"Hong Kong watch on sect `needed more' "

("Hong Kong Mail," March 8, 2001)

More attention needs to be paid to the Falun Gong by authorities in Hong Kong than in Macau because the territory's situation is ``more complicated'' than that of the enclave.
That was the message Vice-Premier Qian Qichen gave Hong Kong and Macau members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) yesterday when he showed up at their group discussion.
Mr Qian took the initiative to raise the Falun Gong issue and reminded the delegates that the Central Government had defined the sect as an ``evil cult''.
``Mr Qian compared Hong Kong with Macau, saying Hong Kong is bigger than Macau and has a bigger population, so Hong Kong society is more complicated than that of Macau,'' Hong Kong CPPCC member Ho Sai-chu said.
He said Mr Qian then reminded members that the Central Government hoped the Hong Kong government would pay attention to the sect's activities in Hong Kong, and should not allow it to use the SAR as a base from which to subvert China.
Mr Qian did not, however, compare the handling of the Falun Gong by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's government with that of Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah. He then mentioned Article 23 of the Basic Law which requires the SAR government to enact an anti-subversion law, but he did not say when the government should enact the law, or that the government needed to enact it now.
Mr Ho quoted Mr Qian as saying: ``Article 23 of the Basic Law has written very clearly that such legislation shall need the SAR government to enact it.''
Another Hong Kong CPPCC member, Tommy Wan Tai-min, said Mr Qian was not suggesting that Mr Tung's government speed up its pace in enacting the law even though he mentioned Article 23.
CPPCC Standing Committee member Xu Simin had earlier criticised Mr Tung for being ``wishy-washy'' in handing the sect, and said he should have acted on the issue like Mr Ho's government.
CPPCC vice-chairman Ma Man-kee, who also attended yesterday's discussion, said Mr Qian never compared the two cities' handling of the issue, but stressed that maintaining the stability of the two SARs was the most important thing.
Meanwhile, Mr Tung confirmed yesterday that he had mentioned the Hong Kong Falun Gong to President Jiang Zemin at Monday's meeting, but would not say whether the state leader had pushed him on enacting the anti-subversion law.
Speaking before leaving for Hong Kong, Mr Tung denied he felt pressured when the president said the affairs of Hong Kong were to be handled by Mr Tung but at the same time highlighted the importance of maintaining the stability of a country or a society.
``And, as members of the Chinese nation, we all hope that the society of our country is peaceful, so I don't feel any pressure,'' Mr Tung said.
That was why the SAR government needed to watch closely the sect's activities in Hong Kong, Mr Tung said, adding that while he was in Beijing, he had got to know more about the harm done by the Falun Gong on the mainland. But he would not reveal what he had actually told Mr Jiang about the sect.

"China's Leadership Pushes for Unity"

by Erik Eckholm & Elisabeth Rosenthal ("New York Times," March 8, 2001)

