(Clearwisdom.net) Seldom does a court case afford such a clear choice. Seldom do we observe such black-and-white morality in a shades-of-gray world. In the case of the Hong Kong police against 16 Falun Gong practitioners who allegedly caused obstruction by their small and peaceful appeal in front of Hong Kong's Chinese Liaison Office, we can see without hindrance or blurring, the contrast of opposing people and principles.

Not so immediately apparent, but deserving our sober attention, is what this trial actually represents for Hong Kong and why those who live in Hong Kong, those who do business in Hong Kong, and those who care about the future of morality, all should care about this case.

A reasonable person can conclude that the case against the 16 Falun Gong practitioners should have been dismissed on its merits long ago. The practitioners are charged with obstruction and attacking police last March, when it was actually the police who obstructed and attacked, as eyewitness reports and video footage of the event reveal.

This trial is difficult for the lives of the 12 Hong Kong residents and four Swiss citizens, difficult for their families and friends.

However, this is not a simple case of police making false accusations. Perceptive observers understand this as a significant test case for the "One Country, Two Systems" under which Hong Kong is supposed to be governed for 45 more years. Pressure from Jiang Zemin to restrict Falun Gong in Hong Kong is here bending and distorting the legacy freedoms and legal system. Political pressure is hastening the crumbling of the agreement; Rule by Fiat is eclipsing Rule of Law.

So what is the result of this? If you're not politically connected, you're not protected by the law. Your business will be subject to arbitrary penalties, your property to random seizure, your personal freedoms to capricious cancellation. In such a society, even if you're on the right side today, you might be on the very wrong side tomorrow.

Catering to and appeasing a dictator is not the formula for long-term prosperity. Inviting Jiang's campaign of injustice against people such as this, through the current trial, is sure to leave a dark stain on the pages of Hong Kong's history and will damage Hong Kong's image internationally. The loss of the Rule of Law will bring social instability, investments being shifted elsewhere, and the disappearance of prosperity. If we remain silent in the face of the Jiang regime's persecution of Falun Gong and the severing of Hong Kong's freedom and justice, then ultimately it is the entire society of Hong Kong that will be hurt.

However, this trial is not just an attack upon Hong Kong's "One country, two systems," it is even more so an infringement upon the universal principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." Yet it should be noted that these 16 individuals were unpaid volunteers making peaceful appeals on behalf of others: the Falun Gong practitioners suffering persecution inside China. These people were appealing with conscience and from the heart. The 16 individuals on trial, as do all Falun Gong practitioners, strive as a first priority to cultivate values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance in themselves. They stand for these values. It is to this that Jiang is so adamantly opposed.

From observing this trial and from observing the three years of relentless persecution of Falun Gong in China, what is most alarming is what Jiang has chosen to so vehemently oppose.

In Mainland China, these three words--Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance--printed on a cloth and held up in public in Mainland China will get a person arrested and deported (if a foreigner) or beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and possibly killed (if a Chinese national). What kind of political forces would treat three good and righteous words--Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance--as a threatening slogan? What kind of dictator would tremble at the mention of these words or cringe at the sight of yellow clothing emblazoned with the characters representing these principles? In a country of 1.3 billion people, the dictator has ordered the police to deal with people who believe in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" with the policies of "beating them to death doesn't matter" and "after beating them to death just count it as suicide." Isn't this completely ignoring and trampling upon the morality and goodness of people everywhere?

When these sixteen Falun Gong practitioners were protesting the Chinese dictator's slaughter of innocent people and defiling the universal principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," the Hong Kong police -- the so-called protectors of the law who are sustained by taxpayers, carried out violent suppression and made false accusations against these sixteen peaceful, selfless Falun Gong practitioners under the dictator's pressure. Aren't they helping the evil? Aren't they accomplices in the slaughter of innocents? When the Hong Kong courts are carrying out the politically motivated trial against these sixteen innocent Falun Gong practitioners and openly favoring the prosecutors, aren't they desecrating the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" along with the dictator? Aren't they, together with the dictator, making a mockery of morality and goodness of the civilized world?

History is marred with examples of those who have persecuted people of upright beliefs. In all cases, such persecution has not resulted in long-term prosperity. It is hoped that Hong Kong does not follow going the wrong way.

This one court case in Hong Kong will echo loudly when a decision is handed down. For people of rationality and conscience, the issues are clear and the truth is self-evident. For engaged citizens of Hong Kong, to protect the interests and rectitude of the defendants is to protect the interests and rectitude of all. For people everywhere, to protect the right of Falun Gong practitioners to pursue "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" is to protect the bright future of mankind.