After staying away from the limelight for more than a year, Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi made a public appearance in San Francisco on Saturday.
The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said Mr Li made the surprise appearance during a Falun Gong conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.
He gave a half-hour speech to the 500 adherents at the conference and left in the company of several bodyguards.
The human rights group said Mr Li avoided public appearances because he feared assassination. It was rumoured, the group said, that Beijing had been considering hiring triad members in the US to carry out the killing.
The Falun Gong movement, which combines breathing exercises with Buddhist beliefs, has been banned by the mainland Government and branded an "evil cult". It has defied a crackdown with almost daily protests in Tiananmen Square since it was outlawed. Large numbers of followers were arrested at National Day celebrations this year.
BEIJING -- On Tiananmen Square, it has become nearly as common a sight as throngs of tourists lined up for a glimpse of Mao Tse-tung's preserved body.
Almost every day, members of the Falun Gong spiritual sect, often middle-aged women from the countryside, are roughly rounded up by police, shoved into vans or buses waiting nearby and hauled off to undisclosed locations.
More than a year after China's government vowed to crush Falun Gong, which claims tens of millions of members across China, the casualties continue to mount. By the sect's count, 65 followers have died from abuse in police custody and more than 50,000 others have been detained, many ending up in labor camps, prisons or psychiatric hospitals.
Now, both sides have recently shown signs of escalating the conflict to a dangerous new level.
The People's Daily, the Communist Party's main newspaper, recently elevated Falun Gong -- a mix of meditative exercise, Buddhist and Taoist philosophy and the teachings of founder Li Hongzhi -- to the highest tier of Communist Party condemnation.
Chinese leaders initially denounced Falun Gong as an ``evil cult'' when it banned the sect in July 1999 and launched a crackdown. The People's Daily, a means of proclaiming the top leaders' views, went further, calling Falun Gong ``a virtual reactionary political force,'' saying, ``Its aim is to overturn the People's Republic of China and to subvert the socialist system.''
The publication of the commentary followed a major show of defiance by Falun Gong members. Several hundred of them turned up for a protest during celebrations in Tiananmen Square on Oct. 1, the 51st anniversary of the founding of communist China. Police pounced on them and hauled them away.
Meanwhile, the sect's founder, who lives in exile in New York, has started using the Internet to urge other followers in China, who have been practicing the sect's disciplines quietly at home, to defend their faith publicly no matter what risks they face.
Non-political origins
But while some may be willing to martyr themselves for the cause, many are not. Falun Gong originally became popular not as a political movement but as a way to stay healthy in a country with little medical coverage.
A 60-year-old retired engineer from Jiangxi province said she started practicing Falun Gong three years ago because her health was poor. The beneficial results were so striking that her husband also began practicing it, she said.
``He's a Communist and did not believe in it at all when I first tried it,'' she said. ``We just practice it for health reasons -- we have never done anything against the Communist Party. If it's banned outside, can't we practice at home? I will not drop it, but I will not do anything to bring troubles to my family.''
A Falun Gong representative in the United States, Gail Rachlin, said she was worried about what the new condemnation would mean for followers in China.
Rachlin, who lobbies for Falun Gong in Washington, said in a press release that the government's recasting of her sect as a political organization might herald an even fiercer crackdown by President Jiang Zemin.
``If we are now to be considered traitors or `enemies' of the state, will he now authorize even more illegal force, including the brutal tactics usually deployed against such threats: assassinations and executions?'' she asked.
In a telephone interview, Rachlin denied that the sect was plotting to topple China's government. But she acknowledged that Falun Gong had been politicized by the government's crackdown, which she characterized as Jiang's ``reign of terror.''
Rachlin said it was a misinterpretation to think that reclusive Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi was urging his followers to become martyrs. Li, she insisted, simply speaks truth and ``doesn't direct anything.''
Li, who left China several years ago and settled in New York, previously told his followers to avoid any involvement in politics.
