"Westland drops Falun Gong week under pressure from China"

by Lisa M. Collins ("Detroit News," March 31, 2001)

WESTLAND -- In January, China had its first public spat with the Bush administration over Washington support for the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Last month, the communist nation claimed another person set himself on fire to prove devotion to the outlawed Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa.
Last week, China claimed a victory over the Falun Dafa in the blue-collar Detroit suburb of Westland.
According to China's official Xinhua News Agency, Westland Mayor Robert J. Thomas canceled Falun Dafa Week -- saying he'd been "hoodwinked" by local followers of the meditative and health-conscious religious movement.
Thomas' action vaulted Westland into the ranks of cities such as Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, who declared Falun Gong observances and then canceled them at the urging of the Chinese government.
Officials in hundreds of other U.S. communities, including at least 20 in Michigan, have proclaimed a Falun Gong week or day. Some, including the mayor of Santee, Calif., have loudly protested when approached by the Chinese government to remove the declarations. Others, like Westland and Seattle, apologized and rescinded the honor.
The Chinese Embassy says the declarations are a campaign of propaganda meant to gather attention and show false support for the movement.
"There are practitioners (of Falun Gong) in this country that have taken advantage of this very fine custom in America of proclamations and declarations," Zhang Yuanyuan, spokeswoman for Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Friday.
Zhang said the Chinese Embassy tries to alert each local government that adopts declarations for the Falun Gong that it is an "evil cult." "We feel we have a duty to tell Americans, to tell the local governments, what they're doing. They're doing something unconsciously that could hurt Americans. What the Falun Gong are doing to the Chinese might become a nightmare for the Americans." Supporters of Falun Gong say that's absurd.
"It's amazing the Chinese government is getting so up in arms about (Falun Gong)," said Adam Montanaro, spokesman for the Falun Dafa Information Center. "It's free, nice, healthy exercise that makes people feel better. It's not surprising that local governments are granting the proclamations. What's surprising is that the Chinese government is getting up in arms about what happens in a small town halfway around the planet." China banned the Falun Gong in 1999, declaring it an "evil cult." "You cannot be a friend of China and a friend of the Falun Gong at the same time," said Zhang.
Human rights groups have rallied around the banned Falun Gong, claiming that China's crackdown has left at least 112 dead and thousands of others injured or sentenced to prison or labor camps.
China accuses the group of deceiving people, endangering society and causing the deaths of 1,600 practitioners who went insane, committed suicide or refused medical treatment.
The group practices an eclectic mix of traditional Chinese exercise, Taoist and Buddhist cosmology and the teachings of founder Li Hongzhi.
Millions who practice Falun Gong claim its slow-motion exercises and New Age philosophy promote health, morality and supernatural powers.
Charlie Lu, a Falun Gong member, estimated that 300 to 400 practitioners live in the Detroit area. Other Michigan communities that have proclaimed Falun Gong weeks, and not rescinded them, include Ann Arbor, Madison Heights, Roseville, Rochester Hills, Southfield and Troy.
The Oakland County Board of Commissioners recognized the group last year. Commissioner Shelley Taub said she was shocked Friday to hear that China had such a strong stance against the Falun Gong.
"I didn't see any harm in it. I just though it was a nice thing to do for nice people, just as I would do something to remember the Holocaust, or the Armenian holocaust, or library week," Taub said.
"We did one for the Falun Gong, not to be an insult to any government, but to recognize this group for their spirituality and clean living. We saw it as a cultural and ethnic resolution. What does this have to do with the Chinese government?" Thomas, the Westland mayor, declined comment on the Xinhua news agency's report that he withdrew recognition for the Falun Gong. But City Council President Sandra Cicirelli said Falun Gong members asked Thomas to issue a proclamation and he agreed to do so. She said she didn't know anything about it because it never came before City Council.
Falun Gong members "haven't called much attention to themselves" in Westland, Cicirelli said.
According to Xinhua, the mayor apologized in a letter to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, saying he had acted on insufficient information about the group.
Xinhua reported that the consulate's letter to Thomas was accompanied by grisly photos of suicides blamed by China on the Falun Gong.

