Inquirer (Philadelphia Newspaper)

5/1/00

Thousands of Chinese have been sent to "re-education camps" and tens of thousands have suffered lesser penalties for persisting in Falun Gong, a system of graceful exercise and Eastern philosophy. It's the government's most forceful crackdown against freedom since the 1989 slaughter of demonstrators at Tiananmen Square.

A casual observer would be perplexed by the government's intolerance of Falun Gong, which had millions of practitioners before the government banned it last summer. While the movement has some unusual beliefs, such as multiple heavens segregated by race, it isn't political by nature.

But a year ago, 10,000 followers of the group massed in Beijing to protest being labeled as "superstitious" in a government publication. China's leaders were chastened by the group's ability to take law enforcement by surprise with so large a demonstration. The government labeled Falun Gong "an evil cult," launched a public-relations blitz to discredit it and put group leaders behind bars.

Human-rights groups report that 15 Falun Gong followers have died in prison from beatings and hunger strikes. They include a 58-year-old retired auto-parts worker, Chen Xixiu, who died in February after refusing to renounce her beliefs despite repeated torture. (Torture is against the law in China.) A week ago police detained her daughter, apparently for talking with foreign reporters about this atrocity.

U.S. diplomats have pressed the U.N. Human Rights Commission to denounce China's brutal mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners and other human-rights abuses. But at a meeting in Geneva this month, that organization refused.

Officially, the government claims that 98 percent of those who practiced Falun Gong have renounced it. More likely, much of the exercising has shifted from outdoor spots to people's homes.

Almost every day, police haul citizens away from Tiananmen Square for unfurling pro-Falun Gong banners or starting to do the exercises. Practitioners remain willing to be arrested; authorities are happy to oblige.

If the government thinks its prisoners are the only victims, it should think again. This repression might make a difference as the House gets ready to decide whether to normalize China's trade status with the United States.

Normalized trade is not only in the economic interests of both countries, it's a step that many human-rights advocates support. But Beijing is playing with fire if it expects U.S. lawmakers to vote right on trade while Chinese citizens are detained and tortured for following Falun Gong.