• In terms of response time, another foreign journalist in Beijing expressed shock that Xinhua was able to release the first report on the incident almost immediately, and in English no less. Every Chinese citizen knows that every report from Xinhua usually has to first go through several rounds of approval by higher-ups and is generally "old news" by the time it is published. Moreover, the Chinese state-run media has never released any photos or video of Falun Gong protests in the course of 18 months of persecution to the foreign press, so why now, and with so little hesitation? And why only in English and not in Chinese?

• Xinhua also claims that after the police valiantly put out the fires it was only seven minutes before three ambulances arrived and took the people to the hospital. By contrast, CNN reported:

"One badly burned victim lay on the ground waving his or her hands as police looked on, offering no help. About 25 minutes after the incident two ambulances arrived and took the victims away. One appeared to be a woman, and was left on the pavement the longest -- possibly indicating that she was dead."

• The CNN crew reports witnessing one man being taken away while four others set themselves ablaze. PRC authorities are now claiming that among those four was a 12 year-old girl, but if the CNN crew was at the scene, would they not have noticed if one of the burn victims that day had been a child? Would they not have also witnessed the grisly scene that CCTV aired in its special program showing video footage of the child writhing on the flagstones calling for her mother? How come the CNN crew witnessed five persons

  involved in the incident, and yet Xinhua turned the total number into seven persons?

• Xinhua reports that because the victims had injuries from smoke inhalation, doctors feared that the victims might suffocate due to swelling of the trachea and so the trauma teams operated on all of them, cutting open their trachea and throats to allow them to breathe. All of the victims were badly burned and some had gone into shock. What is strange about this is that according to the articles, they were nonetheless able to field questions from journalists and have conversations allegedly renouncing Falun Gong. One doctor we consulted here in the U.S. expressed disbelief when he read the Xinhua article. He said that patients would never be able to recover the ability to speak so quickly after this kind of surgery. He said: "Either Xinhua News Agency is lying or they've created a medical miracle!"

There are many other questions that remain unanswered. Why were the details of the story held secret until over a week after the event? And why would the authorities confiscate CNN's video footage of the incident and then release a fully prepared feature program a week later? Did they use CNN's footage, or could it be that they manufactured their own? According to a professional cameraman, some of the footage could not have been from the video surveillance cameras in the Square.

We will never know the truth of this incident until an independent, third party investigation is carried out by international press and human rights groups. Until then, the public is at the mercy of the fabrications of the Chinese regime.

We wish to remind the international press that the propaganda released by the Chinese press is misleading and cannot be trusted. Ultimately, it is the Chinese government that will one day have to answer for this tragic turn of events and for the millions of innocent Falun Gong practitioners who have endured unimaginable hardship and pain throughout these past 18 months.

Misinterpretation in the media of the recent article by Li Hongzhi

Some people, Falun Dafa practitioners and others alike, have interpreted the concept of Forbearance as meaning remaining passive and silently enduring all injustices. By writing his recent article "Beyond Forbearance," Mr. Li Hongzhi explains that exposing the crimes committed by the Communist regime during this crackdown is consistent with the principles of Falun Dafa. For example, it is not against the principle of forbearance to make appeals against unjust persecution, nor is it wrong to actively and non-violently speak out against police brutality, torture, and sexual abuse. Over the past 18 months, Falun Dafa practitioners in China have never once resorted to violence. Their dedication to seeking a peaceful resolution to the crackdown is clear, and that will never change.

WEEKLY HEADLINES

CHINESE GOVERNMENT'S PROLONGED BRUTALITIES PUSH CITIZENS TO THE BRINK

The Asian Wall Street Journal, Jan 26, 2001: ...It is important to know what the movement's leaders mean, what their doctrine implies and what this or that act intends. But the potential danger of such a singular line of

inquiry is that it implies, insidiously, that the blame lies with the victims.... the fundamental, human

issue is the Chinese government's brutal campaign to wipe out Falun Dafa and the misery resulting from it.

