October 29, 2003

By WILLIAM FOREMAN

Associated Press Writer

A Taiwanese [practitioner] of Falun Gong who was released this week after 20 days detention in China said Wednesday that his interrogators had threatened to track him down in Taiwan if he revealed what they discussed with him.

Lin Hsiao-kai, 30, who returned to Taiwan on Monday, told a news conference here that his interrogators had tried to elicit from him information about the spiritual movement's activities in Taiwan, and get him to return home and find out more for them.

[...] There was no immediate reaction from Beijing.

"They hoped I would provide them with names of Taiwanese [practitioners] and with information about the group's activities, not only in Taiwan, but also in the United States," he said.

Lin was arrested Oct. 7 in Shanghai while trying to contact another member of the group, said Chang Ching-hsi, a Falun Gong spokesman in Taiwan.

Chang said that Lin wasn't acquainted with the person he was looking for. "Maybe the person didn't exist" and it was just a trap, he said.

Lin did not mention any physical mistreatment during his detention. He told reporters he never took a confrontational attitude toward his interrogators, but chatted with them, and only told them about group activities that were already widely known - adding that he didn't have special information about the -[group] anyway.

"I am not a special person inside the Falun Gong," Lin said.

Lin said his wife assisted his release by holding news conferences that changed the attitude of the Chinese authorities.

However, the Chinese investigators warned him that they would hunt him down in Taiwan if he revealed what was discussed during the interrogations, Lin said.

He said his interrogators told him, "We'll definitely be able to find you." They also phoned his wife in Taiwan to warn her against holding more news conferences, he said.

Lin said he was shocked to find out that his Chinese interrogators knew almost everything about his life and work in Taiwan, including information about his wife and friends.

"They told me they were aware of about 70 to 80 percent of Falun Gong activists in Taiwan," he said.

[...]

Falun Gong [practitioners] claim hundreds of Chinese have died in the [persecution], with many others being tortured or sent to labor camps.

[...]