Falun Gong Responds to U.S. Visit to Former Chinese Concentration Camp

18 Jun 2004

NEW YORK (Falun Dafa Information Center) – The Falun Dafa Information Center responded Sunday to the U.S. Embassy’s visit to a reported northeastern China concentration camp, warning of “publicity stunts” by China’s communist regime and cautioning would-be investigators again. The Center also renewed a call for “deeper, broader investigations.”

The Center had warned in multiple statements (news) of PRC publicity stunts surrounding the camp, and believes the conditions seen at the site are the product of a two-week “housecleaning” by Chinese communist authorities. “When China’s communist rulers start inviting the outside world to come investigate rights abuses—whereas normally they threaten and arrest any who try to do so—one has to pause and consider the motives,” said Center spokesperson Mr. Erping Zhang Sunday.

The Center’s response follows a remark Friday by U.S. Department of State spokesperson Sean McCormack, reported by Agence France Press. AFP quoted McCormack as saying that a U.S.-Embassy-led visit to the camp found “no evidence” in support of Falun Gong’s reports of a concentration camp at the site of a Sujiatun hospital. McCormack, however, said the U.S. government takes Falun Gong’s reports “seriously” and continues to be concerned regarding persecution of Falun Gong in China.

While the Center applauds U.S. pressure on China’s communist regime over the organ harvesting of Falun Gong followers, it wishes to point out the trickery of Chinese communist authorities. What appeared to U.S. staff to be absence of evidence of abuse should not be confused with evidence of absence. Notably:

The first visit, by one staff member, took place two weeks after the camp was first exposed
The staff member was given a tour, as would be a prospective patient there, by Chinese authorities
China’s regime had more than ample time, and warning, to sanitize and disguise the camp
China’s regime quickly removed a number of Websites related to the Sujiatun area, including sites detailing the vast underground tunnel system of Shenyang, of which Sujiatun is a suburb
China’s regime took fully three weeks to formulate a public reply concerning the camp
Sources say the PRC has deployed in Sujiatun plainclothes police, posing as vendors, and hired local residents to give false information to investigators and media
The state-run, Xinhua New Agency admitted on 4/12 that, “There were Falun Gong followers in Sujiatun, but all of them are now receiving rehabilitation [sic] programs in places outside the district.”
The Center warned against PRC-facilitated visits, sensing a propaganda maneuver
China’s regime has lied to foreign investigative bodies before, even when many lives were at risk
As recently as 2003 it lied to WHO investigators, journalists, and foreign governments about the presence of SARS patients in hospitals; it evacuated hospitals before inspections and hid patients
Six out of the last seven years China’s regime has refused to meet terms set by UN Torture Inspectors

“There continues to be a large, growing body of evidence that the Sujiatun camp did exist for a period of at least several years, and all indicators are that the camp is responsible for many—possibly thousands—of Falun Gong deaths. Most appalling is that the victims appear to have been subjected to an utterly barbaric form of killing, in which their bodies were first carved up for organs—including corneas, skin, livers, and kidneys—and then sold or transplanted at huge profit,” said Zhang.

“We are calling for deeper, broader investigations—not just of one locale, but of all transplant hospitals and all labor camps,” Zhang said. “We are concerned that the regime is using a carefully orchestrated visit by Embassy staff as a publicity stunt. If the Chinese regime is serious about allowing investigations, then we demand that it open up the doors of all camps and hospitals to inspection, without conditions attached, and do so immediately. Anything less is a farce.”