Irish Times: Crackdown on Falun Gong lessens Beijing's chances

Monday, February 19, 2001

CHINA: While Beijing has been busy scrubbing for the visit this week of the International Olympic Committee inspection team, it has been less successful in cleaning up its human rights image.

On the surface, Beijing's preparations for the IOC visit tomorrow have been going well, with thousands of work crews on duty around the clock, painting railings, cleaning roads and putting up elaborate floral displays on access routes from the airport to the city centre.

But this "spring-cleaning" has failed to shift the one big stumbling block to China securing the Olympic Games for 2008 - its poor human rights record and the further tarnishing of it in recent weeks by the crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Since five alleged Falun Gong members (alleged by Xinhua news report, no independent confirmation) set themselves alight in Tiananmen Square on the eve of the Lunar New Year on January 23rd, the authorities have launched a propaganda war against the banned [group].

The state-controlled media have run news items and editorials on a daily basis denouncing Falun Gong and variously describing the [group] as [Chinese government's slanderous words].

On Friday night the state news agency, Xinhua, claimed that another Falun Gong member had killed himself after setting himself on fire near the homes of leading government officials.

The state newspaper, the People's Daily, said on Saturday the latest suicide showed [Chinese government's slanderous words].

In a statement, Falun Gong said it could not verify if the man killed on Friday was a member. "We are extremely sad and shocked to hear (of) the death of a Chinese citizen who was said to have set fire to himself in Beijing. So far, we have no way to verify this person's background." An incident like this during the visit of the IOC from tomorrow to Saturday is the last thing China wants.

A political scientist in Barnard College in the US, Prof Lu Xiaobo, recently described the struggle between the Chinese Communist Party and Falun Gong as "a giant fighting a ghost".

Security has already been tightened in Beijing, and in particular in Tiananmen Square, in recent days in case of further Falun Gong attacks this week.

Images of Beijing police kicking and punching Falun Gong protesters in Tiananmen Square over the last 18 months have renewed criticism of China's human rights record.

Beijing narrowly lost out to Sydney in a 1993 vote in the race to stage the 2000 games, in part because of its human rights record, with memories of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre still fresh in the mind.

Some say China should not host the 2008 games unless it pledges to improve civil liberties, a view taken by Chinese dissidents and critics from several Western countries.

Meanwhile, Beijing continues its relentless onslaught against Falun Gong. [...].

Falun Gong was banned in July 1999 after demanding official recognition from the Chinese authorities. Falun Gong is based on [...] traditional Chinese meditation and exercises. It says it is a non-political movement aimed only at improving people's physical and mental well-being.

Falun Gong claims more than 100 of its members have died while in detention. China has confirmed deaths of Falun Gong members in custody but says these deaths were due to suicide or illness.

The pressure on China in relation to Falun Gong is likely to mount, with the Bush administration talking about sponsoring a UN resolution condemning China on human rights next month. Administration officials were quoted at the weekend as saying that a decision to present the resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission is imminent.