BANGKOK, Feb 13, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) China has objected to the Falun Gong spiritual group's plan to hold a meeting of some 500 Thai and overseas practitioners in Bangkok on April 21, the Thai foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Ministry spokesman Pradab Pibulsonggram confirmed reports that Thailand's embassy in Beijing had received a complaint over the planned gathering of the [group], which is banned in China as an "[Chinese government's slanderous word]".

Pradab said Thailand was sympathetic to China's stance, but indicated the government would not prevent the meeting going ahead as long as organizers did not break any laws.

"If all participants are in the country legally and the meeting is not used to stage an attack on China, then there will be no problem," he said.

Pradab said he could not confirm reports that China had made a veiled threat to cut Thai exports if the meeting went ahead, saying that he had not seen the content of the letter to the Beijing embassy.

A spokesman for the Falun Gong movement in Thailand, Noppadol Ekbutr, said the April conference was organized in good faith, and that it would be open to everyone including the press, government officials and the general public.

"The theme of the meeting is to exchange views and experiences among us and we will have nothing to do with politics at all," Noppadol told AFP.

"We are not going to sell tickets or ask those attending to register their names so anyone who interested can come," he added.

Noppadol said there are about 100 Thai Falun Gong followers who hold regular sessions in parks around Bangkok to practice the group's trademark breathing and exercise routines.

He said he expected overseas Falun Gong practitioners to fly in for the meeting, but declined to name which countries they were coming from.

China has recently stepped up its propaganda offensive against the [group], [...].