Letter from US Embassy in China to US Senator Zell Miller's Office
(received on January 13, 2003)

BEIJING
DECEMBER 23, 2002

Thank you for Senator Miller's letter of December 4, 2002, asking us to forward a letter from Sam Lu to his wife who is currently being held in a Chinese labor camp for her membership in Falun Gong. I am the Human Rights Officer here at the Embassy and have been asked to respond directly to your inquiry.

Both at the Embassy here in Beijing and Washington, we have followed the plight of Falun Gong adherents closely for over three years.  I met today with officials at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked them to forward Mr. Lu's letter to his wife.  The Chinese officials indicated they would do what they could.  We will follow up in the future to attempt to determine whether Ms. Zhou received her husband's letter.  Our Embassy has also received a number of letters on this matter from students at Emory University. I intend to forward those letters to Chinese officials to demonstrate that members of our Senate and the American public care about prisoners of conscience here in China.

I can assure you that we are fully engaged in promoting human rights in China.  During the visits of members of Congress and senior members of the Executive Branch as well as during our day-to-day meetings with Chinese counterparts, we will continue to press Chinese authorities to allow their citizens to enjoy their fundamental human rights.  Thank you for writing and please feel free to share this correspondence with Mr. Lu.

Sincerely

Mark Lambert
Human Rights Officer