Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong
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P.R.C. PRESIDENT'S TIRADE LEADS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS ABILITY TO RULE
BEIJING (Far Eastern Economic Review, Nov. 6): "I AM ANGRY." Those words, spoken by China's President Jiang Zemin at the end of a tirade against Hong Kong's press corps on October 27, reveal a lot about Jiang and the pressures he's facing during one of the toughest periods of his 11 years in office. The occasion was a meeting between Jiang and Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing. Reporters threw out questions to Jiang during a photo call and got an earful of presidential spleen in return. Jabbing his fingers in anger and stammering in a jumble of Mandarin, Cantonese and English, Jiang let loose for five minutes on the shortcomings of Hong Kong reporters, calling them "simple," "inexperienced" and "naive." His remarks caused a predictable furore in Hong Kong, where they were seen as a threat to press freedom in the territory. But the outburst may have even bigger repercussions in the murky world of dynastic politics in Zhongnanhai itself. Jiang's cameras-rolling temper tantrum was a stunning breach of expected behaviour for the head of state of any country. That could weaken his standing with liberal elements in the Chinese Communist Party that are grouped around reformist Premier Zhu Rongji. They increasingly see Jiang and his stiff and equally imperious successor-to-be, Hu Jintao, as unsuited to projecting an open image of China for the new century. That image is critical to everything from the country's bid to host the 2008 Olympics to attempts to allay fears of its growing military and political clout in Asia. "It is hard for the outside world to accept this kind of outburst from a senior Chinese leader," says Liu Junning, former deputy director of politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Jiang has shown by this action that he cannot properly handle public relations." The eruption wasn't reported in China. But news of it spread rapidly around the country through the Internet and Hong Kong and Taiwan television. Government officials say it caused "disgust and embarrassment." "Many believe that Jiang is no longer suitable for projecting a positive image for China abroad," says a mid-level bureaucrat in the central government in Beijing who's a supporter of Premier Zhu. ...the outburst may reflect a man under grave pressure and insecure about his future. Jiang is known to be infuriated by the continuing protests of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which stages almost daily demonstrations in Tiananmen Square despite a 15-month-old ban on its activities. Jiang personally ordered the crackdown, while Zhu is believed to have favoured a more kid-gloves approach. Jiang is also believed to be under growing pressure in factional political battles. At an early-October party plenum, he failed to promote his aide-de-camp, Zeng Qinghong, to full membership of the politburo, three years after making him an alternate member of the cabinet-like body. The appointment was intended to place another Jiang supporter on the 21-member body as it begins discussions on the succession to Jiang in 2002.
TEN IMPRISONED IN CHINA FOR BOOKS
BEIJING (AP, Nov. 2) -- Chinese courts sentenced 10 people to prison Thursday for illegally printing and selling books. One defendant received a life term for dealing in publications for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. The 10, convicted in the southern city of Guangzhou, received sentences ranging from five years to life for illegal business activities and producing obscene materials, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. The government strictly regulates publishing in an effort to prevent materials deemed subversive, pornographic or threatening to Communist Party rule from reaching China's book markets. In a crackdown this year, party censors temporarily shut down at least 13 publishers and closed another Officials have seized millions of books used by followers of Falun Gong since the [group] was banned as a threat to party rule in July 1999. Falun Gong publications were among nearly 4.95 million illegal books printed by two of those sentenced in Guangzhou, Liang Jiantian and Liu Jingsong, Xinhua said. Liang was sentenced to life imprisonment and Liu was given a 20-year term, both on charges of manufacturing obscene materials and conducting an illegal business, Xinhua said.
"TAIWAN EMBRACES THE SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT THAT TERRIFIES PEKING"
Taiwan [The Independent (UK), Oct. 27] ...Ironically, the Chinese crackdown has pushed membership of the Taiwan Falun Gong Research Society to new heights. The Taiwanese branch, run by Tsao Huei-Ling and her husband, now has 30,000 members. While Peking wages war on the "evil sect" it accuses of subversion, Taipei happily condones the activities of the Falun Gong faithful...Believers are undisturbed as they perform their slow-motion exercises. The memorial hall that looms over their daily ritual houses not Chairman Mao, but an exhibition to his arch enemy Chiang Kai-shek. "I thought Falun Gong must be good after I saw television news of the mainland authorities arresting people in Tiananmen," said Han Lee-chuan, who comes to Taipei's Forest Park to meditate with a group ranging from students to great-grandmothers. Ms. Tsao said the Chinese government "has created trouble for itself" with the crackdown, under which thousands have been imprisoned. "We are not plotting to overthrow the Communist Party, that's ridiculous. Falun Gong practitioners should not be concerned with politics. But unlike their mainland cousins, the 23 million citizens of Taiwan are somewhat spoilt for choice. "There is religious freedom here," said Huang Ke-chang, director of Taiwan's Religious Affairs Department. "More than 11 million people follow one of 16 different religions. "As long as people obey the law, they can believe what they like. But we don't even think of Falun Gong as a religion. They registered as a sports organisation, and we have had no trouble from them," said Mr. Huang.
P.R.C. 'ATHEISM ASSOCIATION' CRITICIZES FALUN GONG; OTHERS SAY THE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE
Radio Free Asia (Nov. 1, translated and excerpted): PRC state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that China's 'Atheism Association' held a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday at which the Chairman Ren Jiyu, the head librarian of the official Library of China, claimed that 'Falun Gong is promoting feudal superstition and violates the spirit of science, and also obstructs legal religious activities.' However, Falun Gong spokesperson Erping Zhang said that whether one believes in theism or atheism, the people of China should have the right to make the choice. The president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C, Mrs. Diane L. Knippers, agreed that it should be up to the people themselves to decide. She added: "What's ironic is that the Chinese government is trying to use this promotion of 'Science' to show that it is modern and civilized. But not allowing the people to have the right to freedom of faith precisely reveals that it is still a backward, totalitarian government that lacks a modern and civilized spirit." Mrs. Knippers added that the promotion of atheism cannot fill the China's moral vacuum, nor is it the cure for the nation's crisis of faith. [Editor's note: Atheism is the official stance of the Chinese Communist Party].
POLICE MALTREATMENT BLAMED FOR MORE DEATHS
BEIJING (The Age, October 31) Three more followers of China's Falun Gong spiritual movement have died in detention, one as a result of police maltreatment, a member of the banned group says. The three were from the area of the north-eastern city of Dalian, a Falun Gong hotbed. A 54-year-old chemical worker died soon after being taken into custody on October 16, said the Falun Gong member. In the second case, a man, 50, died in early August, hours after being released from 12 days of detention. The third fatality, a woman, 64, was detained on July 22, and died of a heart attack nine days later. Since Falun Gong was banned last year, 59 members have died in custody, says the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, which has not included the three Dalian cases in its count.
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