英国福建同乡联谊总会对所谓英国“中国秘密警察站”等不实报道的申明及致英国华人的公开信

申明概述：

近日，部分英国媒体以及海外中文媒体发表不实言论，炒作英国福建同乡联谊总会为“海外警察站”，并不负责任的臆断我会会员及志愿者为“海外秘密警察”，主观判定我会活动有影响英国政治的目的，甚至暗示我会有监控，追踪他人的行为，这些完全是无稽之谈。疫情期间，在确认不违反英国法律法规的前提下，我会自愿提供场地，为需要延期国内驾照的老乡提供方便，过程合法合理，并且公开透明，有据可查。我会成立以来，通过协助会员与英国政商界人士的聚会，积极推动英国华人融入英国主流社会，获得了英国各界的一致好评。然而，英国福建同乡联谊总会的这些合理合法的活动却被部分的媒体及别有用心的组织污蔑为具有特殊的政治目的，我会对此坚决否认。

英国福建同乡联谊总会在此郑重申明：

1.英国福建同乡联谊总会一切活动完全遵守英国法律以及自由民主的社会价值。

2.英国福建同乡联谊总会一切活动始终以服务会员、造福英国华人为宗旨，不具有其它政治目的。

3.我会要求《泰晤士报》及所有发表过相关不实言论的媒体删除所有不实报道，公开向英国福建同乡联谊总会以及会员公开道歉，我会将保留进一步追究法律责任的权利。

在此，我们呼吁英国广大华人同胞团结起来，一起抵制这种针对英国华人社团以及华人群体的不实报道。这些报道不仅是对同乡会会员声誉的严重打击，更是对英国华人群体的形象造成严重损害。近日，社会上不断发生针对华人群体的攻击事件，体现出这些负面消息造成针对华人“种族对立”的风险。因此，我们呼吁广大华人同胞一起支持英国福建同乡联谊总会的维权行动，这不仅是为了自身获得应有的尊重和平等的对待，更希望我们的下一代可以在更积极健康的环境中成长，成为英国社会的中流砥柱。

声明全文：

英国同乡联谊总会是英国合法公开注册的非盈利社团。本会自成立以来严格遵守英国法律，拥护英国社会民主自由，全体会员均为英国合法居民或公民。自创会以来，我会会员及众多福建老乡秉持“闽商精神”，在英国创造大量工作机会，积极促进英国经济的发展。并且，我会为英国华人提供各种便利措施，促进新老移民适应英国生活。同时，我会积极鼓励在英福建人融入英国主流社会，提供与英国政、商界交流的平台，为在英华人的合法权益发声。在疫情初期，口罩断货，我会免费赠送20多万口罩给在英华人；疫情期间，有老乡因为新冠肺炎不幸离世，我会会员垫付费用，协助14位老乡遗体火化和骨灰回国落叶归根。英国福建同乡联谊总会为英国华人群体做出的贡献有目共睹，也受到英国社会各界的肯定。疫情期间，由于英中航班停飞，许多福州籍英国居民、公民反应无法回国办理国内驾照延期，面临国内驾照被撤销的问题。为帮助这些老乡解决困难，福建同乡联谊总会在确认不违反英国法律法规的前提下，无偿提供场地，协助老乡联系国内驾照服务部门解决问题。在此过程中，福建同乡联谊总会及志愿者没有收取任何一笔费用，不收任何礼品，用纯粹的服务老乡的心办事，收获了老乡们的一致好评，这些案例过程清楚，公开透明，所有联系合理合法。然而自2022年起，个别带有特殊政治目的的组织、记者开始炒作所谓“海外警察服务站”带有特别政治目的，利用媒体优势对我会进行不实报道以及虚假指控，甚至暗示我会有监控，追踪他人的行为。我会对此坚决否认。这些报道不仅对我会的名誉造成严重损害，而且严重伤害了志愿者们服务老乡的感情，甚至有煽动种族对立的风险。英国福建同乡联谊总会在此郑重申明：英国福建同乡联谊总会所有活动的目的仅为会员提供便利及服务，不带有任何政治目的。英国福建同乡联谊总会所有活动公开透明，完全符合英国法律法规，对此经得起任何检查。多年以来，英国福建同乡联谊总会一直致力于促进英国华人融入英国主流社会，提高英国华人的社会地位，通过公开合法途径为英国华人的合法权益发声。为此，社团多次邀请会员参加与英国政、商界人士的公开聚会活动，希望由此提高华人群体在英国主流社会的声誉，为华人以及后代在英国谋求更好的生活发展道路。该活动受到了会员以及英国政商界的一致好评与肯定，英国需要华人群体的多元声音。然而，近日《泰晤士报》及部分英国媒体通过所谓“起底”同乡会负责人的方式，利用一些照片以及断章取义的新闻报道影射这些活动带有“特殊政治目的”。对此，英国福建同乡联谊总会郑重申明：英国福建同乡联谊总会会员参加的此类活动都为社会公开活动，由会员自愿报名，参加者均有英国合法身份。英国福建同乡联谊总会协助会员参与此类活动的目的仅为促进华人群体融入英国主流社会，提升英国社会的文化包容性，不存在任何除此以外的政治目的。英国同乡联谊总会在此呼吁英国广大华人同胞，不再沉默，团结一致一起抵制这些新闻媒体或者带有偏见的自媒体的不实报道甚至抹黑造谣。这些报道不仅是对英国福建同乡联谊总会会员声誉的严重打击，更是对英国华人群体的形象造成严重影响，甚至有造成“种族对立”的风险。而这种风险不仅将对华人商家的生意造成负面影响，更有可能“堵住”未来华人后代参政议政，成为英国主流社会的一员的道路。我们英国华人多年来背井离乡，跋山涉水来到英国社会，不仅是为了自身获得更好的生活，更是希望我们的下一代可以在这片土地上健康快乐的成长，实现自己的人生梦想，成为英国社会的中流砥柱。然而如果我们漠视这些对英国华人群体不实报道的发酵，甚至以讹传讹，那么不仅将严重影响我们华人自身的形象，更会对未来我们华人后代的发展产生难以预料的负面影响。因此英国福建同乡联谊总会呼吁：广大华人同胞一起抵制这些新闻媒体带有政治偏见的报道，不信谣不传谣。广大华人同胞团结支持福建同乡联谊总会用合法途径捍卫华人群体形象的行动。针对《泰晤士报》和部分媒体忽视英国福建同乡联谊总会对英国社会的长期贡献，并对会员的进行不实报道的行为，我们提出以下诉求：删除所有不实报道。公开向福建同乡联谊总会以及会员公开道歉。保留追究法律责任的权利。

