May 2, 2001

A STATEMENT last week from Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa wasn't your usual bumf. In it, he warned the Falun Gong in Hong Kong not to interfere with a conference next week to be attended by President Jiang Zemin. The government "will not allow {the group} to abuse Hong Kong's freedoms and tolerance."

But the Falun Gong has never broken any Hong Kong law. Indeed, because the territory's laws are acknowledged to mirror the norms of other free societies, the Falun Gong has been duly respectful of Hong Kong's codes. It is a law-abiding group. And the good citizens who make up its numbers don't deserve to be impugned as potential law breakers.

Mr. Tung claims the group may be planning activities that "go beyond purely religious activities or physical exercise." But until that really happens, Mr. Tung is only speculating. And no one deserves tarring by mere speculation. (Is that a chill wind we feel?) Moreover, of all the places in the greater People's Republic of China, surely it is in Hong Kong and Macau that the free practice of any lawful activity is allowed, even those "beyond purely religious activities or physical exercise."

All that Falun Gong members want is to practise their faith. By banning them on the mainland, it is Beijing that has politicized the movement. Its survival anywhere in the PRC now is a matter of politics, an irony for a grandmother just trying to do a little breathing exercise.

Mr. Tung's responsibility is to explain to Beijing that under "one country, two systems," lawful acts in Hong Kong are none of Beijing's business. But sadly, Mr. Tung has sought instead to please the boys in the Zhongnanghai compound. By doing so, he does a disservice to the very people he represents -- Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners included.