"Singapore Police Deny Targeting Falun Gong"

("Inside China," March 30, 2001)

SINGAPORE -- (Agence France Presse) Singapore police denied Friday they had singled out the Falun Gong spiritual movement after seven members of the Buddhist-inspired sect were jailed for obstruction and illegal assembly.
They were among 15 Falun Gong practitioners, including 13 foreigners, who were arrested during a memorial for members they claimed had died inside Chinese prisons.
Seven were jailed on Thursday for four weeks and eight were fined 1,000 Singapore dollars (USD 558).
In China, where Falun Gong originated, it has been outlawed as an "evil cult", but it is registered as a legal organization in Singapore.
Falun Gong members have claimed that the Singapore police were under pressure to make arrests because of the political sensitivity of their gathering.
But the police said they were acting on "a public complaint" about an illegal assembly and the Falun Buddha Society was aware of the law.
"Singapore's laws are fair and equal to all. Citizens and foreigners are treated equally," the police said in a statement, adding that the Falun Buddha Society knew a permit was required for a public gathering.
"Its members are aware of this requirement. Its members have previously been given permits where it was within the law to do so.
Of 14 Falun Gong applications in the past two years, five have been approved, one was withdrawn and eight were rejected "on the grounds that the events were likely to cause a breach of peace," police said.
The 15 Falun Gong members sentenced on Thursday were among a group of 100 who staged a memorial gathering in Singapore's MacRitchie Park on New Year's Eve.
Under Singapore law, assemblies of more than five people in public, including political meetings and rallies, must have police permission.
During sentencing, Judge Carol Ling said the police warned the sect members four times to disperse, and waited more than three hours "before taking the drastic action to arrest."
The first secretary of the Chinese embassy here, Liu Yantao, said the arrests and sentencing were internal matters for Singapore.
But he expressed indignation that some Falun Gong members used the reading of their guilty pleas in court "to slander and defame the Chinese government... through fabricating facts and inventing stories," China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
Falun Gong was outlawed in China in 1999 after it staged the largest demonstration seen in Beijing since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.

"Drop Buddhist terms, local Falun Gong urged"

("The Star," March 30, 2001)

KUALA LUMPUR - The local chapter of the Falun Gong, which is seeking registration from the Home Ministry, has been advised to drop terms with relevance to Buddhism to avoid confusion. MCA religious affairs bureau chief Datuk Fu Ah Kiow urged the Malaysian group to confine itself strictly to qiqong, a form of breathing exercise.
He said the Home Ministry should seek the views of Buddhist groups here which have expressed unhappiness towards the application to register a Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Falun Gong Society.
"Buddhist groups have objected strongly towards the use of the word falun or dharma cakri which means the true nature or ultimate truth,'' he said.
Fu, who is the International Trade and Industry Ministry parliamentary secretary, urged the Home Ministry to monitor the Malaysian chapter before making any decision.
"We need to study carefully the implications of the Malaysian chapter and whether they have links with the founder group in China,'' he added.
On Wednesday, two Buddhist groups expressed concern over the move by the local Falun Gong to seek registration.
Than Hsiang Temple abbot Venerable Wei Wu, who is also the Malaysian Sangha Council member, said the Buddhist community in China had made an indepth study on Falun Gong and had openly said the group was operating under the guise of Buddhist teachings.
Young Buddhists Association of Malaysia vice-president Chiam Soon King said the use of Buddhist symbols would confuse the people into thinking it was one of the Buddhist traditions.
Malaysian Buddhist Co-ordination Committee vice-president Chong Hung Wang has urged the Government not to recognise the Malaysian chapter which submitted its application last August.

"Falun Gong members in S'pore could have avoided prison"

("The Star," March 30, 2001)

SINGAPORE - Falun Gong followers are allowed to carry out activities inSingapore as long as they obey the law, police said Friday after seven members of the sect were jailed for obstructing an officer.
Falun Gong - banned in China as an evil cult - is legally registered in Singapore as the ''Falun Buddha Society.''
A police statement Friday said Falun Gong followers broke the law because they did not obtain a required permit before holding a Dec. 31 vigil in a Singapore park to honor fellow believers who have reportedly died in custody in China.
Six men and one woman, most of them Chinese citizens, were given one-month jail sentences Thursday for obstructing police who dispersed the rally.
Another eight members of the sect were fined 1,000 Singapore dollars (dlrs 556) each on Friday for taking part in the unauthorized assembly.
All 15 pleaded guilty to the offenses.
Public demonstrations are extremely rare in tightly controlled Singapore, a Southeast Asian city-state whose 4 million people are mostly ethnic Chinese.
Police said they had approved five out of 14 applications for permits to hold gatherings submitted by Falun Gong followers in 1999 and 2000.
One application had been withdrawn by the applicant and police rejected eight because ''they were likely to cause a breach of peace,'' the police statement said.
China banned Falun Gong in 1999 as a dangerous cult and a threat to Communist Party authority. Thousands of suspected followers have been detained there and human rights group say more than 100 have died in Chinese custody.
Liu Yan Tao, first secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore, said the Chinese government ''understood and respected'' the Singapore court's action toward the Falun Gong members.
Liu, who was in court Thursday, angrily criticized the Falun Gong followers for ''attacking the Chinese government.''
The Chinese followers said they faced danger if jail sentences caused them to lose their Singapore visas. Most are studying and working in Singapore.
Singapore immigration officials on Friday could not confirm whether the jailed Falun Gong members from China would be able to remain in Singapore after serving their sentences.
There are about 1,000 Falun Gong followers in Singapore. The spiritual movement, which has millions of members in China and other countries, teaches Buddhist-like meditation and exercise as keys to morality and health.

