2001-06-20 23:47 (New York)

[Dow Jones] Singapore's Business Times quotes unnamed sources as saying U.S. and Britain have strongly warned Hong Kong not to crack down on Falun Gong, after Tung Chee-hwa described it last week as "[Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]"...

Britain has informally warned that if a crackdown occurs, it will take steps that would hurt HK's international image and signal a political rupture with HK. Such a diplomatic confrontation remains remote, but the issue could come to concern markets. (AXT)