Asia briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001

China may charge reporters in Falun Gong immolations

BEIJING -- Chinese police may seek homicide charges against CNN journalists and other foreign reporters who they allege knew in advance that five members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group were going to set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square last month, according to an article published in two state-run newspapers.

The article in the Yangcheng Evening News and the Southern Daily said police will consider charging the reporters with "abetting and assisting other people in committing suicide" if they can prove they were involved in planning the Jan. 23 incident, which left one woman dead and four more people hospitalized in critical condition, including a 12-year-old girl.

It was the latest salvo in the government's escalating campaign to discredit Falun Gong as a dangerous cult supported by "Western anti-China forces" and win support for its 18-month effort to crush it. Graphic footage of the self-immolations, including a shot of the young girl, her face charred black, crying out for her mother, is being broadcast regularly on state television and has stirred popular anger against the sect.

The media blitz comes as Beijing prepares to host a delegation that will evaluate its bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. Protests against China's human rights record helped sink the city's bid for the 2000 Games seven years ago, but Chinese officials say the crackdown on Falun Gong should not be used as an excuse to deny the country again.

"Cults exist in every country," said Liu Jinming, vice mayor of Beijing. "The way governments deal with them differs due to different laws, but resistance against cults is a common practice."

Liu said the U.S. government's deadly 1993 attack on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, didn't affect the Atlanta Games, and the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, took place despite the 1995 gas attack on Tokyo subways by the Aum Shinri Kyo cult.

Chinese officials have expressed frustration with foreign journalists who report on the government's repression of Falun Gong, and the article about the investigation into their role in the self-immolations could be seen as an attempt to intimidate them.

Displayed prominently on many Chinese Internet sites, the report claimed surveillance video showed six or seven reporters from CNN, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse arriving just 10 minutes before the self-immolations took place and positioning themselves near the sect members.

But CNN, AP and AFP denied having any advance knowledge the self-immolations were going to take place. AP and AFP said their reporters weren't even in the square at the time.

Hong Kong leader calls sect an 'evil cult'

HONG KONG -- Echoing Beijing's rhetoric, Hong Kong's chief executive likened the Falun Gong movement Thursday to "an evil cult" and vowed "to keep a close watch" on its members here in the only Chinese city where the group remains legal.

Breaking his silence on the group, Tung Chee Hwa stopped short of saying that he would move to outlaw Falun Gong.

How Hong Kong deals with the group may be the most serious test of the "one country, two systems" doctrine, which promised to preserve Hong Kong's democratic freedoms and "a high degree of autonomy" after the July 1997 transfer from British rule.

Tung made his comments during a question-and-answer session before the local legislature. Two pro-democracy lawmakers challenged him to stand up for freedom, rather than cracking down on a group that has broken no local laws.

Later, Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee questioned Tung's logic. "If you haven't done anything unlawful, why should you be carefully watched by the government?" he asked. Falun Gong has "done nothing wrong. ... If the next day, Tung is pressured by Beijing to ban them, the whole world will know that "one country, two systems' doesn't exist."

By Tung's own admission, Falun Gong activities in Hong Kong have been peaceful and lawful, and the group was allowed to rent a room in City Hall for a two-day conference last month.

But 13 overseas members, including at least one American, were barred from entering the territory for the gathering. Pro-Beijing officials were furious when the group was allowed to carry banners and march to a Chinese government office, effectively campaigning against the Beijing leadership on Chinese soil.

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