"Singapore police say Falung Gong can stay "

("World News," March 30, 2001)

Police in Singapore say followers of the Chinese spiritual group Falung Gong are allowed to operate in the island republic...as long as they obey the law.
The statement came after seven members of the group were jailed for obstruction.
Falun Gong - banned in China as an evil cult - is legally registered in Singapore as the "Falun Buddha Society."
The police statement says the Falun Gong followers broke the law because they did not obtain a required permit before holding a New Year's Eve vigil in a local park.
Six men and one woman, most of them Chinese citizens, were given one-month jail sentences earlier this week for obstructing police who dispersed the rally.

"China Olympic Committee slams U.S. anti-bid vote"

(Reuters, March 30, 2001)

BEIJING - The Chinese Olympic Committee voiced "strong indignation" on Friday at a motion passed by a U.S. congressional committee opposing Beijing's bid to host the Games in 2008 on human rights grounds.
In a statement issued on Xinhua news agency, the committee said "this kind of base act not only violates the Olympic spirit, but crudely tramples on the purpose and principles of the Olympic movement."
On Wednesday, the U.S. House International Relations Committee voted 27-8 in favour of a nonbinding resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to deny Beijing's Games bid to protest alleged rights violations, including the crackdown on the spiritual group Falun Gong.
The resolution would have no legal force, but its sponsors hope it will put pressure on the IOC and China.
Opponents said the resolution was counterproductive, arguing that engagement with Beijing was the best way to spur reform in the communist nation.
The resolution will advance to the full House of Representatives. The Senate has yet to take up the measure.
China has come under increased criticism for human rights abuses as it bids to host the 2008 summer Olympics.
Activists who oppose giving Beijing the Games say the Olympic spirit enshrines the dignity of the individual. China, with thousands of political and religious prisoners and strict media censorship, is not a suitable Games host, opponents say.
Asked on Thursday if China might free a political prisoner to pave the way for its bid, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi declined specific comment. He told reporters those held in Chinese jails were tried and convicted according to law.
Chinese officials have urged the IOC not to mix sport and politics when it votes in July to select the host from Beijing, Toronto, Paris, Osaka or Istanbul.
U.S. lawmakers introduced a similar resolution in 1993 opposing China's 2000 Olympics bid. It passed in the House with bipartisan support. The IOC selected Sydney over Beijing to host the 2000 Games.

"Singapore jails seven Falun Gong members for vigil"

by Amy Tan (Reuters, March 29, 2001)

SINGAPORE - A Singapore court sentenced seven members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement to four weeks in jail on Thursday for obstructing police and gave the maximum fine to eight others for holding a rally without a permit.
Subordinate Court magistrate Carol Ling said the defendants
"manifested an utter disregard" for police who waited three hours before moving in to break up a New Year's Eve vigil commemorating members the movement says have died in jails in China.
The 15 adherents, two Singaporeans and 13 Chinese nationals, pleaded guilty to obstructing police and, or illegal assembly at an earlier hearing.
The seven jailed members had risked a maximum term of three months. The others were given the maximum fine of S$1,000 ($556).
Falun Gong, which Chinese authorities have denounced as an evil cult, is legally registered in Singapore but all organisations require a permit to assemble in public.
In a mitigation plea on March 22, lawyers for the nine men and six women sought leniency, presenting an image of law-abiding engineers, students and pregnant homemakers who were unaware they had broken the law and feared being expelled from Singapore.
Deputy public prosecutor David Chew told Reuters the expulsion of the 13 Chinese nationals was at the discretion of the immigration department. The jailed members were likely to be released after three weeks for good behaviour, he said.
A Chinese official said the rights of the Chinese nationals would be respected if they returned home.
"If they are not allowed to live here, they have the right to go back to China," second secretary at China's embassy in Singapore, Zhou Jian, told reporters outside the court.
"They are Chinese citizens. If they refrain from engaging in any criminal activities, their rights should be fully considered and respected."
About 60 followers gathered in a park before midnight on December 31 with two large placards bearing the names and photographs of dead adherents.
Police said they refused an order to disperse and blocked officers trying to seize the placards as evidence.
The prosecution said police warned the group and allowed 45 other adherents to go free before making the arrests.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, combines meditation and exercise with a doctrine loosely rooted in Buddhist and Taoist teachings. It first shocked Beijing with a 10,000-strong protest in April 1999 and was banned in China later that year.