BEIJING - Last month, President Jiang Zemin summoned more than 2,000 top Communist Party officials to Beijing for an extraordinary, closed-door meeting.
At a crucial point in his political life, Mr. Jiang wanted to make sure that the ruling party remained firmly unified on two divisive issues: the campaign to crush the Falun Gong spiritual movement and the correctness of the party's decision to use troops against the 1989 pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
Such a large scale "central work conference" had not been held since 1988, political experts said. The one convened in February reflects the leadership's deep unease about party unity and domestic stability, even as their country emerges as a world power and as Mr. Jiang, who is expected to step down as president and party chief in the next two years, worries about a smooth transition and his own legacy.
Seeking to counter rumors of high- level discord, the seven members of the Standing Committee of the party's Politburo — the men who effectively rule the country — stood up one by one to endorse the anti-Falun Gong campaign as an urgent necessity and to justify the 1989 crackdown, according to two officials who attended separate, detailed briefings on the meeting as part of the leadership's effort to spread the message through party ranks.
The two said they spoke because they had misgivings about the leadership's strategy. "It is very rare to hold this kind of meeting now, and in Beijing," said one of the officials, noting that major issues of party policy and unity are normally dealt with during the leaders' summer retreat at the seaside resort of Beidaihe. "So you know this has to be very, very important to them."
Mr. Jiang warned his audience that Western powers were trying to use the Falun Gong conflict and the memory of Tiananmen to divide the party as it nears pivotal changes in leadership over the next two years, the officials said.
Although Mr. Jiang has pursued friendlier ties with the United States, he appears to harbor deep suspicions about American motives — or, at least, is not above using the "American threat" as a rallying cry to bolster his own position.
The leaders also reportedly expressed concern about anti-China currents within the Bush administration and warned that relations could go through a rough period, especially if the United States sells advanced weapons to Taiwan.
Although no one suggests that the party is in imminent danger of falling from power, it has no overwhelmingly dominant leader like Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping and indications are plentiful that the center is not holding as it once did.
At last month's conference, Mr. Jiang complained that some local leaders had been unenthusiastic about the drive to stamp out Falun Gong, allowing practitioners to go to Beijing where they have held almost daily silent protests in Tiananmen Square. Before the movement was banned as an "evil sect" last year, Falun Gong had attracted millions of ordinary Chinese with its meditative exercises said to bring about good health and spiritual salvation.
Under guidance from a new office in Beijing, each province has set up a team to coordinate the anti-Falun Gong battle using a two-pronged strategy: prison or "re-education" for leaders and recalcitrant members; intense propaganda demonizing the group for everyone else.
But not everyone has been in step: At least one group of police officers, from the northeastern city of Shenyang, has written to the party's main newspaper, the People's Daily, to complain that the government's strategy of harsh repression is not working, a journalist with a state newspaper said. The letter was not printed.
Meanwhile, demonstrations by angry workers and farmers over issues like unpaid pensions, taxes and corruption have become commonplace. Even party stalwarts express amazement at the scale of the official corruption that is emerging from investigations around the country.
Adding to their sense of apprehension, Mr. Jiang and the rest of the leaders are taking what they see as major but necessary political risks in opening the economy further to the pressures of global competition. A temporary surge in unemployment and other dislocations are expected as China joins the World Trade Organization.
The officials said the February meeting was in part an attempt to make sure that Mr. Jiang's policies would be continued by his successors and to demonstrate to all officials that it would be risky to step out of line.
Mr. Jiang and other top leaders made it clear that they hope to crush the defiant Falun Gong movement altogether before the 16th Communist Party Congress, to be held in the fall of 2002, when the transition to new leaders is expected to begin, the official said.
"If this isn't solved by then it opens the possibility of a rift between the old and new leaders and that could be a real threat," one of the officials said.
A central message at the February meeting, the officials said, was that the United States and other Western powers are trying to use the Falun Gong issue and memories of the violent 1989 crackdown to drive a wedge between the current, aging leaders and their potential successors, who might find it to their political advantage to break with unpopular policies.
The recent publication in the United States of "The Tiananmen Papers," said to be secret records of leaders' deliberations as they decided to use military force to halt the demonstrations, was cited by Mr. Jiang and other top leaders at the meeting as a deliberate Western effort to split the party, the officials said.
The book of transcripts was published in English in January and has not been widely seen here outside elite and scholarly circles. Government officials have tried to dismiss it as a fabrication, though many experts here and abroad say the documents appear to be genuine.
The papers will soon be published outside mainland China in the original Chinese, which is likely to lead to much broader circulation and discussion here via the Internet and contraband copies. While the transcripts provide no explosive revelations they provide potentially embarrassing details about the roles in the 1989 crackdown of current leaders such as Li Peng, the former prime minister who now ranks No. 2 in the party and is chairman of the National People's Congress, or Parliament. And they describe Mr. Jiang's accession to party leadership that year as having been personally engineered by Deng Xiaoping, even though Deng, the most respected figure in Chinese politics then, lacked the formal authority to do this.
"The spirit of the meeting," said one official, "was that although Falun Gong and the Tiananmen papers are threats to the party in their own right, both are also symptoms of renewed efforts in the West to undermine the Communist Party and, in particular, to sabotage preparations for the 16th Party Congress."
The official added, "The leaders asserted that Falun Gong has become a tool of hostile Western forces, directly nurtured and protected by, among others, the C.I.A."
As for the Tiananmen papers, the leaders reportedly said that "although the book is in itself inconsequential, it is a sign of stepped-up Western efforts to destabilize China and sow division within the party."
The unusual gathering in February of a central work conference was featured at the time in the state-run press as an important meeting, but the specific topics were not disclosed beyond vague calls for unity and support for Mr. Jiang's opaque refinements of ideology. It was attended by all senior central officials, top party leaders from each province and leaders of the military, the judiciary and government ministries.
After the meeting, senior officials fanned out to brief party organizations and government agencies about the message.
This week, thousands of Chinese officials are gathered in Beijing for the annual 10-day session of the National People's Congress, which has been devoted mainly to announcing the government's economic plans. Bold political initiatives appear to be on hold as the leaders scramble behind closed doors to influence the scheduled change in the country's top three positions over the coming two years.
Mr. Jiang, 74, is expected to step down as party secretary at the party congress next fall after serving since 1989, though there is speculation that he will try to keep another senior post and hopes to run the country behind the scenes. He will remain president until his term expires in spring 2003.
At that time, Li Peng, 72, is expected to retire from his major party and parliamentary posts and the No. 3 leader, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, 72 is also scheduled to step down, as are several other senior leaders who have reached or passed the age of 70.
Party members and diplomats widely assume that the youngest member of the Standing Committee, Vice President Hu Jintao, 58, will succeed Mr. Jiang as party general secretary and then as president. But the politics and process of the succession are known only to a small circle.
Mr. Hu, former chief of the Communist Youth League and party chief of two provinces, has kept a relatively low profile during his rise to power. Western diplomats, who have rarely even met the man, call him a "political cypher."
He is widely believed to have been designated in the early 1990's by Deng Xiaoping, as the best successor to Mr. Jiang's generation. There have been no open signs of discord between Mr. Hu and Mr. Jiang, but his rise through the ranks did not depend on Mr. Jiang's patronage, either.
The struggle to eradicate Falun Gong and discredit its leader in exile, Li Hongzhi, was set off in 1999 after 10,000 followers held an illegal vigil outside the leadership compound in Beijing, calling for official recognition. It has been a messy and unpleasant campaign involving intense, crude propaganda and the detention of tens of thousands of otherwise law- abiding citizens, leaving many Chinese feeling uneasy.
Mr. Jiang and other leaders appear worried that if the struggle against Falun Gong drags on too long it could, in fact, cause divisions at the top.
Mr. Jiang is also worried about his historical legacy and if he steps down without resolving the bitter conflict, his reputation may suffer.

