The belief that downplaying Beijing’s human rights abuses would lead to reforms in China has not only validated the Chinese Communist Party’s approach against faith groups such as Falun Gong, but has also given it license it to repeat the atrocities, a paper from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) says. “Successive Canadian governments, and others around the world, have convinced themselves that soft-pedaling on atrocities would somehow encourage reforms in China. Instead, the machinery of oppression that was built to crush the Falun Gong has metastasized, becoming a permanent feature of Communist Party’s governance apparatus,” said renowned Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas and human rights expert Caylan Ford in their paper “Keeping Our Eyes Open to China’s Machinery of Repression.” Published by MLI on Dec. 10, the paper notes that politicians have taken the easier path when confronted with issues regarding Falun Gong. “For diplomats seeking to advance complex and multi-faceted agendas …