"A Truly Modern China Wouldn't Fear the News"

("Seattle Times," (reprinted from the Washington Post) March 29, 2001)

The paradox of modern China begins with the fact that its leaders want it both ways: They are hungry for the benefits of joining the global economy. But they hope to avoid paying the price, which is maintaining an open society.
International newspapers and magazines that distribute in China have experienced that abstract dilemma in very practical terms lately, as they have tried to cope with decisions by China's official censors.
The International Herald Tribune, of which I am executive editor, has seen its distribution limited in China recently, in part because we carried stories about the Falun Gong religious sect. The Herald Tribune also gets banned occasionally in countries such as Saudi Arabia, for seemingly innocuous articles like the one we ran Dec. 11 with the headline "Saudi Elite Moves Cautiously to Bring Country into Modern World."
What makes the Chinese censorship surprising is that it coincides with Beijing's preparations to join the World Trade Organization and its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. This is a time, you would think, when the Chinese would want to show the world that they are embracing the 21st century, rather than trying to hold it at arm's length through censorship.
Chinese membership of the WTO would ratify the opening to the West begun more than 20 years ago by the late Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping. And hosting the Olympics would provide a showcase for this new China.
But do Beijing's leaders really imagine that the free market is divisible - that you can buy and sell computers, but not transmit ideas? Do they imagine that the world will come to an Olympics where visitors can't read the sports page of a global newspaper because that issue happens to carry an article about a dissident group?
The very notion of censorship seems at odds with the pervasive communications networks that are the backbone of today's global economy. Financial traders in Shanghai have the same need for reliable, instantaneous information as traders in New York, London and Frankfurt. There is no middle ground when it comes to the information economy - you're either connected, or you aren't.
One Asian leader who tried for a generation to control the flow of information into his country, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, has concluded that such attempts to wall off society are self-defeating.
In a conversation in January, Mr. Lee said of the Internet's instant flow of information: "I don't think we can stop it now," adding, "I don't see any alternative. You either use the Internet or you are backward. You are dispensing with a very valuable and cheap tool. The Chinese government will find that out over time."
President Jiang Zemin of China has some of that same realism. He told interviewers from The Washington Post last Friday: "We are now in a new century. Even in the run-up to the new century, we have already seen that under economic globalization, under international markets, countries surely come into competition with each other."
Openness and competition are, indeed, the essential features of the global economy. Yet in the censor's office in Beijing, some people still imagine that restricting the flow of news is desirable - or even possible. It isn't, and in the end it makes the people trying to maintain censorship look as out-of-date as the radio jammers of the Cold War.
For international publications, being banned occasionally is part of doing business - it is regrettable, but a fact of life. And I wouldn't mention the news media's recent problems if there wasn't a risk that these incidents may be a prelude to a broader ban on Western publications. That would be bad for the news business, bad for our Chinese readers - and, we journalists would humbly submit, bad for China itself.
So here is a simple test for the WTO and the International Olympic Committee as they weigh China's bid for recognition as a global economic power. The mark of a nation's maturity is when it stops trying to suppress the ideas contained in that ancient but obviously still potent form of communication, a newspaper.
The Washington Post. PARIS The paradox of modern China begins with the fact that its leaders want it both ways: They are hungry for the benefits of joining the global economy. But they hope to avoid paying the price, which is maintaining an open society.
International newspapers and magazines that distribute in China have experienced that abstract dilemma in very practical terms lately, as they have tried to cope with decisions by China's official censors.
The International Herald Tribune, of which I am executive editor, has seen its distribution limited in China recently, in part because we carried stories about the Falun Gong religious sect. The Herald Tribune also gets banned occasionally in countries such as Saudi Arabia, for seemingly innocuous articles like the one we ran Dec. 11 with the headline "Saudi Elite Moves Cautiously to Bring Country into Modern World."
What makes the Chinese censorship surprising is that it coincides with Beijing's preparations to join the World Trade Organization and its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. This is a time, you would think, when the Chinese would want to show the world that they are embracing the 21st century, rather than trying to hold it at arm's length through censorship.
Chinese membership of the WTO would ratify the opening to the West begun more than 20 years ago by the late Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping. And hosting the Olympics would provide a showcase for this new China.
But do Beijing's leaders really imagine that the free market is divisible - that you can buy and sell computers, but not transmit ideas? Do they imagine that the world will come to an Olympics where visitors can't read the sports page of a global newspaper because that issue happens to carry an article about a dissident group?
The very notion of censorship seems at odds with the pervasive communications networks that are the backbone of today's global economy. Financial traders in Shanghai have the same need for reliable, instantaneous information as traders in New York, London and Frankfurt. There is no middle ground when it comes to the information economy - you're either connected, or you aren't.