"China's military offers 'contributions'"

by Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN, March 8, 2001)

HONG KONG, China -- Senior generals have vowed to make major contributions to building the economy and maintaining the Communist Party's "absolute authority."
Various People's Liberation Army officers have talked to the state media after Beijing on Tuesday announced a whopping 17.7 per cent budget boost for the 2.5 million-strong army.
Speaking at the fringe of the National People's Congress (NPC), Chief of the General Logistics Department General Wang Ke said the PLA would "self-consciously serve the larger goal of national economic construction."
"We shall fully develop the superior conditions of the logistics department and take part in the development of the western regions," said Wang, referring to Beijing's ambitious program to jump-start the economies of 11 backward provinces and regions.
"We shall make new contributions to the nation's economic construction."
Added General Tan Huasheng, a vice-commander of the Sichuan Military District: "The troops are duty-bound to take part in and help the develop-the-west scheme. It will help maintain the unity of different nationalities."
In his speech to PLA deputies to the NPC, Chief of Staff General Fu Quanyou pledged that the military forces would remain under the "absolute leadership" of the party.
The official Liberation Army Daily quoted Fu as saying "the nature [of the PLA] will never deteriorate." This is a reference to the possibility that the army may be corrupted by commercialism as well as ideas from the West.
General Fu indicated the army had a role to play in "safeguarding the leadership authority of the party." The top general also talked at length on what the army could do in fighting the Falun Gong sect and underground criminal gangs as well as in thwarting separatist movements in Tibet and Xinjiang.
A strong army
Western military experts said apart from strategic reasons such as Taiwan, the leadership of President Jiang Zemin needed a strong army to maintain internal order and to buttress the party's authority.
"Jiang has to satisfy the top brass' demands for a bigger budget in return for securing the political support of the army," a Western military analyst said.
"While the PLA has helped the national economy in areas such as infrastructure building, the army has also benefited from civilian sectors, particularly hi-tech research and development."
Army sources in Beijing said Jiang had poured more resources into the para-military People's Armed Police (PAP), which is instrumental in maintaining law and order in the cities.
However, there was no mention of the budget for the PAP in Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng's report to the NPC.

