The Myth of Freedom in China

The central government of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) presented the United Nations one million signatures of Chinese citizens condemning Falun Gong. The PRC asserted that these signatures are a mandate supporting its unconscionable suppression of this spiritual belief.

These signatures are not a mandate of the people for the following reasons:

1. The population of the PRC is in excess of one billion people. These one million signatures represent less than one tenth of one percent of the population. By the estimates of the PRC there are three to four million Falun Gong practitioners in China. Falun Gong practitioners estimate the number closer to seventy million practitioners inside China and another thirty million abroad. In comparison, these one million signatures merely represent a small interest.

2. The signature drive is sponsored by the government. In this case the government is nothing more than a special interest. In order to be a mandate the number of supporters must outweigh the opposition. In this case none of the opposition have been counted.

3. Signature drives are never considered a mandate in the free world. At best, a signature drive shows some interest by a limited number of citizens. It takes a qualified vote to create a mandate. In some cases the vote must be more than 2/3s in favor in order to pass a law.

Furthermore, no mandate, much less a mere signature drive, is ever higher than constitutional law. When laws are passed in the free world they are always subject to the constitution. Even if the PRC were to hold a qualified vote which showed a majority of its citizens approved of the suppression of Falun Gong, the government could not legally carry out such suppression due to Article 35 of its constitution which states that citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy the freedoms of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of due process, and of demonstration.

On its face the PRC is truly a member of the free world. This is evidenced by a constitution which grants many liberal freedoms and by its ratification of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, by accepting a few solicited signatures as a mandate for unconstitutional persecution of peaceful, law abiding citizens, and presenting these signatures to the United Nations as justification for such persecution, the PRC is offering strong proof that, in China, freedom is a myth.