Brussels, 19 October 2001. Following the expulsion from the People's Republic of China of Mr. Alfredo Fava Minor, an Italian entrepreneur (and investor) in China, without any explanation, although presumably because he is a member of the Falun Gong Movement, banned and repressed by the Beijing authorities, Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the Transnational Radical Party and a member of the European Parliament, has lodged an urgent written question to the Commission.
Urgent written question to the Commission on the expulsion of Mr. Fava Minor from the PRC
Lodged by Olivier Dupuis
18 October 2001
On Monday 8 October 2001, Alfredo Fava Minor, General Manager of Shanghai Famas & Hocks Technical Textiles Co. Ltd., a manufacturing company based in Jinshan (60 km from Shanghai), which employs around 35 people, was stopped at Pudong Airport by the Chinese authorities and immediately re-embarked and expelled without explanation. Without management control, the company now finds itself exposed to serious economic repercussions. Mr. Fava, a member of the Falun Gong movement, is also the representative in Italy of the movement, which has been banned in China since July 1999. Since then its members have been persecuted brutally for having responded to demands that they should renounce their faith with peaceful resistance.
Is the Commission aware of the persecution which Mr. Fava Minor has suffered at the hands of the Chinese authorities, and what measures has it taken or does it intend to take to defend the rights and the interests of an entrepreneur from the EU who has invested a considerable amount of money in the PRC? Does the Commission not believe that the nonchalant manner in which the Chinese authorities violate the most elementary rules of justice - also in the economic and business field - exposes the numerous European investors in China, especially small and medium companies, to extremely serious risks about which they should be fully informed by the competent authorities of the Union? Finally, does the Commission believe that China can be part of the World Trade Organisation when its authorities and institutions continue to demonstrate that they are incapable of respecting the fundamental rules of this international body, of following the principles of the free market and, more in general, of the Rule of Law?
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