AFP: Falungong Radio to Hit Chinese Airwaves on Saturday

BEIJING, Jun 30, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Members of the Falungong spiritual movement said Thursday they will start beaming radio news to mainland China every evening from this weekend.

Starting Saturday, residents in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will be able to tune into 9.915 megahertz at 10:00 p.m. to listen to news about Falungong and what Beijing is doing to quell the movement, a radio staff member told AFP by phone from the United States.

The Chinese government banned the Falungong movement in July last year after labeling it an "evil cult".

World Falundafa Radio will be aimed primarily at the Chinese public, rather than the movement's own adherents, the staff member said.

"There is much propaganda about what's going on in China," he said.

"The extent of the persecution of Falungong is not known to the Chinese people."

World Falundafa Radio will be broadcast to mainly northern and central China from an undisclosed location outside the country, he said.

The reporting, editing and broadcasting will be done by about 20 Falungong members, most of them Chinese residing in the United States,

For up-to-date information on the Falungong in China, they may also rely on informers inside the country.

The staff member said he was sure Chinese authorities would try to block the broadcasts.

"All our Web sites have been blocked by China, so I am sure they will also try to jam us," he said.

Radio programs such as "Voice of America" and "Radio Free Asia" form the main source of uncensored news for Chinese people, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

The center cited an internal Chinese document as saying more than 50 million Chinese frequently tuned in to foreign radio.

Falungong is a traditional Chinese mystic belief based on the teachings of exiled master Li Hongzhi, who advocates Confucian and Buddhist moral values, and group breathing and meditation exercises.

Since the movement was banned in China tens of thousands of practitioners have been detained and core leaders given jail terms of up to 18 years for protesting and refusing to give up their beliefs.