AP: Falun Gong Planning Another HK Conference In One Yr

HONG KONG (AP)--After Falun Gong sharply criticized suppression by Beijing in a global conference on the mainland's doorstep, the meditation [group] vowed Monday to attempt a repeat performance in about a year.

Hong Kong officials said they will review Sunday's event, which was allowed at City Hall on the basis of it being "purely religious or cultural." They said that if those terms were violated, the government "reserves the right to take appropriate action."

Falun Gong said it suspects officials from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which rented out the venue Sunday, may be looking for reasons to restrict its activities in the future.

"I guess they have received great pressure from the central government," said local Falun Gong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung, who recently was singled out by China's Xinhua News Agency as "a backbone member of []."

A spokeswoman for the department, June Tong, disputed Kan's contention.

Tong said after-the-fact reviews of events in government venues are routine and that officials put out a statement on this one "to stay on the safe side" after the Falun Gong conference attracted such widespread publicity.

Pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong lashed out harshly at the government for permitting the conference by Falun Gong, outlawed on the mainland but legal in

Hong Kong.

Tong said officials had no significant problems with the way Falun Gong carried out its conference, although Kan was prevented from displaying photographs that reportedly document the torture of Falun Gong members on the mainland because the pictures were not part of the authorized program.

The Falun Gong meeting, which attracted some 1,200 followers including 700 from overseas, was used by the sect as a platform to condemn the often-violent tactics employed by mainland police against Chinese practitioners.

Falun Gong says 120 followers have been tortured to death, a claim that is impossible to verify.

"We stated clearly to them that we would have an experience-sharing conference," Kan said by telephone Monday. "The crackdown of Falun Gong is still going on. It is inevitable there would be mention of the crackdown."

Falun Gong plans to hold another conference here in about a year, Kan said, but no dates or other details have been finalized.

Although hundreds of foreign Falun Gong followers were allowed into Hong Kong, the group complained that some were barred by immigration officials.

The government said 13 people had visa problems, suspected forged travel documents or bad immigration records, but insisted no one was stopped for being a Falun Gong adherent.

One of those kept out was an Australian citizen. Australians don't need visas to enter Hong Kong as tourists.

Falun Gong said the woman, Zhang Cui-ying, from Sydney, was deported late Sunday. "She was carried away and put on a plane by the immigration officials," Kan said.

The Australian consulate confirmed Monday that Zhang was an Australian citizen who practices Falun Gong and said officials were aware she had been kept out.

"This will be followed up with the relevant authorities," said an Australian consular spokesman, who used customary anonymity and declined to elaborate on what his government would do.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department said it was not immediately able to provide any information on Zhang's case.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires 15-01-01