WASHINGTON—Hungarian born American, Annette Lantos, a venerated human rights advocate, is scathing about China under the present regime, but is full of praise for a China without communism.
“China without the Communist Party might become a wonderful spiritual nation that will be a light unto the world and it will be a great benefit to humanity,” she told The Epoch Times.
Born in Budapest, Ms. Lantos lost most of her family to Nazi persecution and, after experiencing Communist Russia’s take-over of Hungary, fled to the United States at age 16.
Wife of late Democrat Rep. Tom Lantos, founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Ms. Lantos is now Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice.
Speaking to The Epoch Times at the fifth anniversary of the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington June 12, Ms. Lantos said it took Hungary 40 years and “a lot of courage and endurance” to be free of communist domination.
“Eventually they did free themselves and so will the Chinese people, but only if these people have the endurance and will endure to the end.”
Ms. Lantos said that endurance will be fueled by a spiritual awakening that will be a critical driver of change in China.
“The spiritual awakening of the Chinese people will be a very, very important component of the collapse of communism,” she said.
She believes that spirituality is already there in the form of the exercise and meditation practice Falun Gong, which she described as “one of the great, great spiritual movements of China” and one which has “long been missing.”
“You know Confucianism is a very materialistic down-to-earth religion, but the Falun Gong really puts people in touch with the spirit and with eternity, and with another aspect of a human being’s reality. I think that Chinese people are hungering and thirsting for this kind of an influence,” she said.
According to Chinese state data, adherents of Falun Gong numbered between 70 and 100 million in early 1999. However, its popularity was seen by the then-head of communist regime, Jiang Zemin, as a threat and it was banned, initiating a brutal persecution that continues to this day.
Communism a Godless System
Ms. Lantos described communism as a “godless system of government” whose leaders have “visited unspeakable atrocities on their own people.”
That remained true for China she said, but she expected the days of the Chinese Communist Party were numbered.
“The Party is losing its credibility in China,” she said. “We hope that sooner or later it is going to lead to its collapse.”
She referred to the many uprisings occurring in response to injustices, noting particularly the outrage villagers recently expressed at the persecution of one of their community who practiced Falun Gong, and the brutal reprisal they endured as a result.
“It is the worst example of what the Chinese government really is like,” she said.“This is totally unacceptable in the 21st Century.”
Ms. Lantos said “China without the communist nation will become a tremendous value to the entire globe.”
“We just hope and pray that the day is not too far when this will really happen.”
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