Reuters:

China Vows 'War to the End' with Falun Gong

Mon Feb 12 06:37:00 2001 GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - In a fresh salvo of sharp anti-Falun Gong rhetoric, China's Communist Party vowed on Monday to "fight the war to the end" against the outlawed spiritual group.

"The Chinese government will fight the war to the end in a bid to safeguard the reform and opening-up, the socialist modernization drive and the hard-won social stability," the People's Daily said in a commentary.

The party's official newspaper said "Western anti-China masters" were behind Falun Gong's repeated public protests.

The commentary said Falun Gong teachings inspired a failed bombing attempt at Tiananmen Square last year.

"After receiving the message, a crazy Falun Gong follower armed with explosives went to the square and was ready to ignite himself on April 5, 2000. His deadly attempt was foiled by patrolling police," it said.

INTERNATIONAL CONCERN MOUNTS

Falun Gong members have protested almost daily in Tiananmen Square since the movement was outlawed in 1999. China's often harsh treatment of protesters has provoked widespread international concern.

Human rights groups say more than 100 Falun Gong followers have died of police beatings and other abuse, while the sect says tens of thousands of its mainland members have been sent to labor camps without trial.

Premier Zhu Rongji repeated China's position that the movement which combines Taoism and Buddhism with traditional Chinese exercises was an "evil cult" that duped followers and threatened social stability.

OK IN HONG KONG

Falun Gong is legal in Hong Kong, which is under Chinese sovereignty but enjoys a high degree of autonomy. Last week Hong Kong's government said it would step up monitoring of the activities of Falun Gong's estimated 400-500 members in the territory.

Hong Kong's autonomy and rule of law would suffer a severe blow if it gave in to growing pressure from Beijing to ban the sect, scholars and human rights activists said Saturday.