最后，衷心感谢英国社会各界这段时间对英国福建同乡联谊总会的信任与巨大支持，英国福建同乡联谊总会将继续为英国华人群体发声，协助维护英国华人的合法权益，并且继续鼓励会员对英国社会做出力所能及的贡献。

特此声明

英国福建同乡联谊总会

2023年4月29日

英文全文

A Statement from the UK Fujianese Association Denouncing False Reports on an Alleged "UK-based Chinese Secret Police Station" and an Open Letter to Chinese Communities in the UK

Overview of the declaration:

Recently, both British media and overseas Chinese media have circulated false statements, hyping the UK Fujianese Association as an "overseas police station", irresponsibly assuming that our members and volunteers act as "overseas secret police", subjectively judging our activities have the purpose of influencing British politics, and even implying that the association monitors and tracks other peoples’ behaviour. These claims are entirely unfounded. During the epidemic, on the premise of confirming that it does not violate British laws and regulations, the UK Fujianese association voluntarily provided free venues for the convenience of towns people who needed to extend their Chinese driving licence. The process is completely legal, reasonable, open, transparent, and well-documented. Since its establishment, the association has actively promoted the integration of British Chinese into mainstream British society by assisting members in gatherings with British political and business people, and has won unanimous praise from all walks of life in the UK. However, these reasonable and legal activities of the UK Fujianese Association have been slandered by some media people and organisations with ulterior motives as having special political purposes. The association firmly denies this.

The UK Fujianese Association hereby solemnly declares:

All activities of the UK Fujianese Association fully abide by British laws and the social values of freedom and democracy.All activities of the UK Fujianese Association have always been aimed at serving members and benefiting the British Chinese, and serve no other political purpose.

The UK Fujianese association requests The Times and other media platforms who have made false statements against its members to delete all these fake reports and publicly apologise to the UK Fujianese Association and its members. The association reserves the right to further pursue legal responsibilities.

The Fujianese Association appeals to all Chinese compatriots in the UK to unite and resist these false reports targeting the British Chinese community in the UK. These reports not only severely damage the reputation of the members of the UK Fujianese Association, but also harm the image of the British Chinese community. Recently, similar attacks have taken place against the Chinese community in society, reflecting the risk of "racial antagonism" against the Chinese in the UK as a result of all these malicious rumours. Our aim is not only to demand equal treatment and respect for ourselves but also to ensure that our future generations can grow up in a safe and healthy environment and take more social responsibility for British society.

Full statement:

1. The UK Fujianese Association is a legally and publicly registered non-profit society in the UK. Since its establishment, the association has strictly abided by British laws and supported British social democracy and freedom. All members are legal residents or citizens of the United Kingdom. Since the establishment of the association, our members and many fellow Fujianese have upheld the "Fujianese business spirit", created a large number of job opportunities in the UK, and actively promoted the development of the British economy. In addition, we have provided convenience measures for British Chinese to support new and old immigrants to help them adapt to life in the UK. Moreover, we have actively encouraged Fujianese in Britain to integrate into mainstream British society, providing a platform for exchanges with British political and business circles, and speak out for legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese community in Britain.

