CESNUR - Falun Gong Updates, Dec. 14-16, 1999

BEIJING, Dec 16, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) China on Thursday warned Falungong members planning to protest during the Macau handover to abide by local laws.

"The handover ceremony in Macau will be an event drawing world attention. I'm confident ... the handover ceremony can proceed smoothly," foreign minstry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.

"Whether or not some Falungong practioners conduct some activities in Hong Kong and Macau and some other areas, I think that all these activities must be conducted in accordance with the local laws."

She reiterated that the group, banned in China on July 22, was an "anti-science, anti-humanity, and anti-social cult."

Up to 500 followers from around the world are planning to join practioners from Macau in a peaceful march in the Portuguese territory on the eve of its handover to China at midnight on Sunday.

China has branded the group, which practices breathing and meditation exercises and advocates clean living, as the biggest threat to communist rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

BEIJING, Dec 16, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) China's banned Falun Gong spiritual movement will be in Portuguese Macau for its handover to China on Sunday, despite a warning by police against staging any protests.

The group said some members were already in Macau and others would gather here despite warnings from police on Wednesday against unauthorized protests.

"If we are not given any permit to protest, we will still exercise in some public places. Even if we can't demonstrate, we are still visitors and we can see the handover celebrations," spokeswoman Belinda Pang told Reuters by phone from Hong Kong.

Falun Gong, banned by China in July after members demanded recognition of their faith in a series of protests, combines elements of Buddhism and Chinese mysticism with traditional meditation exercises known as qigong.

The group had intended to stage a protest in Macau and urge China President Jiang Zemin to free jailed practitioners on mainland China, to stop suppressing the movement and start a dialogue with its New York-based founder, Li Hongzhi.

But Pang said the group would not hold any protest if it did not get police clearance because it did not want to flout Macau laws.

The presence of Falun Gong members or a protest this weekend would embarrass Beijing and Chinese leaders who will attend handover ceremonies to take back Macau after 442 years.

A Macau police spokesman said on Wednesday foreign members of the Falun Gong would not be allowed to stage street protests, ruling out any significant authorised demonstration. There are an estimated 40 Falun Gong practitioners living in Macau.

Under local law foreign visitors have no right to stage public protests, the police spokesman said.

HONG KONG, Dec 16, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Four Americans and two Hong Kong residents were detained by police in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen Thursday after allegedly meeting with members of the banned Falungong spiritual group, a Hong Kong-based human rights organization said.

Police pounded on the Shenzhen hotel room doors of the six "overseas Falungong members" at 1:00 a.m. Thursday and took them to the local district police station, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

The detainees were identified as Chen Jinshu and Ren Yufen of Hong Kong and Americans Feng Lili, Chen Shizhong and Xia Yang, the center said. The identify of the sixth detainee was not immediately available.

They were released from the Futian District Station at 6:00 a.m., but police retained their identity papers and told them their documents would be returned in the afternoon.

Local police refused to confirm the incident.

The group participated in pro-Falungong demonstrations in Hong Kong since December 11 and were in Shenzhen to meet with local Falungong practioners on Wednesday, the center said.

The Chinese government banned the Falungong on July 22 and has viewed the group as the biggest threat to communist authority since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

The group, which practices breathing and meditation exercises, advocates clean living and high moral values and boasts a world wide membership of some 100 million.

Over 35,000 Falungong members have been detained by Chinese police since the group was banned, but most have been released after undergoing "education" by Chinese authorities.

MACAU, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Followers of China's banned Falun Gong movement said on Thursday they planned to make their presence felt in Macau for its handover to China despite a police warning they were not welcome and could face punishment.

The group said some members were already in the Portuguese enclave for the transfer at midnight on Sunday.

``If we are not given any permit to protest, we will still exercise in some public places. Even if we can't demonstrate, we are still visitors and we can see the handover celebrations,'' spokeswoman Belinda Pang told Reuters by phone from Hong Kong.

Pang said the group had applied for permission to hold a sit-down protest outside China's Xinhua News Agency branch in Macau. ``As soon as it is approved, we will do it.''

The members have applied for a separate permit to practise meditation exercises in a park on Sunday, with a march to follow.