One Asian leader who tried for a generation to control the flow of information into his country, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, has concluded that such attempts to wall off society are self-defeating.
In a conversation in January, Mr. Lee said of the Internet's instant flow of information: "I don't think we can stop it now," adding, "I don't see any alternative. You either use the Internet or you are backward. You are dispensing with a very valuable and cheap tool. The Chinese government will find that out over time."
President Jiang Zemin of China has some of that same realism. He told interviewers from The Washington Post last Friday: "We are now in a new century. Even in the run-up to the new century, we have already seen that under economic globalization, under international markets, countries surely come into competition with each other."
Openness and competition are, indeed, the essential features of the global economy. Yet in the censor's office in Beijing, some people still imagine that restricting the flow of news is desirable - or even possible. It isn't, and in the end it makes the people trying to maintain censorship look as out-of-date as the radio jammers of the Cold War.
For international publications, being banned occasionally is part of doing business - it is regrettable, but a fact of life. And I wouldn't mention the news media's recent problems if there wasn't a risk that these incidents may be a prelude to a broader ban on Western publications. That would be bad for the news business, bad for our Chinese readers - and, we journalists would humbly submit, bad for China itself.
So here is a simple test for the WTO and the International Olympic Committee as they weigh China's bid for recognition as a global economic power. The mark of a nation's maturity is when it stops trying to suppress the ideas contained in that ancient but obviously still potent form of communication, a newspaper.
The Washington Post. PARIS The paradox of modern China begins with the fact that its leaders want it both ways: They are hungry for the benefits of joining the global economy. But they hope to avoid paying the price, which is maintaining an open society.
International newspapers and magazines that distribute in China have experienced that abstract dilemma in very practical terms lately, as they have tried to cope with decisions by China's official censors.
The International Herald Tribune, of which I am executive editor, has seen its distribution limited in China recently, in part because we carried stories about the Falun Gong religious sect. The Herald Tribune also gets banned occasionally in countries such as Saudi Arabia, for seemingly innocuous articles like the one we ran Dec. 11 with the headline "Saudi Elite Moves Cautiously to Bring Country into Modern World."
What makes the Chinese censorship surprising is that it coincides with Beijing's preparations to join the World Trade Organization and its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. This is a time, you would think, when the Chinese would want to show the world that they are embracing the 21st century, rather than trying to hold it at arm's length through censorship.
Chinese membership of the WTO would ratify the opening to the West begun more than 20 years ago by the late Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping. And hosting the Olympics would provide a showcase for this new China.
But do Beijing's leaders really imagine that the free market is divisible - that you can buy and sell computers, but not transmit ideas? Do they imagine that the world will come to an Olympics where visitors can't read the sports page of a global newspaper because that issue happens to carry an article about a dissident group?
The very notion of censorship seems at odds with the pervasive communications networks that are the backbone of today's global economy. Financial traders in Shanghai have the same need for reliable, instantaneous information as traders in New York, London and Frankfurt. There is no middle ground when it comes to the information economy - you're either connected, or you aren't.
One Asian leader who tried for a generation to control the flow of information into his country, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, has concluded that such attempts to wall off society are self-defeating.
In a conversation in January, Mr. Lee said of the Internet's instant flow of information: "I don't think we can stop it now," adding, "I don't see any alternative. You either use the Internet or you are backward. You are dispensing with a very valuable and cheap tool. The Chinese government will find that out over time."
President Jiang Zemin of China has some of that same realism. He told interviewers from The Washington Post last Friday: "We are now in a new century. Even in the run-up to the new century, we have already seen that under economic globalization, under international markets, countries surely come into competition with each other."
Openness and competition are, indeed, the essential features of the global economy. Yet in the censor's office in Beijing, some people still imagine that restricting the flow of news is desirable - or even possible. It isn't, and in the end it makes the people trying to maintain censorship look as out-of-date as the radio jammers of the Cold War.
For international publications, being banned occasionally is part of doing business - it is regrettable, but a fact of life. And I wouldn't mention the news media's recent problems if there wasn't a risk that these incidents may be a prelude to a broader ban on Western publications. That would be bad for the news business, bad for our Chinese readers - and, we journalists would humbly submit, bad for China itself.
So here is a simple test for the WTO and the International Olympic Committee as they weigh China's bid for recognition as a global economic power. The mark of a nation's maturity is when it stops trying to suppress the ideas contained in that ancient but obviously still potent form of communication, a newspaper.