A Falun Gong practitioner ``should neither interfere with the political affairs of the country nor get involved in any kind of political disputes or activities,'' Li wrote in a 1994 book.
But Li's teachings have changed. He now tells them they must actively oppose China's government to restore cosmic order, or ``rectify the fa'' in Falun Gong lingo.
On the sect's official North American Internet site (http://
clearwisdom.net), Li aims tirades at China's president, whom he denounces as a ``world-class monster.'' One commentary posted there, titled ``Why Do We Shine the Light Directly on Jiang Zemin?'' said China's president is ``the highest representation of the evil force in the world.''
Li also has issued an appeal to his followers that reads like a call for martyrs.
In ``Serious Teachings,'' an article posted on the sect's Web site, Li promises great spiritual rewards if one stands up for Falun Gong, even if doing so costs followers their ``human lives.''
``I'm happy for those disciples who have stepped forward -- future great enlightened beings -- to validate Dafa'' -- Li's name for his teachings -- ``during this time that's been over a year,'' he said.
``Whether they are imprisoned or lose their human lives for persevering in Dafa cultivation, they achieve Consummation.''
`Master' disappointed
While praising those who have been beaten and jailed in China, Li expresses disappointment in followers who have failed to show a willingness to die for the Dafa.
``While their Master is being slandered, what are they doing?'' he asks. ``Are they waiting for something good to just fall from the sky? Are they waiting to reach Consummation once the tribulation ends? I'm really worried about them. They have no idea how dangerous the situation is for their true beings!''
It's difficult to predict what results Li's words may have.
Falun Gong followers in China are not an easy group to poll. Except for those who offer themselves up for arrest on Tiananmen Square, Falun Gong practitioners tend to keep a low profile.
A 65-year-old retired food-factory worker said he likes Falun Gong because it is ``free and keeps us healthy.''
``I worked for the food factory all my life and received little pay,'' he said.
He said he would go to Beijing as many had done to protest the ban, but refrained out of fear that his son would suffer recrimination.
``I have nothing to lose now,'' he said, ``but I have to think of my family.''
A Hong Kong Falun Gong follower who was jailed on the mainland after trying to sue President Jiang Zemin for cracking down on the sect has disappeared, fellow members said yesterday.
Furniture dealer Chu O-ming, 43, has not been seen since mainland authorities told his family he had been released from Beijing's Fangshan No 2 Detention Centre. He had been detained for more than a month.
"Over 60 practitioners have been tortured to death on the mainland," said Hui Yee-han, spokesman for the Hong Kong Association of Falun Dafa. "I am worried that he might be like them."
Last Saturday, Mr Chu's family was told by police that he had been released at about 10pm the night before. They were also asked to pick up his personal belongings left at the detention centre. However, Mr Chu did not contact his family and his whereabouts are unknown.
When his family went to the centre and demanded information, the officer on duty said he had been released and was no longer there.
Ms Hui said the group had not been able to contact Mr Chu's family since his disappearance.
The businessman was arrested on September 7 with fellow adherent Wang Jie, 37, days after they filed a case against Mr Jiang and other senior officials at the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Other followers do not know the fate of Mr Wang, a mainlander.
Ms Hui said there were other Hong Kong residents being held on the mainland, "but usually they are released after being detained for one or two days, or they would be sent immediately to Hong Kong. It is terrible what [the authorities] did. According to the law, they should notify the family within 24 hours after the arrest, but the first notification they gave was on October 13".
Mr Chu is a Hong Kong permanent resident and holds an SAR passport. He spends most of the time in Beijing and does not have any family in Hong Kong. An official at the detention centre declined to comment on Mr Chu's whereabouts, saying: "It is not a simple issue. You have to ask the government department in charge of Falun Gong affairs."
The Security Bureau said Mr Chu was under "residential surveillance" in Beijing.
BEIJING -- On Tiananmen Square, it has become nearly as common a sight as throngs of tourists lined up for a glimpse of Mao Tse-tung's preserved body.
