Reuters: U.S. Tells China to Cease Falun Gong Crackdown

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton's administration, which is pushing for a trade pact with China, told Beijing to stop its crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement after scores of peaceful practitioners were arrested at a protest Tuesday.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said China had violated its commitments in international human rights instruments and that arrests of peaceful protesters were a matter that"profoundly disturbs" the United States. "We call on the Chinese government to cease its crackdown on the Falun Gong, release all those in custody for the peaceful expression of their beliefs and guarantee the rights of citizens to freedom of speech, conscience and association and peaceful assembly," Rubin told a news briefing. The Falun Gong members were detained in Tiananmen Square while marking the anniversary of a mass sit-in that sparked a crackdown against the movement by China's Communist rulers.

Witnesses said it was impossible to say exactly how many were detained but that scores had been hauled away.

The crackdown on the Falun Gong and other rights issues have moved Democrats in Washington to demand a special commission be set up to monitor the situation in China in return for their support for a trade pact. U.S. officials say the White House has tentatively agreed to back legislation that would set up the commission as part of a plan to shore up congressional support.

Asked if he believed that China understood such arrests hurt its chances of the trade pact winning approval, Rubin said: "I suppose that China has the ability to understand the consequences of its actions." He added: "I don't know exactly what their calculus was, but whatever their calculus was, we oppose it."

The deal, which would pave the way for China's entry into the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, calls on Beijing to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications.