AFP Story: TV firms scrap Jiang speech coverage due to [Falun Gong] fears

Wednesday, 03-Jul-2002 4:00AM

HONG KONG, July 3 (AFP) - A live broadcast of a speech by Chinese President Jiang at Hong Kong's handover anniversary celebration was scrapped due to fears of [interruption] by the Falun Gong , a report said Wednesday.

State-run China Central Television and Hong Kong-based Phoenix Chinese TV cancelled the broadcast of Jiang's speech here as well as the swearing-in ceremony for Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and his new cabinet on Monday, the South China Morning Post said.

It quoted industry sources as saying Beijing feared Falun Gong [practitioners] would cut into the transmission and broadcast pro-[Falun Gong] messages.

The group, which is banned in mainland China, has already intercepted Chinese TV broadcasts on several occasions, most recently [cut into] a broadcast satellite last week to transmit Falun Gong messages and images.

Sophie Xiao, a Falun Gong spokeswoman in Hong Kong, where the [practice] is still legal, told AFP "I'm not surprised" as she said [practitioners] included people with the necessary technical expertise.

Meanwhile, the group on Wednesday petitioned the Hong Kong government to stop banning overseas Falun Gong practitioners from entering the territory, allegedly using a blacklist provided by Beijing.

[...]

Some 100 overseas Falun Gong practitioners were barred from entering Hong Kong to participate in the group's protests here on Monday to demand President Jiang stop persecuting [practitioners] in China.

Jiang was here for a whirlwind visit to attend the fifth anniversary of the handover of the former British colony to China on Monday.

"We hope that the Hong Kong government will not fall to the pressure of Beijing," said Xiao.

The Post said Chinese security officials were "baffled" about how the [Falun Gong] managed to intercept the satellite broadcast last week, suspecting it was done from a foreign country or from hi-tech equipment on a moving vehicle in China to avoid detection.

The Chinese-language Oriental Daily News meanwhile reported that Phoenix Satellite TV's news director, Pong Chung, had been transferred from Hong Kong to Beijing after he was found to be a Falun Gong [practitioner].

[...]

Phoenix is partly owned by the Chinese government.

Since Falun Gong was banned by Beijing [...] in July 1999, tens of thousands of adherents have been jailed or sent to labor camp, [practitioners] say.

The group's New York [Information Center] has alleged that up to 200 [practitioners] (Editor's note: up to now, over 400 practitioners have been tortured to death) have died in police custody, mostly from police beatings and maltreatment.

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