Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee turned down an invitation to have a face-to-face debate with a leading local Falun Gong member in an open forum, it has emerged. She refused the invitation because she was very busy, her spokeswoman said.

"Mrs Ip has definitely not been trying to avoid contact with Falun Gong, but she is booked up with appointments until September," she said.

The [group]has long called for direct dialogue with senior officials, including Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said last month it was appropriate for low-level officials to have "quiet chats" with the [group].

The forum - entitled "Falun Gong: Legitimate target or innocent breathers?" - is to be hosted by the Foreign Correspondents' Club tomorrow. The [group]'s local spokesman Kan Hung-cheung is on the list of guest speakers.

But Thomas Crampton, a correspondent member and governor of the club, who is in charge of the forum, said Mrs Ip's office has snubbed the invitation deliberately.

"Her office said the Government's position on the matter is clear enough so she would not be attending," he said.

He said he had offered to change the date to suit Mrs Ip's schedule and asked whether another official from the Security Bureau could attend. But Mrs Ip's aides told him they would send him information outlining the Government position on the matter instead.

Mrs Ip's spokeswoman said it was already too late when the bureau received the invitation last Monday.

She said no other senior officials in the bureau were suitable to attend, since Raymond Wong Hung-chiu, Mrs Ip's deputy, is to become Commissioner of Customs and Excise from today.

The spokeswoman said another Deputy Secretary, Timothy Tong Hin-ming, had no experience of dealing with Falun Gong and the bureau considered it to be "impolite" to send junior officials.

"The problem was that we could not tell Mr Crampton about the arrangement because that would have pre-empted the announcement of Mr Wong's new appointment, which was made on Wednesday," she said.

"If similar events are held in the future we will definitely consider whether to attend," the spokeswoman said.

Fiona Ching, a spokeswoman for Falun Gong's local branch, said Mrs Ip was making excuses to avoid direct contact with the group.

Other guest speakers include Father Stephen Chan Mun-hung, ecclesiastical adviser to the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese.

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