News And Features;

08/17/2000 Sydney Morning Herald, 12, Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd

There is no mistaking the Chinese Government's hostility to the Falun Gong [group], in China and abroad. Yet the Chinese Embassy in Canberra adamantly denies any harassment of followers of the [group] in Australia. This flies in the face of the evidence. Chinese diplomats have encouraged Blacktown and Hurstville councils to deny the [group] the use of community facilities. And there are credible accounts by Falun Gong members of having been followed by people who appeared to be Chinese, and of having had their telephones tapped, and property and vehicles damaged.

There may be innocent explanations for some of what has been happening to Falun Gong members in Australia. But it stretches credulity to dismiss, as the Chinese Embassy does, all concerns, and to describe as ``pure fabrication'' a Herald report that Australian security services and police are monitoring suspected Chinese Government harassment of Falun Gong followers in Australia.

The Australian Government, in the latest round of bilateral talks on human rights in China, has protested to the Chinese Government at the official treatment of Falun Gong. It is not clear what discussion of the suspected harassment of Falun Gong members in this country took place. But if the least harassment has occurred, it is a matter of great seriousness. Falun Gong members in Australia, especially those who are permanent residents or Australian citizens, should have the freedom to express their beliefs within the law like anyone else.

In China, Falun Gong has become a real thorn in the side of the Chinese authorities, who describe the [group] as destructive, dangerous and manipulative of its members. Yet Falun Gong, which combines Taoist and Buddhist religious beliefs with the practice of tai chi (stylised exercises) and chi gong (breathing exercises), is to all appearances non-violent and apolitical. Members have protested outside the Chinese Embassy and the consulate in Sydney, but their protests are against the official oppression of their members. The local police say that of all such protests they attend, those by Falun Gong require the smallest police presence. (Editor's note: Falun Gong in fact doesn't not involve special breathing techniques.)

To all but the ruling oligarchy in China, Falun Gong looks like any other of countless [practices] and groups, benign and unthreatening. But inside China, the tradition of official intolerance of anything which does not conform to the ruling order of things, the fear of difference, comes into play. When China oppresses its people there is not much Australia or any other outsiders can do, except speak up for the oppressed. If China's fear of difference extends to its diplomats' behaviour in Australia, it is a more serious matter. As long as the beliefs and practices of Falun Gong harm no-one, they should not only be tolerated, they should also be protected from anyone who might seek to curb or interfere with them. The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, who has been willing to speak out in relation to human rights abuses in Malaysia, should be consistent in this case, too.