Almost every day, members of the Falun Gong spiritual sect, often middle-age women from the countryside, are roughly rounded up by police, quickly shoved into vans or buses waiting nearby, and hauled to undisclosed locations.
More than a year after China's government vowed to crush Falun Gong, which claims tens of millions of members across the country, the casualties continue to mount. By the sect's count, 61 followers have died from abuse in police custody and more than 50,000 others have been detained. Many end up in labor camps, prisons or psychiatric hospitals.
Now both sides have recently shown signs of escalating the conflict.
The People's Daily, the Communist Party's main newspaper, recently elevated Falun Gong -- a mix of meditative exercise, Buddhist and Taoist philosophy and the teachings of founder Li Hongzhi -- to the highest tier of condemnation.
Chinese leaders initially denounced Falun Gong as an "evil cult" when it banned the sect in July 1999 and launched a crackdown. The People's Daily commentary, a means of proclaiming the top leaders' views, went further, calling Falun Gong "a virtual reactionary political force." It added, "Its aim is to overturn the People's Republic of China and to subvert the socialist system."
The publication of the commentary followed a major show of defiance by Falun Gong members. Several hundred of them turned up for a protest during celebrations in Tiananmen Square on Oct. 1, the 51st anniversary of the founding of communist China. Police pounced on them and quickly hauled them off.
Exiled leader on Internet
Meanwhile, sect founder Li, who lives in exile in New York, has started using the Internet to urge other followers in China, who have been practicing the sect's disciplines quietly at home, to defend their faith publicly no matter what risks they face.
Though some may be willing to martyr themselves for the cause, many are not. Falun Gong gained popularity not as a political movement but as a way to stay healthy in a country where many lack medical coverage.
A 60-year-old retired engineer from Jiangxi province said she started practicing Falun Gong 3 years ago because her health was poor. The beneficial results were so striking that her husband also began practicing it, she said.
"He's a communist and did not believe in it at all when I first tried it," she said. "We just practice it for health reasons -- we have never done anything against the Communist Party. If it's banned outside, can't we practice at home? I will not drop it, but I will not do anything to bring troubles to my family."
A Falun Gong spokeswoman in the United States, Gail Rachlin, said she is worried about what the new condemnation will mean for followers in China.
Rachlin, who lobbies for Falun Gong in Washington, said in a press release that the government's recasting of her sect as a political organization might herald an even fiercer crackdown by President Jiang Zemin.
"If we are now to be considered traitors or 'enemies' of the state, will he now authorize even more illegal force, including the brutal tactics usually deployed against such threats: assassinations and executions?" she asked.
In a telephone interview, Rachlin denied that the sect is plotting to topple China's government. But she acknowledged that Falun Gong has been politicized by the government's crackdown, which she characterized as Jiang's "reign of terror."
Rachlin said it is a misinterpretation to think that reclusive Falun Gong founder Li is urging his followers to become martyrs. Li, she insisted, simply speaks truth and "doesn't direct anything."
Li, who left China several years ago and settled in New York, previously told his followers to avoid any involvement in politics.
A Falun Gong practitioner "should neither interfere with the political affairs of the country nor get involved in any kind of political disputes or activities," Li wrote in a 1994 book.
But Li's teachings have changed. He now tells them they must actively oppose China's government to restore cosmic order, or "rectify the fa" in Falun Gong lingo.
The sect's official Web site, www.clearwisdom.net, is filled with tirades against China's president, whom Li denounced as a "world-class monster." One commentary posted there -- titled "Why Do We Shine the Light Directly on Jiang Zemin?" -- said Jiang is "the highest representation of the evil force in the world."
Li also has issued an appeal to his followers that reads like a call for martyrs.
In "Serious Teachings," an article posted on the sect's Web site, Li promises great spiritual rewards if one stands up for Falun Gong, even if doing so costs followers their "human lives."
While praising those who have been beaten and jailed in China, Li expresses disappointment in followers who have failed to show a willingness to die for the Dafa.
