Hong Kong police have expelled more than 90 Taiwanese members of the Falun Gong meditation group, who planned to protest in the Chinese territory, a group member said yesterday.
Also expelled from Hong Kong's airport on Monday were about 30 other Taiwanese tourists who were mistaken for Falun Gong members because they had the same names as those on a blacklist, said Chang Ching-hsi (
Still, dozens of other Taiwanese Falun Gong members entered Hong Kong last weekend without being detected and participated in a protest to denounce China's crackdown on the group, Chang said.
"We really question whether Hong Kong is a democratic place that respects human rights," Chang said.
The Hong Kong Security Bureau has declined to discuss the specifics of why some of the protesters were barred from entering Hong Kong, where Falun Gong is legal. But police said they needed to ensure visitors "would not cause trouble."
China considers Falun Gong to be a dangerous cult and has banned the group on the mainland. The protest coincided with Hong Kong's celebration of the fifth anniversary of its handover to China.
A Chinese-language newspaper in Taiwan quoted Falun Gong member Tsai Ching-chuang (
Some local protesters were granted permits by the Hong Kong police, but they were confined to small areas well away from where the celebrations, attended by China's president and the territory's chief executive, were being held.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
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