Voting on a California Senate resolution condemning genocide against a religious minority was cancelled due to an objecting letter from the Chinese consulate.
The resolution, SJR10, praised adherents of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, for peacefully resisting persecution and torture over the past 18 years, Chinascope reported Monday. It also backed Congressional Resolution 343, passed in 2016, which condemned the Chinese government for conducting live organ harvestings on Falun Gong adherents.
Falun Gong is a Chinese school of religion belonging to the Buddhist family of practices, and influenced by Chinese Taoist principles. The religion was banned by the Chinese Communist Party in July of 1999, in part because Party leader Jiang Zemin viewed its encouragement of free thought as a threat to the Party's power.
The Chinese government has been accused of harvesting the organs of Falung Gong political prisoners. One report from June of 2016 found a "massive discrepancy between official figures for the number of transplants carried out throughout the country," suggesting tens of thousands of prisoners had their organs harvested to provide for transplants.
SJR10 was expected to be up for a vote on the California Senate floor on Sept. 1. But, that day, senators received an email from the Chinese consulate denying the accusations of organ harvesting and opposing the resolution.
The resolution would "seriously damage the relationship between China and California in the economy, trade, tourism, and in other areas" if passed, the consulate wrote.
Senator Joel Anderson, who introduced the original resolution, expressed shock that the Chinese were able to successfully influence the Senate's decision-making, noting that that body has never before failed to pass a resolution condemning genocide.
A representative of a Falun Gong organization in California for his part said that the move signals that the persecution of Falun Dafa has now extended overseas.