Falun Gong marks anniversary of crackdown

Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) and ruling DPP politicians called on China to respect human rights and religious freedom on the third anniversary of China's ban on the Falun Gong movement yesterday.

"China should give up such senseless cruelties and stop discrediting the group as an evil cult," Chen said.

Chen said China's accusations are slanderous because most Falun Gong members he knows are good people.

Chen made the remarks at a memorial ceremony in Taipei's Ta-an Forest Park for deceased and oppressed Falun Gong members.

Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners and followers gathered in Taipei last night to light candles and watch artistic performances to observe the third anniversary of the ban of the group in China.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) officially announced the ban of Falun Gong and all information about the group on July 20, 1999.

The group's worldwide branches held memorial activities simultaneously yesterday.

DPP Taipei City Mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) also participated in the ceremonies.

"We can't keep silent while Beijing oppresses Falun Gong, because the concept of human rights and freedom should be applied to every corner of the world," Lee said.

Lee was banned from returning to Taiwan in the late 1980s while he was studying for his PhD in the US because he was on the governing KMT's black list. He returned secretly in 1991 but was arrested and jailed for nine months after being in hiding for months.

He said yesterday that Taiwan had moved from darkness to brightness in terms of human rights. "In the past, we were a country which imported the concept of human rights, and from now on, we should export this concept to other countries," he said.

In addition, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), in a video tape played in the ceremony, said that "religious freedom and human rights cannot be oppressed," adding that, "China cannot walk into the international community if it continues to oppress such groups."

Premier Yu Shyi-kun showed his support with a statement saying that religious freedom is a universal value, which should be a part of daily life.

Chang Ching-hsi (張清溪), leader of the group's Taiwan branch, said that since 1999, the latest record showed that 348 members in China have been tortured to death, thousands of members have been forced to go to psychiatric hospitals and take mind-altering drugs, and hundreds of thousands of members have been deprived of job opportunities and had their property confiscated by Chinese authorities.

"Every day, torture and persecution takes place all around China. We call for efforts to save those who simply seek to abide by the moral principles of truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance," Chang said.

"Falun Gong is a practice that benefits human health. It has absolutely no political purpose, contrary to China's allegations."

The group's practitioners also recited poems, danced, sang and staged plays to protest China's oppression as well as prayed for their fellow practitioners in China on the other.

China outlawed Falun Gong in 1999 after an estimated 10,000 followers demonstrated peacefully outside the Communist government's leadership compound in Beijing.