The group intends to urge China President Jiang Zemin to free jailed practitioners on mainland China, to stop suppressing the movement and start talks with its New York-based founder, Li Hongzhi.

Any protest by Falun Gong members could deflect attention from ceremonies presided over by Jiang and Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio to mark Macau's formal reunion with China after 442 years of colonial rule.

For China the return of Macau means more than the end of an anachronistic European presence on Chinese soil.

MACAU TO TEST FORMULA

Macau will be a further test of the ``one country, two systems'' formula employed for nearby Hong Kong under which Beijing pledges to allow both territories to keep their capitalist ways under the umbrella of communist China.

China's ultimate aim is that such a doctrine or a variation of it could lure Nationalist-ruled Taiwan back into the fold, thus completing the reunification of China, although Taiwan has so far demurred.

Portugal can take pride in handing back a territory that has little fear of succumbing to the trauma of Lisbon's African colonies or the struggle over East Timor that ended only this year when Timorese voted to break away from Indonesia.

A Macau police spokesman said on Wednesday foreign Falun Gong supporters would not be allowed to stage street protests, ruling out any significant authorised demonstration. There are an estimated 40 Falun Gong practitioners living in Macau.

Under local law, foreign visitors had no right to stage public protests, the police spokesman said.

But Pang said the applications, made by Falun Gong followers resident in Macau, stuck closely to Macau procedures.

``We don't see why they won't approve it because everything was done according to the law,'' she said.

Officials at Macau's Urban Council, through which such requests are channelled, said on Thursday they had not seen an application.

The territory's entire police force of more than 5,000 will be on duty to guard the transition, focusing particularly on the Triad gangs that have besmirched Macau's reputation as a colourful, but secure, gambling haven.

Qi gong practitioners have been banned from forming new bodies and holding public sessions, a human rights group said yesterday. The Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said the order, issued last month, was aimed at curbing the influence of qi gong - exercises using similar meditation methods as the banned Falun Gong - for fear of the rise of a "second Falun Gong".

"Since the State Council issued the circular, local police and civil affairs departments have adopted severe measures to control all kinds of qi gong activities," the centre said.

The document banned qi gong practitioners from registering as new statutory bodies or forming subordinate associations under existing qi gong organisations. Public practice sessions, a common way of improving qi gong skills, were also forbidden, the centre said.

"All qi gong activities have to be small, scattered, localised and voluntary," the circular said.

Qi gong bodies were not allowed to carry out cross-district activities, or publish or distribute materials portraying their leaders as god-like figures.

Exercises in public areas would be controlled while qi gong classes in schools were banned, the circular said.

There were more than 70 variations of qi gong exercise with more than 50 million practitioners on the mainland, the centre said.

HONG KONG, Dec 15, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Some 500 members of China's banned Falungong sect plan to gather in Macau during the Portuguese enclave's return to Chinese rule next week, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Wednesday.

The Falungong followers will call on Chinese President Jiang Zemin to release jailed fellow practitioners in China, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said in a statement.

Macau reverts to Chinese rule on Monday after 442 years of Portuguese administration.

The sect members, arriving this weekend from the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Britain, Taiwan and Sweden, will also call on Jiang to withdraw the arrest warrant on the movement's founder Li Hongzhi.

The Information Center said the Falungong members had already applied to the Macau police for permission for the gathering on December 19 and 20.

But security will be tight and the group is not expected to get anywhere near the Chinese leader.

Beijing has pledged to give the enclave of 430,000 people a high degree of autonomy after the handover under the same "one country, two systems" model applied to Hong Kong, which Britain handed over in 1997.

China banned the spiritual movement in July after its members demanded official recognition of their faith in a series of bold protests, including a gathering of 10,000 followers who surrounded the central leadership compound in Beijing in April.

Since July, Beijing has arrested at least 150 Falungong leaders and jailed some of them for up to 12 years. It has also sent an unkown number to labor camps without trial and expelled several foreign members of the group.

HONG KONG, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Chinese police on Wednesday detained four American and two Hong Kong members of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, a Hong Kong human rights group said.

