Reuters: Dutch Minister Scraps China Visit Over Falun Gong

THE HAGUE, Feb 6, 2001 -- (Reuters) Dutch foreign minister Jozias Van Aartsen postponed a visit to China at the last minute on Tuesday because Beijing publicly opposed a meeting with the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. China's foreign ministry said on Monday it opposed interference from other governments in the sensitive issue of Falun Gong. "The trip has been postponed because we thought the ideal circumstances under which it should take place were not there," said Van Aartsen's spokesman. It was to have taken place between February 7 and 13. Falun Gong, branded an [Chinese government's slanderous word] by the Chinese, was outlawed in China in July 1999, but it remains legal in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. [...] Supporters of the movement, which has millions of followers in China, say 50,000 adherents have been detained in China and many sent to labor camps without trial. A Falun Gong spokeswoman said on Monday that the meeting with Van Aartsen was an opportunity to air grievances about China's crackdown on the movement, and that there was nothing political about it.