I would like to invite this journalist to think just in a position of the Chinese. If there should be a bunch of suspicious people who have been long camping outside or in front of the Australian Embassy in Beijing or Australian consulates in other cities in China and seriously impedes their normal activities and operations of the Australian Embassy and the consulates and damage the dignity of the country and nation of Australia, what would you do?
What's more, the question of the small handful of Falun Gong followers here in Australia is not a question about human rights or freedoms, nor is it a question about the freedom of religious belief because Falun Gong is a downright, a truly evil cult.
Any Government of a sovereign country under the rule of law should have Falun Gong, this evil cult, punished according to law.
It is our hope that people will be on high alert against Falun Gong because they are not only creating trouble within China, they are now spreading the trouble to Australia.
I personally like the city of Canberra very much. I think it's one of the quietest cities in the world. To Minister Downer from the bottom of my heart, I tell him that these people should not be allowed to provoke trouble or create trouble any longer and damage the reputation and the name of the most peaceful country in the world, that is Australia.
I believe that of recently there has been a tendency within the Falun Gong that merits our attention and alert, that is it's turning increasingly violent.
In China Falun Gong maims life, disrupts families that used to be harmonious, and undermines the normal order of the society and it infringes upon human rights of other citizens. All this has resulted in the death of 1,700 people over, for their infatuation with Falun Gong.
The measures taken by the Chinese Government in dealing with the evil cult of Falun Gong has been made in strict accordance with the law and the measures precisely aimed at protecting and safeguarding the human rights of the greatest, the majority of the Chinese people.
As the Foreign Minister of China, I would like to appeal to the relevant countries to heighten their vigilance against the evil cult of Falun Gong and refrain from conniving at or supporting the activities of the Falun Gong or allow Falun Gong to use their territories in engaging in activities against China, so as to preserve their social security and their stability and to preserve their friendly and co-operative relations that they have had with China, and to prevent the on-going friendly and co-operatives with China from being damaged in any way.
As for the question of the Dalai Lama, our position on this question has been a consistent and a clear-cut one. I don't think there is a need for elaboration on that.
We have every reason to oppose the Dalai Lama and his followers in going to any country under any name to engage in activities aimed at separating the motherland and disrupting ethnic harmony and solidarity.
We are also firmly opposed to any official figure including those from political parties and groups in inviting or meeting with the Dalai Lama in any name or in any form.
(Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Australia, November 24, 2003)