Police in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, took away the six -- two Hong Kong Chinese and four American Chinese -- from their hotel rooms, the Information Centre of Human Rights & Democratic Movement in China said in a statement.

Police questioned them for more than four hours before releasing them, only to detain them again in the afternoon, group spokesman Frank Lu told Reuters.

Lu said the group had since been unable to reach the six by mobile telephone, indicating they might still be in police custody.

The group said the four Americans were engineers and scientists who had come to Hong Kong for last weekend's gathering of Falun Gong followers.

Falun Gong combines elements of Buddhism and Chinese mysticism with traditional meditation exercises known as qigong. The latter is a school of martial arts based on breathing exercises designed to harness inner energy and to heal.

China banned Falun Gong in July after its members demanded recognition of their faith in a series of bold protests. Beijing has since been taken steps to crack down the movement.

CLAMPDOWN ON QIGONG

The human rights group said Beijing was now launching a clampdown on other qigong organisations.

It said the State Council, or cabinet, issued a document in November to instruct the police and authorities to take strict measures to rein in the activities of different qigong streams.

The document said qigong activities should be small-scale, scattered, localised and voluntary.

Qigong followers should not hold any mass congregations or practise near government and military authorities, news organisations, foreign diplomatic offices, major squares or streets, the group quoted the directive ass saying.

It said pictures or logos promoting qigong or their founders should not be posted. It also said qigong should not be practised in primary or secondary schools.

The Hong Kong group said police across the country had ordered a ban on mass congregations for all qigong streams, and authorities no longer allowed qigong organisations to register.

It said police in the northern province of Shaanxi shut down the biggest training centre of Zhong Gong, a qigong stream, early this month and dismissed the 2,000 learners there.

There are about 70 qigong streams in China, with over 50 million followers, it said.

Falun Gong supporters plan to gather in Macau, neighbouring Hong Kong, during the Portuguese enclave's return to Beijing rule this weekend.

MACAO, Dec. 15 (Kyodo) - Macao security police warned Wednesday against a proposed rally by Falun Gong members during the handover of the Portuguese territory to China this weekend.

Those who rally or protest illegally may be arrested and prosecuted, said Leong Wai-keong, a spokesman for the Macao security police.

''Only Macao residents have the right to rally. Non-Macao residents have no right to carry out such activity in Macao,'' Leong said.

''As to such illegal protests or gatherings, we would certainly deal with them with tough measures, even including arrests or sending people to the relevant judicial authorities,'' he added.

About 500 followers of Falun Gong, a sect outlawed by China in July, planned to petition Chinese President Jiang Zemin when he attends the handover ceremony of the enclave on Sunday, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movements in China said.

The sect members want to urge Jiang to release their fellow followers arrested in China, to stop cracking down on the group and to cancel the arrest warrant for their leader Li Hongzhi who lives in the United States, the center said.

Falun Gong practitioners from Macao, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Canada, Britain, Sweden and the United States are expected to join in the action, as well as a planned public demonstration of their meditation and breathing exercises.

But a leading sect member in Hong Kong, Kan Hung-cheung, said he believes only a small number of Falun Gong practitioners will take part in the proposed activities in Macao.

''Our Falun Dafa society in Hong Kong does not support this event because Macao's handover is a highly political sensitive period. As we stress that we do not get involved in politics, we should not hold such activities there even if official permission is given,'' Kan told Kyodo News.

Falun Gong should not be misunderstood as having any political motives, he added.

''Moreover, during this period the Chinese government is very concerned about what is happening in Macao. Even if such gatherings and exercises are carried out peacefully and with good intentions, they could be interpreted as confrontational,'' Kan said.

But a member from Hong Kong, Belinda Pang, told government radio that it is the right opportunity to present their appeals to the Chinese leaders and to deliver their message directly.

Last weekend, about 600 Falun Gong members from more than 20 countries rallied in Hong Kong to petition against the crackdown on their sect by China.

They also organized a conference to voice their plight and exchange their experiences in practicing the Buddhist-oriented exercises.

BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Kyodo) - The Chinese government has ordered regional authorities to stop the formation of new qigong groups and to strictly control the activities of the country's estimated 70 existing qigong groups, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said Wednesday.

The Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movements in China said in a bulletin that the State Council issued the order in a directive issued last month.

The center cited worries about the large numbers of followers of qigong groups, which are similar to the banned Falun Gong group, behind the State Council's move.

The State Council is the highest organ of the state bureaucracy.

Chinese police have reportedly detained up to 36,000 Falun Gong followers since the July banning of the movement, which advocates an eclectic mix of Buddhist and Taoist philosophy with traditional Chinese qigong breathing exercises.

The State Council has instructed regional police, civil administrative bodies and sports associations to ban qigong activities near military establishments, media and overseas representative offices as well as major thoroughfares and public squares, the center said.

The instruction, listed under directive number 77, bans the publication and sale of books and audiovisual materials which deify the founders of the qigong schools, and prohibits the registration of new schools, the bulletin said.

The public display of pictures and symbols associated with the founders of qigong groups is also banned under the government directive, it said.

Authorities in the central northern province of Shaanxi early this month disbanded the training headquarters of the Zhonggong qigong group, which had 2,000 members, the Hong Kong-based human rights group said.

MACAU, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Followers of China's banned Falun Gong group plan to gather in Macau during the Portuguese enclave's return to Beijing rule this weekend, but the territory's police appear to have slammed the door in their face.

Belinda Pang, spokeswoman for the protesters, said on Wednesday Falun Gong followers would come to Macau to call on Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who is attending ceremonies to end 442 years of Portuguese rule, to free practitioners jailed in China.

``This is a very good opportunity for us to express our views. We have given so many petitions, but if we can give it directly to Jiang, that would be even better,'' Pang, speaking from Hong Kong, told Reuters.

Pang could not estimate the size of the group. ``It could be very small, but if a lot of people decide to join us it could be well over 500.''

NO FOREIGN PROTESTERS ALLOWED

But a spokesman for Macau police said on Wednesday foreign members of the Falun Gong would not be allowed to stage street protests in Macau during the Sunday night handover, thus appearing to rule out any significant, authorised demonstration to disturb the elaborately choreographed handover of power.

Senior inspector Leong Wai-keong told a news conference that under local law foreign visitors had no right to stage public protests.

Macau's Falun Gong community is reported to be only about 40 strong.

Leong denied reports that police had granted a permit to the Falun Gong to stage a protest rally. ``We have not received any application, that's not true,'' he said.

Moreover he said that if local Falun Gong members wanted to apply for a permit, the application must be filed at least three working days before the planned protest. Saturday is not a working day in Macau.

Leong warned Falun Gong members against attempting to stage an illegal demonstration in Macau. ``They face up to two years' imprisonment for disobedience,'' he said.

He added that Macau's police forces had begun precautionary measures in case some 500 Falun Gong members from overseas were planning to converge on Macau.

Macau's Falun Gong members appear to have adopted a low profile after one of their leaders was recently arrested in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

News of the gathering also aroused alarm among some members of the group in Hong Kong and Macau, who said it would mar handover celebrations and generate more misunderstanding towards the spiritual movement.

``This is Macau's handover, it's such a grand and wonderful occasion and I just don't think it is a suitable occasion to hold any sort of protest,'' said a Macau follower, who declined to be named.

China banned Falun Gong in July after its members demanded recognition of their faith in a series of bold protests.

Falun Gong combines elements of Buddhism and Chinese mysticism with traditional meditation exercises known as qigong.

LEGAL PROTEST ALLOWED

Beijing has pledged to give the enclave of 430,000 people a high degree of autonomy after the handover under the same ``one country, two systems'' model applied to Hong Kong, which Britain handed over in 1997.

One protest was allowed on Wednesday when about 50 demonstrators marched through Macau streets denouncing immigration laws that are splitting their families, an issue that may haunt the territory beyond the handover.

The peaceful protesters, waving banners and chanting slogans, were mostly Chinese mainland parents of more than 100 children who had failed to get permission to study and stay in Macau.

A similar but much larger problem of divided families has dogged nearby Hong Kong since the end of British rule, causing the worst constitutional headache for the post-handover administration.

