DATE=12/17/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=YEARENDER- CHINA-FALUN GONG
NUMBER=5-45026
BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: China is in the midst of a high-profile battle
to try to wipe out Falun Gong, a spiritual movement
the government calls an evil cult and has outlawed.
As we hear from V-O-A's Stephanie Ho in Beijing Falun
Gong was this year transformed from relative obscurity
to the Chinese government's public enemy number one.
TEXT: Falun Gong stunned the world and, apparently,
Chinese authorities, when more than 10-thousand
members staged a bold sit-in protest in April.
Followers of the spiritual group surrounded the
Zhongnanhai central leadership compound in Beijing and
demanded official recognition.
The Chinese government gave its answer three months
later. It declared Falun Gong illegal and launched a
nationwide crackdown against group leaders.
Broadcasts on state-run television indicated that
first and foremost, the Chinese government blamed
Falun Gong for disturbing social order.
// C-C-T-V SOUND - FADE IN, EST, FADE OUT //
By the end of October, China formally labeled the
group a cult. The National People's Congress then
passed legislation calling for stepped-up measures to
deal with groups Beijing considers cults.
The director of the State Administration of Religious
Affairs, Ye Xiaowen, told reporters Beijing sees Falun
Gong as a threat to the personal safety of most
Chinese people.
// YE CHINESE AND INTERPRETER ACT //
The Chinese government cannot sit back and do nothing
about Falun Gong, a cult organization that has
seriously endangered society.
// END ACT //
The Chinese government is accusing the spiritual group
of being responsible for the deaths of at least 14-
hundred members - who were not allowed to seek medical
treatment or allegedly driven crazy.
Mr. Ye says Beijing has also charged Falun Gong and
its founder with financial crimes.
// YE AND INTERPRETER ACT //
Li Hongzhi has made a fortune out of Falun Gong
illegally. Most of his ill-gotten wealth has evaded
tax.
// END ACT //
Falun Gong followers were dismayed when the government
declared the group an illegal organization. They came
to Beijing from around the country to appeal to the
central government to change its mind. One younger
adherent, 26-year-old teacher Mr. Sun, says some
members have been severely beaten.
// SUN CHINESE ACT - IN FULL, FADE OUT //
Nevertheless, he pledged to continue studying Falun
Gong. He says he thinks it is not a bad thing, and
only teaches him to be a good person.
Lowell Dittmer, a political science professor at the
University of California at Berkeley, says the Chinese
government may see Falun Gong as a challenge to the
ruling party.
// DITTMER ACT //
These people define their basis of their authority not
in terms of the Communist Party. They have a sort of
separate sort of legitimacy. This is threatening to
the government. The government sort of defines them
as being political even though they were previously
apolitical. And certainly, if they mobilize 12-
thousand people in the middle of Beijing, this is a
political statement.
// END ACT //
The Chinese government disputes Falun Gong's claim to
have 100-million adherents, saying it officially
estimates the group's membership at about two million.
The Chinese Communist Party has about 60-million
members.
Beijing's crackdown against Falun Gong has so far
netted more than 150 followers, who are being charged
with crimes ranging from disturbing social order to
leaking state secrets. The stiffest prison sentence
was handed down to a leader in the southern island
province of Hainan. He has been jailed for 12 years.
China's most wanted man in all of this, is Falun Gong
founder Li -- who lives out of reach, in the United
States. (SIGNED)
NEB/HO/FC/PLM
17-Dec-1999 05:30 AM EDT (17-Dec-1999 1030 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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