US Congressman Christopher Smith Requests President Bush to Call for the Release of Charles Lee during Meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

December 8, 2003

The Honorable George W. Bush

President of the United States

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to request that you call for the release of Dr. Charles Lee during your meeting this week with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. I also request that you raise the plight of thousands other Falun Gong practitioners like him who have suffered unjust persecution at the hands of the People's Republic of China (PRC) during your meetings this week.

Dr. Lee, a US citizen, has been detained in China since January 22, 2003 when he arrived at Guangzhou Airport. Reports from the U.S. consulate in Shanghai, China show that he has been mistreated, suffering mental and physical abuse during his incarceration. Dr. Lee has conducted several hunger strikes, which resulted in authorities force feeding him, to protest his imprisonment and mistreatment. There are also reports that Dr. Lee has been forced to wear hand-cuffs that cut into his flesh for excess periods of time.

In addition, Dr. Lee's Falun Gong materials have been confiscated, his hand-written documents have been destroyed, and he has been denied contact with his fiancée in the U.S. Like other Falun Gong practitioners in the PRC, he is forced to undergo so-called "re-education" (i.e., brainwashing sessions) to coerce him to abandon his Falun Gong beliefs.

Unfortunately, Dr. Charles Lee is only one of the tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners being held in Chinese labor camps, prisons, and mental hospitals for practicing their spiritual beliefs (Falun Gong). The abuses suffered by Falun Gong at the hands of Chinese authorities is well documented in multiple State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. These abuses include harassment, brainwashing, and torture that according to State Department estimates, have collectively resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners.

In addition to Dr. Lee, dozens of Falun Gong who have family in the U.S. are in detention at this very moment. One particularly disturbing case is that of Xuefei Zhou, the wife of an Atlanta resident, who remains detained in the Guangdong Women's Forced Labor Camp in Sanshui despite the fact that her three-year sentence ended in November 14, 2003. She reportedly continues to be held because of her refusal to renounce Falun Gong beliefs.

I also wanted to voice my concerns about reports of PRC's attempt to export its policies of harassment and violence against Falun Gong practitioners here in the United States. For the past several years, a substantial number of Falun Gong living in the United States have reportedly been harassed by Chinese-ancestry persons, some or all of which may be acting as paid agents of the PRC. The FBI has investigated a possible link between the beatings of Falun Gong practitioners in Atlanta and Chicago and the Chinese consulate. Last year when Jiang Zemin met with you at your ranch in Crawford, Texas, numerous Falun Gong practitioners who had gathered to speak out in defense of the Falun Gong had their hotel reservations abruptly canceled, apparently at the request of the PRC. This summer, a group of Falun Gong practitioners were attacked while peacefully demonstrating in New York. Other Falun Gong practitioners have reported break-ins of their homes.

Finally, we know that the Chinese authorities attempted to pressure Mary Kay, Inc., a Dallas based cosmetics firm that has approximately 200,000 employees in China, to include languages in employee professional conduct contracts discriminating against the hiring of persons who practice Falun Gong beliefs. Thankfully, when made aware of these efforts by myself and similarly minded Members of Congress, Mary Kay officials pledged to change their policy. This incident represents yet another example of the Chinese government's attempts to expand its persecution of Falun Gong.

Thank you for considering this request. I hope that you will raise the case of Dr. Lee, Xuefei Zhou, and the plight of the Falun Gong this week in addition to your pleas for other human rights activists. I also encourage you to urge Justice Department officials to continue to investigate possible links between the harassment of Falun Gong in the U.S. and the Chinese government. Our nation must not tolerate the export of the PRC's brutal repression against freedom.

Sincerely,

Christopher H. Smith

Member of Congress

Cc: The Honorable Colin Powell

The honorable John Ashcroft

The Honorable Lorne Craner

The Honorable Robert Mueller