Xinhua hails decisive victories in anti-Falun Gong drive

Xinhua, China's official news agency, published a commentary Friday, saying that the government has won decisive victories in its one-year old campaign against the ``Falun Gong" cult.

It warns that the campaign, which was launched by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on July 22, 1999, and is being led by the CPC, will be a long-term, tortuous and complicated one.

``Falun Gong" is a "poisonous torrent" moving against the trend of the times, and has caused thousands of its followers to go mad or even commit suicide, the commentary says.

It points out that the anti-science, anti-humanity and anti- society cult has been turned into an anti-government political organization and a tool for overseas anti-China forces, which has exposed the ugly face of the cult leader Li Hongzhi and his `` Falun Gong" group.

According to the article, since May this year, the cult leader has came out from behind the curtain to publish his instructions via the Internet and repeatedly spelt out his hackneyed remark about the "final chance for `consummation'" to urge his followers to come out "against the pressure", and risk direct confrontation with the government.

"The law of the human world is in contradiction with that of the Cosmos," Li is quoted as saying, urging his followers to go to Beijing to promote ``Falun Gong" by "refusing to be confined by the law of the human world."

As a result of Li's agitation, the number of Falun Gong members participating in illegal gatherings in the Tiananmen area has increased, the article says.

Some other Falun Gong followers have pressured the government to rehabilitate the cult, and some have distributed leaflets supporting Falun Gong or openly practiced its rituals, according to the commentary.

All these things show that Falun Gong has come to the end of its tether and is putting up a deathbed struggle, Xinhua comments.

Since the government banned the cult a year ago, more and more crimes committed by Falun Gong have come to light, it says.

According to official figures, more than 1,500 people have died and over 600 have gone mad as a result of practicing Falun Gong and the personality cult created by the cult leader.

In the meantime, Falun Gong members have held 78 illegal demonstrations around government compounds and news media offices.

At the 56th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, held in April this year, Li and other cult leaders noisily supported the anti-China proposal made by the United States in the disguise of human rights.

The facts show that Falun Gong is an evil force which is anti-science, anti-humanity, anti-society and anarchistic. It is also a trouble-making group that attempts to challenge the Party and the government, and disturb social stability and national prosperity. In short, it is a complete evil cult, Xinhua comments.

In the past year, the government has dealt with Falun Gong by cracking down on backbone Falun Gong elements and helping ordinary practitioners return to normal life through education, the commentary says.

The Party and the government have issued a series of important decisions on the issue of Falun Gong, which have been cordially welcomed by the majority of former Falun Gong practitioners and the general Chinese public. So far, 98 percent of the practitioners have resumed their normal lives and regained their dignity, it says.

The commentary says that the rehabilitation of the Falun Gong practitioners has been done with the overall participation of Party organizations, government departments, schools, work units, communities and family members.

The international community is in agreement that cults are a harmful factor damaging the social environment, and criminal activities by cults must be eradicated by law, according to the Xinhua article.

Since Falun Gong was banned, the Chinese government has punished backbone members of the cult, and has also issued an order to arrest the cult leader Li Hongzhi, it notes.

As of the end of June this year, courts at different levels have handled 162 Falun Gong cases involving 141 people, of whom 123 were given criminal penalties, and 15 were released without being penalized.

The article says that the China is determined to carry out the anti-Falun Gong campaign through to the end, as Li Hongzhi and his followers are not reconciled to their defeat.

The cult has changed its tactics for confrontation with the government, sent agents underground, and formed the so-called " second echelon", in order to pose a long-term challenge to the Party and the government, the commentary says.

Recognizing that there is still a small number of die-hard Falun Gong practitioners, the article says that to educate these people will take a long time.

The article also urges everyone to take note of the profound social background and complicated international background behind the issue of Falun Gong.

The soil and the greenhouse for breeding Falun Gong are yet to be eliminated in China, while foreign hostile, anti-China forces have never stopped their efforts to "westernize" and "disintegrate " China, it says.

It urges the general public to make great efforts to advocate science, improve the quality of the people through popularizing modern science, and strengthen and improve ideological work, so as to win an overall victory in the campaign.

(Xinhua 2000/07/21)