The government has stepped up its persecution in recent months, leaving hundreds if not thousands of

Falun Dafa members "destitute." Police have forced them from their homes, expelled them from their jobs

and have a government-sanctioned carte blanche to beat and torture. An estimated 100 members have been beaten to death in police custody. No wonder the adherents the reporters have interviewed "appear increasingly

ragged and distraught." So these are people being driven to the brink. We may not agree with the method of the five who set themselves ablaze Tuesday. Even in a China without freedom, people still have free will. But given the government's brutalities, it's not so difficult to imagine why a few persons would have succumbed to

despair. And that makes them deserving of our pity rather than our cynicism.

COLIN POWELL URGES CHINA TO UPHOLD ITS 'RULE OF LAW' SUPPORTS FALUN GONG

WASHINGTON (AP, Jan. 24, 2001) -- As China pressed its crackdown on protests by the Falun Gong spiritual movement, Secretary of State Colin Powell told Beijing's ambassador Wednesday that his government should be tolerant and respect the law. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher renewed U.S. condemnation of China's actions against the Falun Gong and asked Chinese authorities to release all members detained for peacefully demanding the right to freedom of religion. Boucher spoke after Powell met with Ambassador Li Zhaoxing, the secretary of state's first meeting with a foreign envoy since taking office Saturday. The half-hour meeting was a farewell call by Li, who returns shortly to Beijing to a senior position in the Foreign Ministry. During the meeting, Powell reaffirmed that the United States will be firm with China when differences arise, Boucher said. Asked whether Powell told Li that imprisoned Falun Gong members should be released, Boucher said: "The message that Secretary Powell delivered was one of tolerance and rule of law."... Boucher said the United States is saddened by Tuesday's Tiananmen incident [in which five people set themselves afire on Chinese New Year's Eve]. "The actions that led to such results are tragic for all of the people involved, most directly those who are injured and their families," Boucher said. "We note the statements by Falun Gong spokesmen that Falun Gong teachings oppose violence and suicide." "And I would renew our condemnation of China's crackdown on Falun Gong," Boucher said. "I would call on China to release all of those detained or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their internationally recognized rights to freedom of religion, freedom of belief and freedom of conscience."

SPLITS IN COMMUNIST LEADERSHIP SPECULATED; DOUBTS ABOUT THE CRACKDOWN

NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL (Feb. 5 Edition) -- As the war escalates, some China watchers now suggest that, as happened with student protesters in 1989, the communist leadership is beginning to split over how deal with Falun Gong. According to the Hong Kong source, Jiang Zemin is fearful of Falun Gong because the movement has caught hold within the Communist Party ranks. "So many party members believe in Falun Gong that [he] wants to scare them," says the source. Frank Lu, director of the Human Rights Information Center in Hong Kong, asserts some Communist Party officials are uncomfortable with Jiang's fierce crackdown. "Falun Gong is showing that it's not afraid of death, not afraid of anything," Lu says. "That must scare the party." Outside of mainland China, Falun Gong finds what it desires mostfreedom of assembly and speech, and the group is using those liberties to appeal for an end to the persecution. At recent conferences in Taiwan and Hong Kong, attended by thousands, the group held parades, candlelight vigils and "experience-sharing" sessions.

'WE ARE THE MOUTH SCREAMING' Followers carried large photographs of members who'd been assaulted or killed by Chinese authorities. "This is how they beat up our practitioners," said Mei Zhang, 41, a recent Chinese immigrant to Australia, who took part in the Hong Kong conference earlier this month. She was holding a photograph of a middle-aged Chinese practitioner whose legs were red and bloated from torture. Standing in front of Beijing's government office in Hong Kong, Falun Gong members from 12 countries held aloft a large banner condemning China for killing followers. Says Falun Gong's Hong Kong spokeswoman Sophie Xiao: "Our brothers and sisters inside the mainland are the suffering body. We are the mouth screaming."...For most of its history, China has tried to justify its rule as a form of moral guidance. Falun Gong practitioners, in their own way, are carrying on that tradition. The group's teaching "represents the pearls and the gems of Chinese traditions that were lost during the turmoil in Chinese history," says Hui Kwok-hung, a Hong Kong government engineer. Adds Sharon Xu, a 25-year-old practitioner from Shanghai, who studies in New York. "Mao was all about solving the particular problems of the time. This movement helps us to understand the meaning of life."