Japanese House Representative: “I Will Do My Best to Support You!”

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yiwen visited the office of Yoshitaka Sakurada, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet, on July 23, 2024. Yiwen gave Mr. Sakurada an update on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong, especially about her mother Wang Guaiyan’s case.

Zhang Yiwen visits Mr. Yoshitaka Sakurada, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet.

Mrs. Wang Guaiyan, who lives in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, China, was arrested for practicing Falun Gong in April, 2024. Eight other practitioners in Baoji City were arrested on the same day. Mrs. Wang was incarcerated several times in the past. One of Yiwen’s friends in Japan told her that the authorities had seized her other Falun Gong practitioner family members in China in July. The parents of another friend died as a result of the CCP’s persecution. Yiwen told Mr. Sakurada that the persecution of Falun Gong was actually worse than what people were aware of.

Mr. Sakurada has been actively working on a bill about human rights. He told Yiwen that the Japanese government could publicize the Chinese government’s human rights violations through the media, but it couldn’t directly request her mother’s release. He also said that organ harvesting from living people was an internationally condemned atrocity and that it was also a topic of discussion in Japan.

Mr. Sakurada was gratified to learn that the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Falun Gong Protection Act. “Organ harvesting from living people is a serious crime against humanity and absolutely unacceptable,” he said. He also said that human rights weren’t a country’s internal affair and that the U.S. and Japan should take the lead on these issues. He told Yiwen that he would do his best to support Falun Gong practitioners.

Screenshot of Mr. Sakurada’s social media

Mr. Sakurada published the following message on his social media account the next day:

Picture with of Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yiwen concerning detention of her mother Wang Guaiyan by Chinese authorities. The case concerns extraterritoriality and needs to be handled with caution. On the other hand, it concerns life. I’m publicizing the facts based at Zhang Yiwen’s behest.