DATE=12/10/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=HONG KONG - FALUN GONG (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-257022 BYLINE=GRACE CUTLER DATELINE=HONG KONG CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Overseas members of the Falun Gong spiritual group began arriving in Hong Kong Friday for an annual two day conference. Grace Cutler reports from the Chinese territory, the sect, which is outlawed in the rest of China, is nevertheless legal in Hong Kong. TEXT: They are arriving in Hong Kong from as far away as Britain and the United States. Falun Gong practitioners from several countries, including China, will attend talks, exchange information and participate in exercises as part of a two-day conference. Falun Gong blends slow-motion meditation exercises with ideas from Buddhism and Taoism. Members say it promotes peaceful thoughts and good health. The annual meeting will be the first large-scale gathering in Hong Kong of Falun Gong members, since Beijing banned the group in July. Since then, Falun Gong supporters say, some 30-thousand of their members have been detained or imprisoned. But because Hong Kong has a separate legal system from China, Falun Gong is not outlawed in the territory. Several Hong Kong Falun Gong followers have been camping out -- in protest-- at the headquarters of China's Xinhua News Agency since the end of October. Patrick Kwong is a Falun Gong practitioner from Australia who is in Hong Kong to attend the conference. He joined other members, from Hong Kong and overseas, outside Xinhua's offices. //KWONG ACT// It is a sad thing that they have done those kind of things. Put a ban on Falun Gong and torture the people and put them in jail. We have done nothing wrong, so we don't deserve that kind of treatment. //END ACT// Organizers of the meditation conference say they are planning to stage another gathering in front of Xinhua's offices on Saturday. About one thousand people are expected to participate. Pro-Beijing politicians in Hong Kong have criticized plans for the international conference, calling it inappropriate and a slap in the face for China. Observers here say Chinese officials are concerned about Hong Kong becoming a base for operations and agitation by the group. (SIGNED) NEB/GC/FC/PLM 10-Dec-1999 06:35 AM EDT (10-Dec-1999 1135 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