"While their Master is being slandered, what are they doing?" he asks. "Are they waiting for something good to just fall from the sky? Are they waiting to reach Consummation once the tribulation ends? I'm really worried about them. They have no idea how dangerous the situation is for their true beings!"
Followers keep low profile
It's difficult to predict what results Li's words may have.
Falun Gong followers in China are not an easy group to poll. Except for those who offer themselves up for arrest on Tiananmen Square, Falun Gong practitioners tend to keep a low profile.
A 65-year-old retired food factory worker from Hebei province, speaking on condition that he not be named, said he likes Falun Gong because it is "free and keeps us healthy."
"I worked for the food factory all my life and received little pay," he said. "I have to live in fear because the factory has stopped paying the medical bills for us and I don't know when my pension will be stopped."
He said he would go to Beijing as many have done to protest the ban, but refrained out of fear that his son would suffer recrimination.
"I have nothing to lose now, but I have to think of my family," he said.
HONG KONG (AP) - Two members of the Falun Gong spiritual sect who were detained after suing Chinese President Jiang Zemin for banning the group have mysteriously disappeared, followers in Hong Kong said Thursday.
The Falun Gong adherents said they don't know what happened to Chu O-ming or Wang Jie, who were missing in mainland China.
Falun Gong followers and human rights groups have made numerous allegations of other adherents dying while in custody in China. But Sharon Xu, a spokeswoman for Falun Gong in Hong Kong, said sect members were not immediately assuming the worst for Chu and Wang.
``We don't know, but it's possible,'' Xu said. ``It is not very favorable for Mr. Chu or Mr. Wang. We're very concerned.''
Falun Gong is banned in mainland China but remains legal in Hong Kong, where citizens enjoy considerably more freedom under a largely autonomous local government.
Falun Gong said Chu, a Hong Kong resident who worked as a furniture dealer in Beijing, and Wang, who worked in a mapmaking bureau there, were illegally detained more than a month ago after they mailed their lawsuit against Jiang and two aides to the Chinese courts.
Xu said Chu's relatives in Beijing were notified Saturday that he had been released at 10 p.m. the night before from the Fang Shan Detention Center in southwestern Beijing and that they should come to the detention center to pick up his personal belongings.
But Chu did not contact his family, and when relatives went to the detention center asking what had happened, they were told only that he was no longer there.
The Falun Gong followers said they obtained their information from reliable contacts on the mainland, although they refused to elaborate out of fear those people would suffer retaliation.
Wang is also no longer at the detention center in Beijing, according to the Falun Gong adherents in Hong Kong. They said they were unaware of any contacts between the Chinese authorities and any relatives of Wang.
Falun Gong followers have said Chu and Wang received no response to the lawsuit they filed through the mail in late August. But on Sept. 7, police raided a home where they were staying in the Chinese capital and took them into custody.
Falun Gong has attracted millions of followers, most of them in China, with its combination of slow-motion exercises and its philosophy drawn from Taoism, Buddhism and the often unorthodox ideas of founder Li Hongzhi.
The Beijing leadership outlawed the sect after being startled by the ability of its adherents to organize massive gatherings in China.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A researcher who was detained with his wife in China because of links to an outlawed sect is being allowed to return to the United States.
Shean Lin, a microbiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Xiaohua Du, his wife, should be returning this weekend, said a statement from the office of Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala.
Lin, a 30-year-old doctoral candidate, and Xiaohua Du, a 28-year-old engineer, were detained by Chinese authorities Sept. 8 after officials found Falun Gong materials in their possession.
Falun Gong, a system of meditation and exercise drawn from Buddhist and Taoist teachings, has been banned in China, where authorities consider it a cult and a threat to security. Practitioners say it improves spiritual and physical health.
Lin, who has been in the United States about seven years, works at UAB's Center for AIDS Research.
BEIJING - China has dropped hints it might ratify a key U.N. human rights treaty this month, but foreign analysts said on Wednesday there was no firm evidence Beijing was ready to take the long-awaited step.
