Reuters: Falun Gong Calls for Talks With Chinese Government

Monday April 24 5:24 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Spiritual movement Falun Gong on Monday called for a "peaceful dialogue" with the Chinese government even as Beijing prepared for the first anniversary of a mass protest that sparked its crackdown on the group.

Scores of police mobilized in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and detained at least a dozen protesting Falun Gong members on Monday, the eve of the first anniversary of a mass sit-in that prompted the Communist Party to ban the movement.

"We reiterate our call for a peaceful dialogue with the Chinese Government, and ask for the support of all good people and institutions around the world," the movement, a synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and meditation, said in an e-mail to the media.

"A peaceful resolution would benefit not only practitioners, but also the entire people of China and their government," the statement said. On April 25, 1999 about 10,000 Falun Gong members surrounded Beijing's Zhongnanhai leadership compound in a protest to seek official recognition of the movement.

The size and the organization of the peaceful sit-in unnerved the government, which labeled Falun Gong an "evil cult." It then set out to discredit the movement and remove followers from factories, state organizations and schools.

Falun Gong, which claims between 70 million to 100 million adherents worldwide, has said that Chinese authorities have arrested and detained over 35,000 practitioners. Another 5,000 were sent to labor camps, it said, while others were sentenced to up to 18 years in prison after show trials.

Beijing has blamed Falun Gong for causing 1,500 deaths by either suicide or by refusing medical care. The government says that fewer than 100 adherents have been jailed.

"While a growing number of international organizations and governments have been unequivocal in their criticism of China's actions, there appears no end in sight to the persecution," Falun Gong said in the statement.

Beijing has said the sympathy the group has garnered outside of China is a sign that the movement is a tool of foreign forces aimed at destabilizing China.

Falun Gong reiterated its stance that it is apolitical.

"Falun Gong practitioners have no political interests whatsoever. They merely strive to cultivate 'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance' in daily life, while their qigong exercises give them desired health," the statement said.

"Practitioners are good, law-abiding citizens from all walks of life."