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China defends crackdown on Falungong spiritual group

China urges Obama to avoid Dalai Lama meeting
China on Thursday urged Barack Obama not to meet with the Dalai Lama, whose audiences with the new US president's predecessors have repeatedly sparked anger in Beijing. "We firmly oppose the Dalai's engagement in separatist activities in any country under whatever capacity and under whatever name," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters. She had been asked for China's stance on any possible future plans for a meeting between the US president and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. "We have made representations to the US urging the US to honour its commitments and not allow the Dalai to engage in separatist activities in the US," Jiang said. Past US presidents have met with the Dalai Lama, whom China vilifies as a separatist seeking independence for his Himalayan homeland, although he denies such claims. In October 2007, former president George W. Bush defied repeated warnings from China and awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal -- the highest US civilian honour -- at the US Capitol building in Washington. China lodged an official protest but the meeting caused no lasting damage to relations. Obama is widely seen as needing to maintain good relations with China amid the world financial crisis. Ahead of a visit to China in February, his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would not let human rights concerns get in the way of bilateral cooperation on the economy and climate change. China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and officially "liberated" it the following year. The Dalai Lama fled his homeland in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He insists that he wants autonomy for Tibet rather than independence.
by Staff Writers
 Beijing (AFP) April 23, 2009
 China on Thursday said authorities had broken no laws while cracking down on the Falungong spiritual group, while insisting it was a cult that violated human rights through mind control.

"Ten years ago the Chinese government outlawed the Falungong cult in accordance with the law," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said ahead of Saturday's sensitive anniversary of a huge protest by the group in 1999.

"The Falungong violated human rights by controlling people's minds, causing illness, disablement or even death of many innocent people and practitioners."

The group first emerged in 1992 behind charismatic leader Li Hongzhi, who preached "truth, compassion and forbearance," while promising better health through group meditation and traditional breathing exercises.

His ideas were loosely based on Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian philosophies.

But China outlawed the group that once boasted up to 70 million followers after more than 10,000 practitioners gathered around the Communist Party's Beijing headquarters on April 25, 1999 in protest of the pending crackdown.

At the time, the government called the gathering the biggest threat to the party's rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

According to the exiled Falun Dafa Information Centre, "several hundred thousand" followers have been jailed without trial in Chinese labour camps.

During the last 10 years up to 3,000 followers have died through torture and beatings while incarcerated, it said.

Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, told AFP that Chinese authorities had used heavy-handed measures to break Falungong's organisation in China.

"The crushing of the Falungong movement from 1999 that runs up to now was particularly secretive and entailed large-scale violations of human rights, including the systematic use of torture and extra-judicial detention," he said.

Jiang insisted the government has punished Falungong members "in accordance with the law," while also mobilising the "entire society to help those practitioners taken in" by the group.

"This shows that the Chinese government cares for its people, especially those vulnerable groups," Jiang said.

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SINO DAILY
Tibet tourism recovering despite security: state media
 Beijing (AFP) April 22, 2009
 Visitor arrivals in Tibet rose 12 percent over the past six months, state media said Wednesday, despite a security clampdown during the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.






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