Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Beijing

Monday, 11 June, 2001

China has announced a swathe of new regulations aimed at strengthening the [party' name omitted] Party's campaign to stamp out the activities of Falun Gong.

For more than two years the state has been using all means at its disposal to try and break the religious organization, but across China, members of Falun Gong are continuing to find ways to frustrate the government's efforts.

Now, Falun Gong members found distributing anti-government materials risk prosecution for defamation or even subversion.

Those found supplying information about the suppression to foreign organizations could be charged as spies.

Striking back

The Chinese state is grasping at Falun Gong's shadow.

In city parks, banners mysteriously appear on trees, the walls of police stations are daubed with graffiti, people returning from work find leaflets stuffed under their doors or stuck in their bicycle baskets.

The rhetoric is always the same -- Falun Gong is good, the government's brutal repression must stop.

China's [party' name omitted] rulers have watched the deluge of pro-Falun Gong propaganda with mounting frustration; now they are striking back.

The government will be hoping the new tough regulations will finally scare Falun Gong into silence.

They also serve another purpose.

China's [party' name omitted] rulers are fond of telling foreign guests how China today is a country ruled by laws.

With these new regulations they are hoping to give a veneer of legality to what is essentially a brutal political struggle.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1383000/1383156.stm

Posting date: 6/12/2001
Original article date: 6/11/2001
Category: News & Media Reports

 Yearly Archive  Printer Version

_____Related Articles_____ AFP: China steps up Falun Gong crackdown with new guidelines (Excerpt) [6/12/2001] New York Times: China's Inner Circle Reveals Big Unrest [Excerpt] [6/6/2001] SCMP: Letter of the law means little, as officials gauge state secrets by political atmosphere [5/19/2001] AFP: China facing growing uncertainty at home and abroad: IISS (Excerpt) [5/17/2001]