City of St. John's
P.O. Box 908, St. John's, NF, Canada A1C 5M2

August 3, 2001

Mei Ping
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Of the People's Republic of China to Canada
515 St. Patrick Street
Ottawa ON K1N 5H3

Dear Sir:

In response to your letter of May 22, 2001, please be advised that I am a member of Amnesty International, an organization that has for many years documented the systematic abuse of human rights perpetrated by the Chinese Government against its own people, but also including such people as the Tibetans. A recent National Post editorial referred to China as "a loathsome tyranny."

I was pleased to receive representatives from Falun Gong in our Chambers during the month of May. Your persecution of this innocent group exemplifies your Government's moral and ethical bankruptcy. Thousands of innocent Falun Gong followers have been incarcerated, tortured and some have been murdered by your Government. Your claim that legal rights of the inmates of your labor camps are protected by Chinese law is ridiculous. Why do you persecute harmless people? The answer is very simple. Your government has no democratic legitimacy, composed as it is by a self-appointed elite whose power rests on an illegitimate use of violence. Insecure in power, you lash out at any perceived threat to your existence.

Like many people around the world, I was appalled but not surprised that the IOC has awarded the 2008 Summer Games to China. That organization once again demonstrated that it is quite prepared to ignore the principles of the Olympic Movement for crass commercial and political reasons. It is at best ironic that sports stadiums in China which may also be used as Olympic venues also double as places of mass executions. And how many innocent people were murdered in Tiananmen Square?

I can go on but it is not necessary. In its 2001 Amnesty Report, Amnesty International noted "2000 saw a continued repression of peaceful dissent throughout the country. There was no sign of any relaxation of the 1999 crackdown on fundamental freedoms." It noted thousands of Chinese citizens are arbitrarily detained for "peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or religion."

Sincerely yours,

Signed
Andy Wells
Mayor