Jan. 26, 2001

The Bush Administration has used its first formal encounter with China to chide the Communist Government over human rights, and especially its repression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

The tough stand was taken by the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, in his meeting yesterday with the outgoing Chinese Ambassador, Mr Li Zhao Xing.

"Basically what the Secretary said was along the lines that we don't see China as an inevitable foe," A State Department spokesman, Mr Richard Boucher, said of the half-hour meeting, Mr Powell's first talks with a foreign emissary since taking office.

But human rights had been discussed and Mr Powell had made it clear "that we believe that China needed to follow the rule of law, that China needed to be exposed to the powerful forces of the free enterprise system and democracy".

"He made clear that we would raise human rights issues with China, and we would raise them frankly."

Mr Powell's remarks on Falun Gong came two days after five alleged members of the group set themselves alight in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. [Editor's note: the suicide has nothing to do with Falun Gong. See http://clearwisdom.net/eng/2001/Jan/23/VSF012301_3.html .]

Falun Gong has distanced itself from their actions, saying self-immolation is against its teachings.

While the horrific protest was not referred to, the US Government was "certainly saddened by this incident", Mr Boucher said.

"I would renew our condemnation of China's crackdown on Falun Gong. I would call on China to release all those detained or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their internationally recognised rights to freedom of religion, freedom of belief and freedom of conscience," he said.

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