Falun Gong practitioners in the Bay Area of San Francisco held a press conference on Wednesday, April 4, 2001, at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco, calling attention to the persecution of Falun Gong in China and the attempts by Chinese government officials to influence American officials and citizens. The major Chinese newspapers, TV stations, and two English-speaking media teams from the Bay Area attended the conference.

Senator Barbara Boxer sent her congratulations to the press conference.

Ms. Margery Fawar, assistant to Rep. Tom Lantos was at the conference and made a statement in support of the efforts of Falun Gong practitioners for basic human rights and peace. When answering questions, Ms. Fawar said, "Mr. Lantos is very concerned about the human rights in China and the situation of Falun Gong practitioners. This is out of his care and respect for China and Chinese people."

In their statement at the conference, Falun Gong practitioners said, "The persecution of Falun Gong is a violation of human rights that goes beyond China. In the past twenty months, Falun Gong practitioners in the US also received attacks and harassment from Chinese overseas organizations. In addition, American officials are threatened in order to change their attitudes on Falun Gong issues. One American newspaper was pressured by China to stop carrying advertisements for Falun Gong."

At the conference, Mr. Stan Bogosian, ex-mayor of, and now congressman for the city of Saratoga, told of his experience of being accosted by Chinese officials who objected to his signing of a proclamation honoring Falun Gong last year when he was City Mayor, and his stance on the issue. Mr. Bogosian said that it was after reading the information about Falun Dafa and observing Falun Gong activities at the practice site that he signed the proclamation. He believes the practice of Falun Gong is good for his city and issuing the proclamation was one of the domestic affairs of his city. However, two gentlemen from the Chinese Council came to him and asked him to rescind the proclamation. When he refused, they asked him to take a neutral stand. In his opinion, these Chinese diplomats were asking him to change the way he dealt with domestic affairs and trying to impose on him the slander about Falun Gong; they were doing the same thing systematically in other American cities. This is undoubtedly an attempt to extend the unreasonable persecution of Falun Gong and the violation of basic human rights into the United States.

Mr. Bogosian said the "systematic attempts of Chinese government to silence American officials who support human rights" is meddling in the internal affairs of America, which was simply unacceptable. He said, "it bears an uncanny resemblance to the efforts of the Nazi government of Germany in the 1930's to persuade the rest of the world that persecution of its citizens simply was not taking place." Mr. Bogasian said, "Today major American corporations have significant investments in China. The temptation is to look the other way, to ignore what is happening because we are fearful of disrupting trade in an emerging market. If there is one lesson we should have learned from the 1930's, turning a blind eye to such events will cost us dearly in the long run."

The video of "Analysis of Tiananmen Immolation" was shown at the press conference. The detailed analysis of the site made the audience think more carefully about the real reasons behind the tragic event propagandized by the Chinese [party name omitted] party.

Written on April 6, 2001, by practitioners in California.