Chinese Official Says Falun Gong Ban Follows Chinese Law
A senior Chinese official said in Beijing Friday that the decision to outlaw the Falun Dafa Research Society and Falun Gong is in line with Chinese law.
Li Baoku, a vice-minister of civil affairs, told a State Council Information Office press conference that the Regulations on Registering and Managing Mass Organizations state that mass organizations have to register, must abide by China's constitution, laws, regulations and policies, and should not violate the fundamental principles of the constitution or jeopardize the interests of the nation and people or of other organizations.
He said that the Falun Dafa Research Society and the Falun Gong are well-organized but that the Society, which was founded by Li Hongzhi, had not got the approval of government departments and was not registered, and was, therefore, illegal.
In recent years, Falun Gong has fooled many of its practitioners, getting them to attack Party, government and media offices in many parts of the country. On April 25, Falun Gong got a large number of followers to gather outside Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party of China headquarters compound.
After the April 25 incident, government departments managed to educate Falun Gong practitioners better but the plotters of Falun Gong organizations and some behind-the-scenes figures refused to stop their illegal activities and even intensified them by spreading fallacies and creating disturbances, the official said.
Some key members spread the heretical ideas and do not allow other people to express more well-founded opinions when they disagree with them, he said.
They even stir up trouble among some practitioners and put them up to gathering around government offices, he said, pointing out that Li Hongzhi makes practitioners obey his instructions absolutely and they can follow no other belief or theory and he controls them psychologically.
His heretical ideas contradict modern science, modern civilization, and state ethics, and Falun Dafa and Falun Gong have had a grave negative impact on society, the official said, adding that many people have exposed the dark side of Falun Gong and have appealed to the government to take legal action against the organization. So, the government ban on the Falun Dafa Research Society and Falun Gong is the will of the people and has broad support from the people.
The official said that the "Truthfulness, Benevolence and Tolerance" advocated by Li Hongzhi is meant to misguide and deceive the people. Li Hongzhi changed his date of birth to coincide with the birthday of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, to pretend that he is a reincarnation of Sakyamuni and he provided an array of false data like that about having studied Buddhism since childhood.
Li Hongzhi caused fear among practitioners and some lost their sense of right and wrong and became ill or died. Some even killed relatives.
Li Hongzhi and his organization could not tolerate criticism or alternative views and what he did proves that he is neither truthful nor benevolent and tolerant, the official said.
For ordinary Falun Gong practitioners, he said, they will not be penalized if they break their ties with Falun Gong organizations and do not participate in Falun Gong activities.
He added that most Falun Gong practitioners are victims of Falun Gong and that the major task now is to educate them.
However, he said, those who plot and organize disturbances will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Reacting to a question when the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will ban Falun Gong, Li Bing, deputy director of the State Council Information Office, said that the HKSAR government will have to decide on how to deal with Falun Gong practitioners there.
The central government strictly follows the "one country, two systems" principle, he said, adding that he believed the HKSAR government will make its decision in accordance with the Basic Law.
As for Falun Gong's relation to other 'qigong' organizations, Wu Zhongze, director of the Nongovernmental Organizations Department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said that, in a socialist country ruled by law, mass organizations have to act in accordance with the Constitution and laws and that normal qigong exercises and health-promotion activities are permitted as long as they observe the law.
Wu repeated that the Constitution protects the freedom of religious belief and normal religious activities and dismissed the notion that Falun Gong is some kind of religious belief, saying that it just copies some qigong exercises and religious phrases pieced together with some superstitious thinking. (Xinhua)
| 
