They also stated that they would never give up practicing Falun Gong. The Chinese Embassy in Britain has never done anything like this before. Even babies born to well known Chinese dissidents living in exile have always been granted Chinese passports. In Britain, taking away someone's passport is a serious matter, and it has high potential of escalating into an international diplomatic issue between the two countries. This behavior of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security surprised and angered many Britons.
British society places a lot of emphasis on protecting the rights of minors.
The British government is under pressure from its own citizens to respond to this matter, and they are examining very closely how the Chinese government has spread its persecution of Falun Gong to English soil. At the present time, a large number of Chinese citizens who are staying in Britain illegally are claiming to be Falun Gong practitioners and have applied for political asylum. They are already causing a serious strain on the British social and welfare systems, and the open persecution of British Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese government only adds fuel to the fire. The persecution of Falun Gong is no longer a Chinese problem, but is increasingly turning into an international crisis. The Falun Gong issue is rapidly becoming a more and more sensitive topic of discussion between the Chinese and British governments.