Falun Gong members shrug off threat, hold meet in Hong Kong

Falun Gong members shrug off threat, hold meet in Hong Kong
REUTERS

HONG KONG, DEC 12: Close to 900 practitioners of China's banned spiritual movement Falun Gong packed a Hong Kong convention hall for a meeting Sunday, but said they had no intention of using the southern Chinese territory as a base.

China's Commissioner of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong, Ma Yuzhen, told government radio on Sunday that Falun Gong practitioners should not use Hong Kong as a base. The movement is not illegal here and the two-day Hong Kong-Asia Pacific Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference has proceeded without a hitch thus far.

The event brought together followers from around the world, including the United States, Australia, Japan and from as far away as Ireland.

Falun Gong is a mix of Buddhism, Taoism, meditation and breathing exercises designed to harness inner energy and healing powers. But Beijing calls the group an ``evil cult'' and views it as a serious threat to communist rule.China banned the popular movement in July after its members demanded official recognition of their faithin a series of bold protests, including one which saw 10,000 followers surround the central leadership compound in Beijing in April.

In Hong Kong, which was promised a high degree of autonomy under the terms of Britain's return of the territory to China in 1997, the government has said Falun Gong will be tolerated as long as it remains within the law.Ma said local Falun Gong members had made it clear they intended to use it as a base when they brought in the followers from overseas to the territory. Beijing-backed newspapers in the territory have echoed the warnings.

But Falun Gong follower Alexis Genin from France dismissed those fears. ``I don't think Hong Kong is really a base,'' Genin, 25, said at the conference. ``The meeting is in Hong Kong today, next time it will be in another place.''In Hong Kong's Convention and Exhibition Centre, the packed audience listened intently as practitioners read out personal testimonials of how Falun Gong had improved their health, their tempers and theirlives.

Some listeners wept as they heard of accounts of suppression in China.