State media and the Chinese Foreign Ministry have said the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would be on the agenda of China's parliament next week.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters on Tuesday the October 23-31 session of the Standing Committee of China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), would deliberate the covenant.
Three years after China signed the economic and social covenant, Zhu told a news conference time was now "ripe" for ratification. He said it was up to the NPC whether China would seek exemptions to certain provisions of the rights treaty.
But diplomats said recent rounds of regular bilateral rights talks between China and foreign governments had produced no assurances Beijing was ready to ratify the treaty.
MAXIMUM MILEAGE
In a sign ratification was not an immediate prospect, an NPC spokesman told Reuters the treaties would be reviewed by "related committees," but was not on the Standing Committee agenda.
Human rights experts have been sceptical of a quick breakthrough, recalling the lengthy process before Beijing signed the economic and social covenant in October 1997 and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights a year later.
Sophia Woodman, research director for the U.S.-based group Human Rights in China, said she would welcome early unconditional ratification of both treaties, but that deliberation did not signify impending implementation.
She said Beijing would probably seek "maximum mileage" in diplomacy and public relations as it had in the signing process.
"They said 'we're about to sign, we're about to sign' and that went on for years and years," she said from Hong Kong.
Signing the covenants, releasing high-profile political prisoners and hosting visits by U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson won China kudos and helped it fend off international criticism of its human rights record for several years.
GOOD NEWS NEEDED
Again under fire for its crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual group and for other religious and media curbs, Beijing might want to offer up some good news on human rights.
"It is widely expected that the ratification would take place on the margins of some big event," said a Western diplomat.
China will hold a summit with the European Union next week in Beijing and President Jiang Zemin is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Brunei next month.
But Jean Felix-Paganon, a senior French diplomat who headed a EU delegation in rights talks in Beijing last month, told reporters afterwards that the EU team got "the usual answer on the difficulties of the ratification process."
Canada hosted Chinese diplomats for human rights dialogue last week, but neither side has made public any dramatic results.
Analysts of China's involvement with U.N. human rights activities since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre say the main aim of Beijing's engagement has been to evade scrutiny, maintain its definition of human rights and uphold the principle of non-intervention in its affairs.
China argues that state sovereignty takes precedence over human rights and collective rights trump individual liberties. It also maintains that providing food, clothing and shelter for 1.23 billion people is more important that granting political rights.
HONG KONG - Three Chinese followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement have died in Chinese custody, a Hong Kong human-rights group said on Wednesday.
The three deaths in northern China took to at least 57 the number of Falun Gong practitioners to have perished during detention since the group was banned last July, the Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said in a statement.
It said 61-year-old Xuan Chengxi was beaten to death in the eastern province of Shandong. He was arrested on October 12 in Weifang city for distributing promotional materials for Falun Gong, the organisation said.
Town officials beat him up the same day and later cremated his body without first notifying his relatives, the Hong Kong group said.
Zhang Zhiyou, a 45-year-old Falun Gong adherent from the same town, was detained while visiting Beijing and jumped from a train and died as he was being escorted back to his home city, it said.
In the central province of Henan, 21-year-old Falun Gong follower Zhuang Guangxin plunged to his death from the seventh floor of a building where he had been beaten by police, it said.
There was no immediate comment on the reported deaths from the Chinese government.
It has acknowledged several deaths of Falun Gong supporters in custody, but said most resulted from pre-existing illnesses or were suicides.
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 in 1999 and was banned in China later that year.
Overseas practitioners said on Monday that Chinese rhetoric branding Falun Gong an enemy of the state could presage an intensification of Beijing's harsh crackdown against it.
China responded last week to embarrassing protests by hundreds of Falun Gong followers on its October 1 National Day with an angry outburst calling the spiritual movement an anti-state force that must be destroyed.
What Is Falun Gong? See "Falun Gong 101", by Massimo Introvigne
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