The fight against the Falun Gong cult by the Chinese government and people has constituted an important part of the battle against cults worldwide, said Wang Yusheng, secretary general of the China Anti-cult Association, on Monday.

Wang said that China is willing to form a joint battlefront to wage a global struggle against cults.

Cults in many countries including Japan, the United States, France, the Republic of Korea and Uganda have run rampant in recent years. Cults have become obstacles to social progress and brought disaster to numerous families and individuals, and communities all over the world.

Bewitched by Falun Gong, nearly 1,700 people in China have died because they refused medical treatment when ill, or they committed suicide or self-mutilation.

What is even worse is that Falun Gong teaches practitioners to abandon their love for family members and relatives, claiming that anyone, including parents and children, who does not practice Falun Gong could become the enemy. Thus numerous families can no longer be happy again under the spiritual control of Falun Gong.

All the doing that Falun Gong has advocated has exposed its destructive nature as a cult.

Fu Tieshan, chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, said that "the Falun Gong cult and the cults in Japan, France, Uganda and the United States, share a common nature: They not only jeopardize social order, but also seduce people to commit suicide, especially mass suicide."

Feng Jinyuan, a research fellow with the Institute of World Religions under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that most extreme cult leaders in foreign countries take poison and set themselves on fire together with their followers. But, Li Hongzhi, ringleader of the Falun Gong cult, hides in his so-called "cozy nest" to plot, direct and control his followers to commit suicide and self-immolation.

The researcher pointed out that Li Hongzhi often seduces his followers to make trouble on public holidays, attempting to cooperate with anti-China forces to attack China on human rights conditions. This fully reflects the political motives of the cult, the researcher added.

According to the China Anti-cult Association, 3,000 to 4,000 cults have been uncovered around the world, with nearly 100 million followers.

The danger of cults has aroused the attention of all governments worldwide. It has become a common understanding of statesmen around the world to fight against, curb and crack down on all harmful criminal activities of cults. The fight against cults is welcomed and supported by people throughout the world.

The Japanese government revised its related law on religious affairs and in November of 1999, approved bills aimed at tightening control of AUM Shinrikyo, the cult held responsible for the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

Some Western European countries, such as France, Germany, Austria and Belgium have set up powerful organizations in recent years to cement prevention, control and attacks on cults.

The United States once charged the Branch Davidian Cult with the crimes of privately possessing arms and ammunition, and illegally marketing ammunition. The U.S. even dispatched a large number of armed police to break up the cult when they caused trouble.

Feng Jinyuan said, the Chinese government and people have always supported the efforts of other governments' in cracking down on cults, and they have never changed their attitude toward cults, even if a country with a cult boasts a different social system or cultural background from China.

Feng said he hopes that some western countries will not use double standards in their handling of cults.

Experts and scholars from the United States, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Uganda, Canada and Russia at an international symposium on destructive cults held in Beijing last November appealed that it is impossible to curb the spread of cults by just relying on a single country, and it has become a must to strengthen international cooperation in combating evil cults.

It is learned that non-governmental anti-cult organizations in Switzerland have invited Chinese experts to conduct investigations on the anti-cult work in that country. The China Anti-cult Association will soon invite international experts to Beijing to exchange views on prevention and handling of the issue of cults.

Duan Qiming, an expert with the State Administration of Religious Affairs, said that the Falun Gong cult has developed in many countries and has become an international cult.

Duan called on related countries to support the Chinese government and people in their fight against the cult, and take necessary measures to stop the Falun Gong cult from creating tragedies in those countries.

"That not only embodies their friendly feelings toward Chinese people, but also is a move which is responsible for their own people," Duan said.

(Xinhuanet 2001.02.12)