(Minghui.org) Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the China National People’s Congress, arrived in New Zealand on November 20, 2025, and visited Parliament in Wellington, the capital city. During the visit, Falun Dafa practitioners from Auckland and Wellington peacefully protested the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 26-year persecution of Falun Dafa in front of the Parliament Building.
Practitioners distributed flyers to passers-by and reporters, and called on the New Zealand government to pay attention to the CCP’s persecution. They urged the government to deny entry to and sanction CCP officials who have been involved in the persecution, through legislation along the lines of the Magnitsky Act. They asked New Zealand to speak out against the persecution.
In sharp contrast to the practitioners’ event, several pro-CCP groups attempted to interfere with the peaceful efforts to raise awareness. They tried to block the practitioners’ banners with poster boards, and shouted or played loud drums to disrupt the rally. These actions caught the attention of passers-by and were stopped by security and police on site, who ordered the pro-CCP members to keep their distance from the practitioners in order to ensure practitioners’ safety.
Falun Gong practitioners hold a peaceful protest in front of the New Zealand Parliament Building during Zhao Leji’s visit on November 20, 2025.
Pro-CCP members (holding red flags and banners) attempt to interfere with the Falun Dafa practitioners’ protest along the route to Christchurch on November 21, 2025.
Practitioners said, in contrast to the systemic persecution in China, they treasure the opportunity in New Zealand to express their concerns and raise awareness of the CCP’s human rights abuses.
Former Wellington Councilor Calls on New Zealand to Uphold Human Rights
Antony Brunt, former councilor of Wellington, expressed his support for the practitioners’ protest and condemned Zhao for his deep involvement in the persecution.
Antony Brunt, former councilor of Wellington, addresses the practitioners’ rally.
Mr. Brunt said, “I support protests against Zhao Leji, as he has been deeply implicated in the Chinese Communist Party’s murderous crackdown on the innocent followers of the spiritual movement Falun Gong since the early 2000s when he was promoted to Communist Party Secretary of Qinghai Province, the CCP’s top province for labor camps and imprisonment.
“Many of these concentration camps were and are suspected to be major facilities for the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience. Organ harvesting is a euphemism for surgical murder which, tragically, has now become a central pillar of China’s booming but discredited organ transplant sector. Many overseas professional bodies and journals will now not accept medical or scientific papers from China on organ transplantation, given the grisly reality that underpins most of it.”
Mr. Brunt pointed out, “In 2017, after becoming the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP, in other words the regime’s ‘Hard Man,’ Zhao Leji has apparently continued to promote the persecution of Falun Gong through the Party’s notorious 610 Office, tasked with the extermination of Falun Gong.”
Mr. Brunt said, “Frankly, this is a man deeply involved in a regime responsible some of the most atrocious and systematic human rights abuses of the 21st century and he should be merely tolerated rather than welcomed to this country. New Zealand needs to make sure that in any cultural, political, or scientific exchanges with China, it steers clear of getting blood on its hands.”
Open Letter Urges the Prime Minister to Pay Attention to China’s Human Rights Abuses
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon received an open letter from Falun Gong practitioners, calling on the government to raise human rights issues in China in meetings with Zhao Leji and to pay attention to the CCP’s 26-year persecution of Falun Gong.
The letter reads, “Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) is a peaceful spiritual practice based on the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Since 1999, practitioners have faced severe repression in China, including arbitrary detention, forced ideological ‘transformation,’ torture, and deaths in custody. These abuses have been extensively documented by international bodies such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the UK Home Office.”
The letter stated that human rights organizations have submitted lists of perpetrators of human rights violations to the New Zealand government, requesting visa bans and targeted sanctions. In these submissions, Zhao Leji’s name appears among those senior CCP officials recommended for scrutiny due to his role in policy-making and implementing the persecution.
Practitioners called on the New Zealand government to uphold human rights and to put forward three points when meeting with the CCP delegation: raising the issue of religious and spiritual persecution in China, expressing New Zealand’s commitment to freedom of belief and human dignity, and urging the Chinese authorities to end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
The Prime Minister’s office acknowledged receipt of the letter and thanked the practitioners for sharing their feedback, concerns and ideas. “Your comments have been noted and forwarded onto the Prime Minister, as well as to the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rt Hon Winston Peters, for their consideration,” the office responded.
Zhao traveled to Christchurch the next day.
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Category: Rallies & Protests