"Falun Gong leader calls China crackdown futile"

by Paul Eckert (Reuters, March 7, 2001)

BEIJING - The Falun Gong spiritual group posted a defiant message from its exiled leader on its Website on Wednesday warning China that its long crackdown would fail to break the faith of "true cultivators".
The message by Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi, titled "Coercion Cannot Change People's Hearts" and carried on the website (www.clearwisdom.net), appeared to urge Falun Gong adherents not to bow to China's ruthless 19-month crackdown.
"Never in history has someone who persecuted those with upright faiths ever succeeded," the message said.
"Although many people have been beaten to death, beaten to disability, or sent to mental hospitals, this has not changed true cultivators' steadfast, righteous thoughts," it said.
Casting doubt on China's official assertion that 98 percent of Falun Gong followers had left the group, Li wrote that those who had recanted would "declare as null and void everything that they said and wrote when they were not in their right minds due to intense persecution".
Earlier on Wednesday, the official Beijing Evening News quoted a leading figure in Beijing's fight against Falun Gong as alleging that the U.S. Congress had given millions of dollars to "professional Falun Gong" who kept up protests against Beijing.
"Hard-core members are professional Falun Gong," the newspaper quoted physicist He Zuoxiu as telling a meeting of scientists on the sidelines of China's parliament on Tuesday.
"Why do I call them professionals? Because someone gives them a salary. According to my understanding, the U.S. Congress donated several tens of millions of dollars to Falun Gong...for ulterior motives," he was quoted as saying.
"TOOL" OF HOSTILE FORCES
His remarks were made to the science panel of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body to China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC).
Beijing has long branded the spiritual group it banned as an "evil cult" in 1999 a weapon of Western countries hostile to China's Communist government.
Premier Zhu Rongji told the NPC when it opened its annual two week session on Monday that Falun Gong was a "cult which has become a tool for domestic and overseas forces hostile to our socialist government".
But U.S. officials in Beijing said they had never heard any allegations of American funding for Falun Gong. Li Hongzhi lives in the United States, where the group's Website is run.
He, a member of the China Academy of Sciences and a science delegate to the CPPCC, is famous in China as a crusader against supernatural and pseudo-scientific beliefs that have sprouted as the country shed its traditional communist ideology.
The professor played a pivotal role in China's decision to ban Falun Gong.
It was partly He's criticisms of Falun Gong in an obscure journal that prompted 10,000 protesting members of the group to ring the Communist Party's compound in Zhongnanhai in central Beijing on April 25, 1999.
Since Falun Gong was banned, tens of thousands of followers have been detained for protesting in Tiananmen Square. Human rights groups say thousands of members are in labour camps and that more than 100 have died of abuse in police custody.
China says it has arrested more than 150 Falun Gong protest organisers but authorities deny allegations of abuse, saying they treat ordinary followers with lenience.

"You deal with `evil cult', Jiang tells Tung "

by Carmen Cheung ("Hong Kong Mail," March 7, 2001)

President Jiang Zemin reminded Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa yesterday that the Falun Gong was an ``evil cult'' and stressed the importance of ``stability'', but added that he would let Mr Tung deal with the sect in Hong Kong.
The president made the remarks during a photo-call yesterday before his meeting with Mr Tung. When asked whether the sect should be banned in Hong Kong, Mr Jiang said: ``Let me tell you here clearly, Falun Gong is an evil cult. While it's Hong Kong affairs, let Mr Tung handle [it].''
Mr Jiang then stressed the importance of stability before the pair went off for a one-hour meeting in Zhongnanhai.
NPC local deputies drew different messages from Premier Zhu Rongji's remarks on the Falun Gong in his report to the congress yesterday.
Deputy Ma Lik said Mr Zhu had set a more serious tone on the issue and predicted tougher measures would be adopted while Allen Lee Pei-fei and Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai highlighted Beijing's hands-off approach to SAR affairs.
Mr Zhu said: ``We need to continue our campaign against the Falun Gong cult, and further expose and condemn the anti-human, anti-social and anti-science nature of the cult, which had become a tool for domestic and overseas forces hostile to our socialist government.''
The premier added the government needed to mete out ``severe punishment'' to the small number of criminals involved while making unremitting efforts to unite, educate and rescue the vast majority of people who had been taken in.
Mr Ma said he felt that Mr Zhu's remarks had raised the stakes, categorising the cult as a national security threat.
``It reflects that in the eyes of the Central Government, Falun Gong is not just an evil cult, but the seriousness has been escalated to a threat to national security,'' Mr Ma said.
Mr Ma denied that the ``one-country, two-systems'' policy in the territory was being interfered with.``When things are regarding the interest of the whole country, the `two systems' we are talking about is under `one country','' he added. Mr Ma said it was ``sensible'' for Mr Zhu to not mention the sect in Hong Kong in his address because Falun Gong was an issue for the whole country. Mr Lee downplayed the significance of the mentioning of the sect in the premier's report.
``I do think that the Hong Kong press is very concerned about whether there is Falun Gong [in the report],'' Mr Lee said. ``But his mentioning it is really nothing here, not very much in the political arena.''Mrs Fan said Mr Zhu was just restating the Central Government's position on the issue. ``It came out in the sense, in a very positive way because it was under the context that the people's freedom of religion would have to be protected,'' Mrs Fan said. She also agreed with Mr Zhu's not mentioning the sect in Hong Kong, saying it was a show of respect to the ``one-country, two-systems'' policy.

