in this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Paul V. Kelly
Assistant Secretary
Legislative Affairs