08/18/01

More than two years ago, China set out to crush the Falun Gong spiritual movement. [...] Most outside observers believe the danger Beijing perceives is that the nonviolent Falun Gong is independent of the Communist Party and thus a threat to its monopoly on power.

President Jiang Zemin's campaign against the Falun Gong initially had little success. Many local officials did not share Beijing's alarm and ignored directives to harass Falun Gong practitioners. [...]

And war it has been. As the Post detailed, Beijing uses torture, propaganda and brain-washing to attack the Falun Gong. Falun Gong followers say they have been subjected to beatings, electric shocks and physical pressures such as being forced to squat on the floor for days at a time. The organization claims that more than 250 members have died in custody since the crackdown began.

Beatings are typically followed by brain-washing. At "re-education" camps, adherents to the movement are bombarded with attacks on the teachings of Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi. These sessions last until members renounce Li with sufficient fervor to satisfy their captors.

Finally, in order to isolate the Falun Gong from mainstream society, popular media now regularly attack the group. After five purported Falun Gong members, including a 12-year-old girl, set themselves on fire in a Tiananmen Square protest Jan. 23, state television broadcast footage of the self-immolations daily for weeks. Local officials must display a "proper attitude" toward Falun Gong to be promoted.

One government adviser told the Post that the campaign against the Falun Gong is a synthesis of what Beijing has learned in 52 years of repression. Physical fear, pervasive propaganda and a strong element of a "re-education" are each critical. "You need all three," the adviser said. "That's what they've figured out."

The United States and other countries have protested the crackdown, adding it to the lengthy list of China's human rights abuses. But Jiang and his inner circle insist those complaints are off base. Adopting western-style democracy would plunge China into chaos, Jiang told the New York Times last week. "Should that happen," he said, "it will not be conducive to world peace and stability."

No one wants to see rampant disorder in a land of 1.2 billion people. But neither should China expect silence or indifference when it embarks on its persecutions.

As much as we may want to see rapid expansion of trade and other ties with China, America must not stand by wordlessly while Falun Gong adherents are tortured, while Christians and other religious groups are harassed, or while scholars are jailed or expelled on specious charges of espionage.