Bush assails China over religious repression and condemns China's Persecution against Falun Gong

AFP report from WASHINGTON, May 3, 2001 - US President George W. Bush in a speech Thursday sharply assailed Beijing's "unreasonable and unworthy" religious persecution and pointed out that adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have been singled out for arrest and abuse. "We hear alarming reports of the detention of worshippers and religious leaders" in China, he told the American Jewish Committee, "these acts of persecution are acts of fear -- and therefore of weakness. "Churches and mosques have been vandalized or demolished. Traditional religious practices in Tibet have long been the target of especially harsh and unjust persecution. And most recently, adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have been singled out for arrest and abuse," he said in remarks prepared for delivery. "This persecution is unworthy of all that China has been -- a civilization with a history of tolerance. And this persecution is unworthy of all that China should become -- an open society that respects the spiritual dignity of its people." The report also says, Mexican President Vicente Fox, German Chancellor Joschka Fischer and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres were all invited to the dinner, which fell on the US National Day of Prayer.