People from the religious circles in Fujian Province, east China, all severely reprimanded the Falun Gong cult following the tragedy involving seven diehard cult members setting fire on themselves in Tian'anmen Square last month.

At a specially convened gathering, the religious figures condemned Li Hongzhi, the creator of the Falun Gong cult, for committing crimes including using fallacies to hoodwink the common people, creating chaos to endanger society, and causing the losses of lives.

All these crimes expose Falun Gong's anti-mankind, anti-society, anti-science, anti-humanity and anti-religion nature, they said.

Huang Qiurun, chairman of Fujian Provincial Islamic Association, said Spring Festival is a traditional occasion for family reunion, but Falun Gong diehard members chose the eve of the Spring Festival to execute the self-burning tragedy in Tian'anmen Square, which fully exposed the reactionary nature of Falun Gong as a cult.

On January 23, seven Falun Gong diehard members from Kaifeng City, in central China's Henan Province, including one 12-year-oldgirl, participated in a self-burning suicide attempt in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. The tragedy ended with the death of one and the injury of four, with the two others stopped before they set fire.

"Though doctrines of different religions in China vary, the common point is to promote the good and prohibit the bad," said Huang. "But with Li Hongzhi's teachings such as 'leaving alone life and body and ascending to eternal completion,' Falun Gong practitioners were instigated to set fire on themselves, with the purpose of seeking confrontation against the government and destroying social stability," he said, adding that "this goes against religions."

Xue Cheng, deputy secretary-general of China Buddhists Association and chairman of the Fujian Provincial Buddhists Association, said the Falun Gong cult has not only severely harmed the health and mind of those people who are hoodwinked or controlled by the cult, but also seriously endangered and destroyed normal social order.

"Falun Gong is an obvious political conspiracy and has become the tool of anti-China forces in Western countries. From this point, the danger caused by Falun Gong to the state and the people has outstripped that by any common cult in the world," said Xue.

Chi Huizhong, deputy chairman and also secretary-general of Fujian Provincial Patriotic Catholic Association, said since Falun Gong was banned two years ago, the Chinese government has been treating and solving the issue of Falun Gong in line with laws, with the efforts concentrated on uniting, educating and transforming the overwhelming majority of Falun Gong believers.

"Since the tragedy took place on January 23, the government has even gone all out to save the lives of the suicidal self-burning Falun Gong diehards," said Chi.

The charges of anti-China forces in the West that the Chinese government bans Falun Gong according to law infringes upon human rights are absolutely groundless, he added.

(China Central Television 2001.02.12)