"China scientist alleges Falun Gong got U.S. cash"

(Reuters, March 7, 2001)

BEIJING - An elderly Chinese physicist and leading figure in Beijing's fight against Falun Gong has alleged that the U.S. Congress gave millions of dollars to the outlawed spiritual movement, state media said on Wednesday.
The Beijing Evening News quoted He Zuoxiu as telling a meeting of scientists on the sidelines of China's parliament session that Congress had given "tens of millions of dollars" to support activities of Falun Gong.
"Hard-core members are professional Falun Gong," the newspaper quoted He as telling the science panel of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body to the Chinese parliament, on Tuesday.
"Why do I call them professionals? Because someone gives them a salary. According to my understanding, the U.S. Congress donated several tens of millions of dollars to Falun Gong for activity funds out of ulterior motives," He was quoted as saying.
Beijing has long branded the spiritual group it banned as an "evil cult" in 1999 a weapon of Western countries hostile to China's Communist government.
Premier Zhu Rongji told the National People's Congress, or parliament, on Monday that Falun Gong was a "cult which has become a tool for domestic and overseas forces hostile to our socialist government."
But U.S. officials in Beijing said they had never heard any allegations of American funding for Falun Gong, whose leader Li Hongzhi lives in exile in the United States.
He, a member of the China Academy of Sciences and a science delegate to the CPPCC, is famous in China as a crusader against supernatural and pseudo-scientific beliefs that have sprouted as the country shed its traditional communist ideology.
The professor played a pivotal role in China's decision to ban Falun Gong.
It was partly He's criticisms of Falun Gong in an obscure journal that prompted 10,000 protesting members of the group to ring the Communist Party's compound in Zhongnanhai in central Beijing on April 25, 1999.
Since Falun Gong was banned, tens of thousands of followers have been detained for protesting in Tiananmen Square. Human rights groups say thousands of members are in labour camps and more than 100 have died of abuse in police custody.
China says it has arrested more than 150 protest organisers but authorities deny allegations of abuse, saying they treat ordinary followers with lenience.

"Leader Vows To Ensure Falun Gong Won't Harm Hong Kong"

(AP, March 6, 2001)

HONG KONG -- After discussing Falun Gong with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Hong Kong's political leader said Tuesday he won't let the meditation sect harm Hong Kong, but insisted he isn't under pressure to act against the group. Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said he would make sure Falun Gong doesn't repeat any of the troubles it has allegedly caused on the mainland, where authorities have outlawed the group as an "evil cult" that they say has pushed some followers into suicide.
Tung said he met Monday with Jiang as the Chinese National People's Congress began its annual session, and that Jiang had made it clear that "Hong Kong Falun Gong is an issue for Hong Kong."
Tung reiterated that Hong Kong would watch Falun Gong carefully.
"We must closely pay attention to all the activities and behaviors of Hong Kong Falun Gong," Tung told reporters before leaving Beijing. His remarks were aired by Hong Kong broadcasters and a transcript was released by the Hong Kong government.
Falun Gong is subjected to an often-violent crackdown in mainland China, but the group remains legal in Hong Kong. Followers frequently demonstrate here against Beijing's suppression, much to the dismay of local Beijing allies who have been clamoring for some sort of clampdown.
Pro-democracy and human rights activists in Hong Kong say that would undermine the country's freedoms of speech and religion, holdovers from British colonial days.
Ensure "Tranquility Of Society"
"We must ensure the tranquility of society in Hong Kong, and ensure that society in mainland China will not be affected," Tung said.
Tung said he had been upset upon getting more details in Beijing of the "great deal of harm" that the Chinese leadership said is being caused on the mainland by Falun Gong.
A Falun Gong spokeswoman in Hong Kong, Sharon Xu, said she doesn't believe that Beijing is refraining from pressuring Tung.
Xu said that Tung's comments about any troubles caused by Falun Gong were the result of "the one-sided story" being broadcast by China's government.
"All the claims that the Chinese authorities have made against Falun Gong have never been through any investigation by an independent third party," Xu said. "So to say that it causes harm or made people commit suicide or harm others - it's completely untrue."
Falun Gong says its teachings prohibit any form of killing, including suicide.
The Hong Kong government has recently intensified its rhetoric against Falun Gong, with Tung labeling the group a "cult" and Security Secretary Regina Ip calling it "devious."
Many observers in Hong Kong say the government's response to Falun Gong will be a crucial test of the resilience of the country's autonomy.
Although Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997, the territory retains considerable freedom under a government arrangement dubbed "one country, two systems."
Falun Gong insists it has no political motives, but Beijing and its allies say this is false.