In the initial stages of the pandemic, when masks were out of stock, we provided over 200,000 masks to Chinese residents in Britain at no cost. Additionally, when several towns people succumbed to Covid-19, members of the Fujianese association funded and aided in the cremation and repatriation of the ashes of 14 of their towns people, bearing the expenses on the towns people ' behalf first. These notable efforts by the UK Fujianese Association for the British Chinese community have been widely recognized and endorsed by all sectors of British society.

When flights between the UK and China were suspended due to the pandemic, many British residents and citizens from Fuzhou City faced the problem of their driving licence being revoked since they could not travel to China to renew their domestic driving licence. To help these towns people, the UK Fujianese Association provided free venues on the premise of confirming that it did not violate British laws and regulations, and assisted towns people to contact the Chinese domestic driving licence service department to solve this problem. During this process, the UK Fujianese Association and its members did not charge any fees, did not accept any gifts, and acted with a pure heart of serving the community and gained unanimous praise from towns people. The process of these cases is clear, open and transparent. All contacts are reasonable and legal. However, starting from 2022, certain organisations and journalists with undisclosed political purposes began to hype the so-called "overseas police service stations", using media advantage to make false reports and baseless accusations against the Fujianese Association, even implying that our members monitored and tracked the behaviour of others. The UK Fujianese Association firmly denies these media rumours. These malicious reports have not only harmed the reputation of our association, they also have hurt the feelings of our volunteers serving the towns people, and even risked inciting racial antagonism.

The UK Fujianese Association hereby solemnly declares:

All activities of the UK Fujianese Association have no political purpose and serve only to provide convenience and services to its members.All activities of the Fujianese Association of the United Kingdom are explicit and transparent, in full compliance with British laws and regulations, and can withstand any inspection.For many years, the UK Fujianese Association has been committed to promoting the integration of British Chinese into mainstream British society, improving the social status of British Chinese, and speaking out for the legitimate rights and interests of British Chinese through open and legal channels. To this end, the association has invited members to participate in public gatherings with British political and business figures many times, hoping to improve the reputation of the Chinese community in mainstream British society, and seek a better life and development for the Chinese and their descendants in the UK. The event has received unanimous praise and affirmation from members and the British political and business circles, people have expressed Britain needs the diverse voices of the Chinese community. However, recently, “The Times” and some British media used some photos and out-of-context news reports to insinuate that these activities had "special political purposes" through the way of hyping the head of the association. In this regard, the Fujianese Association of the United Kingdom solemnly declares:All such activities participated by members of the UK Fujianese Association are public activities, which are voluntarily signed up by members, and all participants have legal status in the UK.The purpose of the UK Fujianese Association to assist members to participate in such activities is only to promote the integration of the Chinese community into the mainstream of British society and to enhance the cultural tolerance of British society. There is no other political purpose.The UK Fujianese Association hereby appeals to the Chinese compatriots in the UK to stop being silent and unite to resist the false reports and rumours of these news media or biassed self-media. These reports are not only a serious blow to the reputation of the members of the UK Fujianese Association, but can also have a serious impact on the image of the British Chinese community, and even have the risk of causing "racial antagonism". This kind of risk will not only have a negative impact on Chinese businesses, but it is more likely to "block" the way for future Chinese generations born in the UK to participate in politics and become a member of mainstream British society. The British Chinese have left our homes and travelled a long journey to Britain, not only to obtain a better life for ourselves, but also to hope that our future generations can grow up healthily and happily in this land, achieve their life dreams, and become a British society member. However, if we ignore the repercussions of these false reports/rumours on the British Chinese community, it will not only seriously affect the image of our Chinese community, but also have an unpredictable negative impact on the development of our Chinese generations in the future. Therefore, the UK Fujianese Association calls for:All UK Chinese compatriots to boycott the politically biassed reports of these news media, and do not believe or spread rumours.All UK Chinese compatriots shall unite and support the action of the UK Fujianese Association to defend the image of the Chinese community through legal means.In response to the behaviour of The Times and some media ignoring the long-term contribution of the UK Fujianese Association to British society and misreporting its members, we make the following appeals:Delete all false reports.Publicly apologise to the UK Fujianese Association and its members.The UK Fujianese Association will reserve the right to pursue legal responsibility.

Finally, the UK Fujianese Association sincerely thanks people from all walks of life in the UK for their trust and great support to the UK Fujianese Association during this period. The UK Fujianese Association will continue to speak out for the Chinese community in the UK, assist in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese in the UK, and continue to encourage members to contribute to British society.

Hereby declare

UK Fujianese Association

April 29, 2023