Bo Xilai, the recently appointed Minister for Commerce in China, attracted the attention and denouncement of Falun Gong practitioners and human rights organizations when he visited Germany on March 25. Appeals were made to the German government to bar Bo from entry.
One of those opposing his entry was Zheng Zhihong, a scholar from China’s Zhejiang University. Zheng, a Falun Gong practitioner, said that she has always supported commercial exchanges between Germany and China, but Bo Xilai has a long record of human rights crimes to his name. Zheng noted a case where a Hong Kong reporter was imprisoned for eight years for investigating corruption claims against Bo in Dalian city and Liaoning Province.
Zheng added that in the suppression of Falun Gong instigated by former president Jiang Zemin, Bo Xilai, as Mayor of Dalian city and Governor of Laioning Province, was instrumental in ensuring that the crackdown was faithfully implemented under his area of responsibility. Ninety confirmed deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in Laioning Province rank it fourth in the list of deaths by province.
On the subject of Bo’s visit to Germany, Zheng said that given the knowledge of all the crimes Bo had committed, Falun Gong practitioners hoped that the German government could prevent Bo from entering the country. Bo has been already listed as one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in Germany by more than 40 Falun Gong practitioners. On the other hand, upon Bo’s arrival in Germany, he will make extensive contact with people in the fields of economics, business and government, so Falun Gong practitioners have already been sure to communicate the truth to them about Bo’s crimes. They have also appealed to the whole German society to pay attention to all human rights criminals who will visit Germany in the future.
Bo Xilai’s crimes against humanity have already been detailed on the web sites of numerous human rights organizations. In a country that values freedom and democracy, Bo will not be allowed to evade the scrutiny of his past.