"Malaysia's Buddhists oppose Falun Gong group"

(Reuters, March 29, 2001)

KUALA LUMPUR - Buddhists in Malaysia are opposing an application by the controversial Falun Gong spiritual movement to register in the country on the grounds that it could mislead Buddhists, a Buddhist spokesman said on Thursday.
Falun Gong, banned by China in 1999 as an evil cult that brainwashes members, has spread throughout southeast Asia.
It is registered in neighbouring Singapore, where 15 members were arrested for an illegal vigil on New Year's Eve. They were due to be sentenced on Thursday.
Last year a branch of the group applied to register in Malaysia. The government has yet to respond, a Falun Gong spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. He declined to comment further.
But the country's largest Buddhist group said Falun Gong could mislead believers because it used Buddhist terminology.
Lim Tien Phong, secretary of the Malaysian Buddhist Association, said the term 'falun' meant 'dharma', or ultimate truth, which was a cornerstone of the Buddha's teachings.
"Why do they make use of the Buddhist name? They take the chance to mislead Buddhists," Lim told Reuters in a telephone interview from northern Penang state.
Government officials could not be reached for comment.
Falun Gong combines meditation and exercise with a doctrine loosely rooted in Buddhist and Taoist teachings.
About 30 percent of Malaysians are Buddhist, most of them ethnic Chinese. Muslim Malays make up 55 percent and Hindus, most of them ethnic Indians, make up about 10 percent.

"Singapore Jails Falun Gong Faithful"

by Dean Visser (Associated Press, March 29, 2001)

SINGAPORE - Seven followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement were sentenced Thursday to four weeks in jail for obstructing police during a vigil in a Singapore park.
Five men and one woman among those jailed are Chinese citizens. Another man is Singaporean.
Eight other Falun Gong members were fined $550 each for taking part in an unauthorized assembly when they attended the Dec. 31 vigil honoring followers who reportedly died in police custody in China.
All 15 had pleaded guilty to the charges.
In imposing the sentences, Subordinate Court Judge Carol Ling said those jailed ``have manifested an utter disregard for the authority'' of the police.
They showed ``persistent defiance'' during the vigil, ignoring repeated police warnings to disperse and blocking officers who tried to seize their placards, the judge said.
Last week, the Chinese Falun Gong followers asked to be fined rather than incarcerated, saying jail terms might get them sent back to China.
Most are studying and working in Singapore, and say they fear Singapore will revoke their visas and make it difficult for them to get visas elsewhere.
Liu Yan Tao, first secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore, told reporters the Chinese government ``understood and respected'' the Singapore court's action. Liu attended Thursday's court hearing.
The Chinese Embassy in Singapore said in a statement: ``We hope that the international community better recognizes Falun Gong's nature as a cult and its potential dangers, and understands and respects China's stance on the Falun Gong problem.''
Human rights groups say more than 100 Falun Gong followers have died in detention in China and thousands more have been detained since Beijing banned the sect in July 1999, calling it a dangerous cult and a threat to the Communist Party's authority.
There are about 1,000 Falun Gong followers in Singapore, a mainly ethnic Chinese city-state of 4 million people.
Falun Gong is not outlawed in Singapore, but public assemblies require prior written permission from police.

"Opinion: The Fallacies of Falun Gong "

("Newsweek," March 28, 2001)