HONG KONG - Nearly 900 followers of a quasi-religious group banned in the mainland gathered here last weekend in what was the biggest public rebuke to China since this former British colony was returned to Chinese sovereignty 2-1/2 years ago.

They assembled in downtown Hong Kong and marched peacefully behind yellow protest banners to the headquarters of the New China News Agency, one of Beijing's official outposts in the territory, where they silently meditated and left petitions and letters.

In these missives Falun Gong members said they wanted to clear up any misunderstandings about the nature of their movement and called on the Chinese government to cancel its arrest warrant for their leader, Li Hongzhi, who lives in New York.

This event - and how Hong Kong authorities have responded to it - is likely to clarify and test the limits of Hong Kong's relationship with Beijing under the so-called "one country, two systems."

A similar demonstration on the mainland would have been quickly quashed, the protesters hauled away in a police van for detention and possible charges. Since July, Beijing has banned the Falun Gong as being potentially disruptive to the social order. Several leaders have been given prison terms.

Here in Hong Kong, there was no crackdown, because of the freedoms, including those of assembly and religious expression, that are permitted under "one-country two systems." But not since pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 has Hong Kong been a base to protest mainland practices. "They're trying to test the limits," says political commentator Lau Shi-kai of the Chinese University.

The Falun Gong conference came close on the heels of a decision of the territory's Court of Final Appeal that was widely seen as eroding the territory's judicial independence. It ruled that the National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature, had final say in interpreting the Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitution.

The court effectively reversed a ruling it had made last January, when it declared unconstitutional an ordinance restricting the rights of mainland Chinese to live in Hong Kong. Fearing that the ruling would lead to unlimited migration and strain social services, the government asked the NPC to make a ruling.

The Basic Law clearly states that the NPC has ultimate interpretative authority. But the charter also delegates to Hong Kong's court independent final judgment on local matters. The difficulty arises in deciding matters, like immigration, that impinge on both local and national interests.

The authorities promise that they will request interpretations only rarely, claiming that the migrants case was exceptional because of the social dangers posed by virtually unlimited migration from the mainland.

On the issue itself, the government's basic position has wide public support.

But the worry is that future government will be strongly tempted to go running to Beijing every time they lose in court. "We don't know when a case will be 'exceptional'," says Mak Yin-ting, president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. She worries that the government might someday want to "reinterpret" press freedoms.

"One-country, two systems is still healthy," says Professor Lau. "What bothers people is a Hong Kong government that often seems too eager to please China, rather than the Chinese government trying to interfere in Hong Kong affairs."

Public opinion polls show that Hong Kong people by wide margins think that Beijing has acted correctly since the handover on July 1, 1997. Similar polls give China's leaders high ratings. President Jiang Zemin's are in the 75 percent range, those of Premier Zhu Rongji even higher.

But only about 39 percent approve of Hong Kong's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's performance. Indeed, his ratings are falling just as the territory is emerging from economic recession.

The chief is often seen here as being overly deferential to Beijing and too slow to defend Hong Kong's freedoms. He sternly warned Falun Gong demonstrators to obey the law. He went on to say that the demonstrators should not "act against the interests of China."

That led the English-language South China Morning Post to speculate editorially whether Mr. Tung was merely speaking in "preemptive obeisance to Beijing," or whether he might use the Falun Gong demonstration to introduce stricter laws.

Chinese authorities have long worried that foreigners might use Hong Kong as a "base" to "subvert" the mainland regime. That the weekend drew many practitioners from Australia, Japan, and Europe no doubt rekindled these fears, even though a sect spokesman said, "we have no intention to make Hong Kong a base."

"China Warns Falungong To Abide By Local Laws During Macau Handover"

"Falungong Members Vow To Press Ahead With Macau Visit"

"Four Americans, Two Hong Kong Residents Detained In China"

"Falun members bent on Macau handover presence"

"Strict curbs on qi gong practitioners"

"Falungong Plans Gathering At Macau Handover"

"China detains U.S., HK Falun Gong members"

"Macao warns against Falun Gong rally during handover"

"China bans formation of new qigong groups"

"Macau police warn Falun on handover protest"

"Stymied in China, Falun Gong rallies in Hong Kong"