(7 Nov 1999) Mandarin/Nat
Chinese authorities have stepped up their campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
The country's top religious claims the movement will soon be eradicated.
The Chinese government banned the Falun Gong cult in July and has rounded up dozens of its leaders.
But cult members have continued to defy the ban.
The Chinese government seems determined to eliminate all traces of the Falun Gong movement.
On Thursday it brought out what it said was evidence supporting its claim that the cult was dangerous, both to the country and to its own members.
The government's director of religious affairs, Ye Xiaowen, said the group's U-S based founder, Li Hongzhi, had tricked his (M) millions of followers.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"Li Hongzhi like other cult leaders says that the world will be destroyed and that he can control the timing of the end of the world. He can help people to go to heaven."
SUPER CAPTION: Ye Xiaowen, Government Religious Affairs Director
Ye also said Li had led 14-hundred cult members to their deaths by advising them against taking medicine when ill.
He added there was no room for such behaviour in modern day China.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"The indulgence of cults is anti-scientific, an insult to civilisation and a trampling of human rights."
SUPER CAPTION: Ye Xiaowen, Government Religious Affairs Director
Journalists were shown a government video which included images of burnt and mutilated bodies.
It claimed the dead people had been Falun Gong members and that the cult was responsible for their deaths, although it did not elaborate on how they had died.
Many outside observers believe the government crack down may have more to do with the threat to its power it perceives the cult poses.
Government agents began infiltrating and investigating Falun Gong after at least 10 thousand of its members surrounded the Chinese leadership's compound in central Beijing in April, in a day-long protest seeking legal recognition for the movement.
It banned the group three months later.
There are estimated to be up to 70 (M) million Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Ye tried to suggest anyone expressing support for the cult was hostile to China's interests.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"I have to point out that Falun Gong has some international support. It's supported by people with hostile intentions toward China and Chinese people."
SUPER CAPTION: Ye Xiaowen, Government Religious Affairs Director
An he openly admitted the government considered the group a threat to the communist party.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"The threat to people and society is also a threat to the Central Committee of our Party and to our government."
SUPER CAPTION: Ye Xiaowen, Government Religious Affairs Director
The cult continues to protest at what it calls government persecution.
Group members have been holding almost daily gatherings Beijing's Tiananmen square.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