Television advertising by Chinese-speaking immigration lawyers in the Los Angeles area has a new twist. Included among the usual offers of assistance and expertise to those applying for permanent residence in the United States are ads that offer help to Falun Gong practitioners.
BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS FALUN GONG?
The movement has been drawing attention in the West for the last two years. Some Western China scholars are even praising it for the scientific basis of its principles. Falun Gong has drawn the attention of Chinese intellectuals, too, particularly those searching for a spiritual movement that is grounded in traditional Chinese thought but takes account of rational, scientific and modern considerations. Whatever their educational background or technological knowledge, all Chinese lean towards wearing a “Confucian thinking cap, Buddhist robe and Taoist sandals.” I am no exception.
Thus it was during my extensive reading for my latest book,”Watching the Tree,” that I read the work of Li Hong-zhi, founder of Falun Gong. I was greatly disappointed. As a medical doctor as well as a writer, I found the work anything but rational or scientific.
I was greatly disappointed. As a medical doctor as well as a writer, I found the work anything but rational or scientific. His book “Zhuan Fa Lun” (“Turning the Wheel of the Law”), for example, challenges the very etiology of all diseases and denies even the microbial role in causing infections. His view (on page 3) is that “a person’s illness and misfortune are caused by the evil deeds he has carried out in his past.” By suffering, writes Li, “he is repaying his debt. If you change his condition, you are doing evil.”
Li also ascribes moral qualities to inanimate objects such as stone and wood. “The minute particles in the air, stone, wood, earth, steel, human body and every other material,” he says on page 15, “all contain the special qualities of truth, benevolence and tolerance within them.”
Later, he speaks of old cultural ruins bearing relics “from eras that existed over a hundred thousand, a few hundred thousand, a few million or even hundreds of millions of years ago.” Yet archeological evidence has shown that an agriculture-based civilization began less than 11,000 years ago.
Then there are his references to “tall ancient buildings” discovered at the bottom of many oceans. “These edifices have been beautifully carved,” he writes, “and are not the cultural relics of human mankind. Therefore they must have been constructed long before our earth was covered by ocean waters.. Now who could have done this tens of millions of years ago? We humans were not even monkeys then …”
Is he proposing that our earth was inhabited by aliens from outer space? Has anyone else seen these edifices? Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi
These are a few examples of Li’s “scientific theories.” In his book, he also claims that he will implant a wheel in the abdomen of each of his disciples. This wheel will keep on turning day and night and protect his followers from harm.
Some 100 pages later he gives the example of one his disciples who was involved in a traffic accident in Beijing. However, at the moment of impact, the disciple’s bicycle was suddenly dragged backwards by a mysterious force for almost two feet. He immediately understood that his teacher Li Hong-zhi had protected him.
On the same page he tells of another disciple in Chang Chun who was almost pierced by a steel rod “two inches thick and [13 feet] long” that fell from the fourth floor of a construction site. Just before impact, “someone” patted his head and he turned around to look up. At that moment he saw a large wheel spinning just above his head while the rod fell and pierced the ground immediately beside him. “My saintly body (fa shun) will protect you until you are able to protect yourself.”
LI HONG-ZHI
founder, Falun Gong “These incidents are so common,” writes Li on page 153, “that they are no longer worth counting.… You might or might not encounter them, but I will guarantee that you will have no danger.… This is what I will give you. My saintly body (fa shun) will protect you until you are able to protect yourself.” Thus Li views himself as a living Buddha with supernatural powers capable of protecting his disciples everywhere at all times. Is this the reason he changed his date of birth to coincide with that of Buddha?
Throughout China’s long history, religious cult leaders and secret societies have appeared from time to time to lead the masses into rebellion, causing wars, upheaval and great suffering. There were, among others, the Taoist Yellow Scarf Society during the Han Dynasty in A.D. 184, the Wu Dou Mi Religious Society during the Jin dynasty in 399, the Bai Lian Sect in 1796 and the Taiping Rebellion during the Qing Dynasty in 1850. Like his predecessors, Li Hong-zhi also claims that he possesses miraculous “powers” which will cure disease and protect his followers from harm.
Among educated Chinese circles, Li’s books are viewed with amusement and amazement. Some of his followers in the United States and Canada may indeed be highly educated-as various commentators have written-but they seem to have forgotten their knowledge of basic sciences. Can it be that the attraction of a green card is greater than their commitment to modern science?
Whatever the intellectual content (or lack of such) of the Falun Gong philosophy, the Chinese government is certainly cracking down on Falun Gong supporters. If a government is faced with a potential David Koresh (leader of the Waco, Texas, Branch Davidians), how should they deal with him? In China at present, suppression is merely providing Falun Gong members with a sense of solidarity. Until the Beijing authorities recognize that there is a burning spiritual hunger among the Chinese people and set about providing legitimate facilities to fulfill this need, cults such as Falun Gong will continue to flourish.

"Zhonggong leader confident of winning freedom in US"

(AFP, March 28, 2001)