"Leader Vows to Protect Hong Kong"

by Margaret Wong (Associated Press, March 6, 2001)

HONG KONG - After discussing Falun Gong with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Hong Kong's political leader said Tuesday he won't let the meditation sect harm Hong Kong but insisted he is not under pressure to act against the group.
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said he would make sure Falun Gong does not repeat any of the troubles it has allegedly caused on the mainland, where authorities have outlawed the group as an ``evil cult'' that they say has pushed some followers into suicide.
Tung said he met with Jiang on Monday as the Chinese National People's Congress began its annual session - and that Jiang had made it clear that ``Hong Kong Falun Gong is an issue for Hong Kong.''
Tung has said the territory must ``closely pay attention to all the activities and behaviors of Hong Kong Falun Gong.''
Falun Gong is the subject of an often violent crackdown in mainland China, but the group remains legal in Hong Kong. Followers frequently demonstrate against Beijing's suppression, much to the dismay of local Beijing allies who have been clamoring for some sort of clampdown.
Pro-democracy and human rights activists say that would undermine Hong Kong's freedoms of speech and religion, holdovers from British colonial days.
``We must ensure the tranquility of society in Hong Kong, and ensure that society in mainland China will not affected,'' Tung said.
A Falun Gong spokeswoman in Hong Kong, Sharon Xu, said she continues to believe Beijing is pressuring Tung.
``All the claims that the Chinese authorities have made against Falun Gong have never been through any investigation by an independent third party,'' Xu said. ``So to say that it causes harm or made people commit suicide or harm others - it's completely untrue.''
Falun Gong says its teachings prohibit any form of killing, including suicide.
The Hong Kong government has recently intensified its rhetoric against Falun Gong, with Tung labeling the group a ``cult'' and Security Secretary Regina Ip calling it ``devious.''
Many observers here say the government's response to Falun Gong will be a crucial test of Hong Kong's autonomy.
Although Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997, the territory retains considerable freedom.

"Qian warns against Falun Gong making H.K. an anti-China base"

(Kyodo News Service, March 6, 2001)

HONG KONG - Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen told Hong Kong advisers in Beijing on Tuesday that the territory should guard against the Falun Gong movement turning Hong Kong into an anti-China base.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, meanwhile, said his administration will take preventive measures against trouble and will closely monitor the activities of the Buddhist-oriented spiritual exercise movement in the territory.
But he denied he is under pressure from Beijing to suppress the Falun Gong in Hong Kong.
The movement has been outlawed in China, but is still allowed to be practiced in Hong Kong as long as its followers abide by the territory's law under the ''one country, two systems.''
Yet Chinese officials and pro-Beijing figures in Hong Kong have called for more measures to stop the Falun Gong in the territory, which has raised public concern the territory's freedom of belief will be undermined.
Local television news reports quoted Hong Kong members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as saying Qian initiated talk about the Falun Gong issue during their meeting in Beijing on Tuesday.
Qian reportedly said the Chinese central government has branded the Falun Gong an evil cult.
Earlier Tuesday, Tung insisted there is no pressure from the Chinese leadership on him to crack down the Falun Gong.
But Tung told reporters Chinese President Jiang Zemin clearly indicated the Hong Kong Falun Gong is an issue for the territory. They met in Beijing on Monday.
Tung added he came to ''know more'' about Falun Gong and the ''great deal of harm'' the movement allegedly caused in China during his stay in Beijing.
Tung was speaking to reporters in Beijing before leaving for Hong Kong after attending the opening session of the National People's Congress and meeting with Jiang.