Chinese government steps up campaign against Falun Gong

BEIJING -- China is calling for a renewed "fight until the end" against the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, which it accuses of a litany of offenses -- including trying to block the government's efforts to fight SARS.

"We should be fully aware that the fight will be long, arduous and complicated," authorities said in a lengthy commentary carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. "We must be vigilant against the Falun Gong cult and should in no way relax our efforts."

Falun Gong has attracted millions of followers with a mix of calisthenics and doctrines drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and the ideas of its founder, Li Hongzhi, a former government clerk.

In 1999, the government banned the movement, which it calls an "evil cult." It has since arrested hundreds, if not thousands, of followers, and practitioners many have been tortured and in some cases murdered. The government denies killing anyone, but says some detainees have died from hunger strikes or refusing medical attention.

Within China, Falun Gong followers have maintained a low profile because of the harsh government treatment and constant denunciation by official media. It is unclear how many followers the movement has in the country; virtually all activities and confrontations with authorities that become public involve Falun Gong supporters from overseas.

The group's press wing, the Falun Dafa Information Center, has alleged that systematic torture and murder is taking place in China's prisons and labor camps in a campaign aimed both at squashing those who support the movement and deterring others from joining it.

The government says it is working to rehabilitate Falun Gong followers and get them back into society.

There was no indication why the government chose this time to distribute the commentary against the movement, which has repeatedly hacked into Chinese TV satellite signals and broadcast its messages in recent months.

Levi Browde, a New York-based Falun Gong spokesman, called the piece issued late Sunday "standard rhetoric" and suggested it was linked to lawsuits filed in several countries against retired President Jiang Zemin and other top Chinese leaders.

"The purpose of this latest propaganda is to try to thwart some of the reality of what's happening in the world's courtrooms," Browde said. "In every single one of these court cases around the world, not once have they come through to defend themselves against the accusations."

China's leadership fears any organization that challenges its authority -- particularly a group that provides spirituality, something the Communist Party does not offer. Falun Gong, for its part, has chosen activities that are certain to anger Beijing, such as demonstrating in politically sensitive Tiananmen Square.

The Xinhua commentary accused Falun Gong practitioners overseas of impeding China's fight against SARS by "instigating followers at home to block the epidemic prevention" -- a charge the movement denies. The news agency did not elaborate.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome killed 349 people on the mainland and infected more than 5,300 after emerging from southern China in November.

The government contends that on several occasions, most recently last month, Falun Gong interfered with TV signals transmitted via China's Sinosat communications satellite.

It says followers interrupted programming on China Central Television, China Educational Television and 10 provincial-level TV stations.

Falun Gong has also used international telephone calls and mobile phone messages to "spread their evil doctrines, severely affecting the normal life of the general public," the commentary asserted.

Xinhua said the fight against the movement is imperative "to ensure the prosperity and stability of the nation as well as the safe and comfortable lives of the public."

"More and more people have come to see through the antiscientific, antihuman and anti-social nature of the cult and have devoted themselves to the struggle," Xinhua said. "Meanwhile, most of the former Falun Gong followers have shaken off the cult's spiritual control through re-education and have resumed normal life."