In April, I addressed the Human Rights Torch Relay in Santa Monica. The Human Rights Torch Relay drew attention to human rights abuses by the government of China against its own people.
The unelected communist government in Beijing sent me a warning letter in May, telling me that everything is fine in China and that I should cooperate so as not to hurt their feelings.
I sent the government of China my formal reply earlier this month. I reminded the Chinese government officials that they are part of a repressive government that allows no opposition groups and “…has consistently shown itself to be unworthy of the longsuffering and noble people of China.” I closed by remarking that I will continue to speak out for human rights in China because, “…I innately understand, as an American, that liberty is our strongest ally and that any great people, when truly free, are our natural friends.”
My full letter to the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China follows:
June 6, 2008
Consul General Zhang Yun
Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China
443 Shatto Place
Los Angeles, California 90020
Dear Consul General:
Before I attend to the main purpose of my letter, please allow me to express my condolences to the victims and the survivors of the “5·12” Wenchuan earthquake. Californians are all too familiar with the destructive energy of earthquakes and our hearts go out to the people of Wenchuan.
I am in receipt of your letter dated May 1, 2008 regarding my attendance at the Human Rights Torch Relay in Santa Monica on April 6. I was rather taken aback for two reasons: First, for receiving a letter from a representative of an unelected dictatorship as an elected official in a democratic nation for simply exercising my free speech rights; and, Second, for the content of the letter itself.
The Chinese people are a great and historic people who deserve more than one-party rule under the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese people deserve liberty and freedom – the liberty to vote for whomever they wish and the freedom to worship and to express their views.
Unfortunately, the government you represent cannot countenance opposition in any form. From the purges and terrors of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s where millions perished at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party to 1989 and the organized massacre of thousands of innocent unarmed Chinese civilians in Tiananmen Square, your government has consistently shown itself to be unworthy of the longsuffering and noble people of China. As such, the harsh attack on the Falun Gong spiritual movement in your letter to me betrays your fear of internal dissent. As you point out, your government outlawed Falun Gong in 1999. You fail to mention that Falun Gong was at first encouraged by your government, then, in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre, your government banned it – perhaps because there were far more Falun Gong practitioners than there were members of the Chinese Communist Party.
My government states on its Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book that “…no substantial political opposition groups exist (in China), although the government has identified the Falungong spiritual movement and the China Democracy Party as subversive groups.” It is precisely for that reason, there being no political opposition groups in China, that I chose to help give voice to the voiceless in China and in Tibet. So I proudly attended and spoke at the Human Rights Torch Relay sponsored by Falun Gong and others and would gladly do so again because I innately understand, as an American, that liberty is our strongest ally and that any great people, when truly free, are our natural friends.
Sincerely,
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore
Seventieth District
Tags: China, Falun Gong, human rights, Liberty, PRC
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