BEIJING, Feb 27, 2001 -- (Reuters) Visiting UN human rights chief Mary Robinson clashed publicly on Tuesday with a Chinese official over Beijing's treatment of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Liu Jing, head of a new cabinet anti-cult office, accused Robinson of ignorance.

"I think her problem is that she has too little understanding of the Falun Gong [Chinese government's slanderous word]," he told a news conference, ...

But Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stood her ground.

"It's very clear that the human rights of Falun Gong members are being transgressed at the moment here in China," she told a separate news conference hours later.

"My message is that it is important for the Chinese authorities to bear in mind at all times that individual Falun Gong members have human rights that must be respected regardless of how China approaches Falun Gong itself," she said.

Robinson urged China this week to scrap its re-education through labor system, used to punish many Falun Gong followers without trial since the group was banned in 1999.

INTERNATIONAL CONCERN

China's 19-month battle with the group has sparked international concern about violations of religious freedom and civil liberties, and was highlighted in a U.S. State Department rights report issued on Monday.

The People's Daily, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, ran an editorial on Tuesday calling for the "complete elimination" of Falun Gong. ...

[Liu] accused the United States of using the issue to interfere in China's internal affairs. ... Liu also denied reports by human rights groups that more than 100 Falun Gong followers had died in custody in mainland China. ...

Falun Gong, which is based on elements of ... traditional Chinese meditation and exercises, says none of the Chinese accusations is true and it is a non-political movement aimed only at improving people. ...