AP: China Lambastes Falun Gong Figure

HONG KONG (AP) - Chinese officials have lashed out at a Hong Kong organizer for the Falun Gong spiritual sect, calling him "a backbone member of the []'' who has incited others into staging illegal demonstrations in Macau. A lengthy editorial carried by China's state-run Xinhua News Agency singled out Kan Hung-cheung for mobilizing Falun Gong members in Hong Kong to take part in protests in Macau during President Jiang Zemin's visit last month. "The [] of Hong Kong Falun Gong's backbone member, Kan Hung-cheung, encouraged 31 members to lead more followers to gather in Macau,'' the article said. Xinhua accused the Falun Gong adherents of "inciting troubles and creating chaos'' in an attempt to spoil the anniversary celebration of Macau's transfer from Portugal to China. Kan on Friday called the comments a ``fact-twisting attack on Falun Gong.'' "If they didn't repress us, there would be no need for us to stand up and tell the truth,'' Kan said. "As the suppressions were so brutal and inhumane, we have to tell the world.'' Kan disputed contentions that Falun Gong's frequent and high-profile protests are intended to be subversive and to provoke the Chinese government, which has banned the group on the mainland. The government is conducting a fierce crackdown that Falun Gong says has led to numerous deaths of followers in custody. Xinhua mentioned an incident in which Chinese police intercepted a group of Falun Gong followers and confiscated 16 pigeons that had "illegal propaganda strips'' attached to them and were intended to be freed on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Xinhua said Falun Gong has been supported by "western anti-China powers, Taiwan independence and democratic movement advocates'' with an intention to "westernize and split'' China. The article also condemned Falun Gong for giving donations to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, an organization which often exposes alleged government suppression of activists.