SAIPAN - The detained leader of China's mystical Zhonggong group is confident of winning his freedom from jail on the US island of Guam next week, supporters said Wednesday.
Founder Zhang Hongbao, 46, came to Guam in January last year with a fake visa and in September the Immigration and Naturalisation Service denied his application for political asylum.
Since then he has been detained by the Department of Corrections ahead of an appearance on April 6 in the US District Court before Judge John Unpingco.
This week a group of supporters, including Wang Bingzhang who leads the Chinese Democracy and Human Rights Movement Worldwide, visited Zhang to discuss the hearing.
"Hes very confident, because we have a very strong lawyer group, including Bob Shapiro," Wang said Wednesday.
"We discussed with him how to deal with next months trial, which is very important. It is a critical moment for him, and well try our best to free him immediately because there is no legal basis for holding him physically for any longer."
They have enlisted attorney Robert Shapiro as co-counsel. He is best known for representing former US football hero O.J. Simpson during his sensational trial for murdering his wife.
Zhang founded the Zhonggong movement in the early 1990s. The meditative religion, which fully translates to the "China Health Care and Wisdom Enhancement Practice," reportedly has at least 30 million followers in China.
Zhonggong, along with the better known Falungong, is considered a threat to Communist Party rule.
Rooted in traditional Chinese martial arts exercises, both have commanded a following of tens of millions, many disillusioned by growing corruption and social problems in China.
China banned the Falungong movement in July last year and has since jailed core leaders for up to 18 years and sent tens of thousands to re-education camps.
The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy says the Chinese government has detained 600 Zhonggong leaders and shut down 3,000 Zhonggong training centers and businesses.
Zhangs Chinese supporters said the crackdown forced Zhang to flee to Guam and complained that China has unfairly associated Zhonggong with Falungong.
"Mr. Zhang Hongbao wants to inherit the traditional culture -- its very simple -- but its very challenging. Marxism is the official ideology of Communist China," Wang said.
Supporters claim that this is no longer a simple issue of asylum, but a serious issue that may cost Zhang his life if he is forced back to China.
The Chinese government claims that Zhang raped female members of his religious sect, even releasing to the media details surrounding the rape charges by providing statements by rape victims, the victims photographs, arrest warrants and other documents.
Zhangs local attorney Charles Kinnunen said his client's legal team is gearing up for the hearing next Friday.
"At this stage of the proceedings, were getting prepared," Kinnunen said. "We have a lot of evidence, and we are also going to weigh in with a lot of support from back in the states. Right now its a little early to say what our exact approach is going to be."
Kinnunen said that if Unpingco rules in favor of Zhang, he will be allowed to leave confinement and live in the community until his asylum appeal is heard, which may take some time.
According to Kinnunen, Zhangs asylum appeal will be heard in Virginia in the Board of Immigration Appeals court.
"That appeal should be filed sometime in April, and that should decide whether he gets asylum," Kinnunen said. "Were asking the board to review what the judge did."

"Falun Dafa Day set in Skowhegan"

by Joe Rankin ("Morning Sentinel," March 28, 2001)

SKOWHEGAN - Selectmen voted Tuesday to proclaim April 6 Falun Dafa Day, after debating whether the meditation society is a religion and whether a yes vote would violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
The vote was 3 to 2, with Selectmen Harvey Austin and David Summers dissenting. Selectmen Lynda Quinn, Davida Barter and Pamela Hatch supported the proclamation.
Nancy Ortega, of Palmyra, a practitioner of Falun Dafa, said she sought the town-board proclamation as a way of drawing attention to a growing worldwide movement that is being persecuted in China.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual practice that urges practitioners to align themselves with truth, forbearance and compassion through a series of five movement and breathing exercises and meditation.
It was founded in 1992 in China and is now practiced around the globe, said Ortega, who runs a psychotherapy practice in St. Albans.
Selectman Summers objected to the idea of a Falun Dafa Day proclamation, saying it amounted to an endorsement of one religion.
Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques had not come to the five-member Board of Selectmen seeking similar proclamations, he said.
Summers argued that a yes vote on the Falun Dafa resolution would "give preference to one faith" and be a violation of the church-state separation.
"What happens if Satanists or white supremacists ask" for similar treatment? he asked. "We'd have no choice but to support them."
Ortega, however, insisted that Falun Dafa is not a religion. It has no hierarchy, no priests, no tithes and no houses of worship, she said.
Selectman Austin agreed with Summers, saying, "I have no desire to get involved in it."
Selectmen issue proclamations periodically, usually proclaiming History Week in February, Constitution Week in September and Poppy Days during summer.
Ortega said she asked eight towns to support the group with proclamations. Bangor, Brewer, and Dover-Foxcroft declined, she said, adding that she is waiting to hear from others.
Also during the meeting Tuesday, selectmen authorized:
Finance Director Diane Barnes to spend up to $7,000 in reserve funds to buy four computers for the Police Department, finance office, economic development office, and assessor's office. Barnes will seek price quotes and negotiate the best deal.
Use of $3,000 to repair the air-handling system at the Community Center. Recreation Director John Malek said the system is 11 years old, and one repair has led to another. Total price tag for the repairs is $4,000, with the rest coming out of the maintenance account.
Use of $3,500 to purchase a new wastewater sampler for the town's sewage-treatment plant to replace an 11-year-old unit that no longer works and can't be repaired.