A month after its crackdown on members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, China yesterday said for the first time that it planned to prosecute its leading organisers, dozens of whom are in custody. The Chinese Communist Party and the State Council issued a circular saying core members of Falun Gong "must be punished in accordance with the law".
This development indicates continuing concern on the part of the Chinese government at the potential of Falun Gong organisers to challenge its authority by staging demonstrations, especially in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the founding of Communist China on October 1st.
Meanwhile, Mr Li Hongzhi, the leader of the banned movement, has decided not to attend a conference of his followers in London on Sunday, news which will likely be greeted with relief by the British Foreign Office. While London had refused to bar Mr Li, who lives in New York, his visit would have caused new strains between the UK and China, which wants him banned from third countries.
The conference organiser, Mr Peter Jauhal, denied the decision was due to Chinese pressure. "I did invite him, but the message I got from New York is that it would be unlikely," he said.
Beijing unsuccessfully asked Interpol earlier this month to detain Mr Li for organising an illegal protest on April 25th of 15,000 followers in Beijing to demand official status for the movement.
While the Chinese circular indicates that only a tiny minority of Falun Gong's several million members in China would be prosecuted, lawyers in Beijing and other cities have been warned to report any approach from adherents to defend them, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement, which estimated that more than 50 Falun Gong leaders will be prosecuted.
Among them are Mr Li Chang, a former deputy director at the Ministry of Public Security, and Mr Wang Zhiwen, a former Railways Ministry official.
China banned Falun Gong on July 22nd, alleging it was a cult which undermined stability and the government, and leaders face life imprisonment. Mr Li said it was not political and posed no threat to the government.
The circular also said that a majority of Falun Gong practitioners would be forgiven if they promised to abandon practising Falun Gong, which is a mixture of qigong breathing exercises and elements of Buddhism and Taoism.
Members of Falun Gong in Beijing confirm that the authorities are treating lightly those who "repent".
The China Daily accused Mr Li of causing more than 700 deaths by persuading practitioners to shun medicine and of lying about his role in organising the April 25th demonstration in Beijing.
Also in Beijing yesterday, the US embassy said it was concerned about the fate of a Tibetan translator detained by Chinese police along with two foreigners investigating a controversial World Bank poverty-relief programme.
Mr Tsering Dorje accompanied an Australian, Mr Gabriel Lafitte, and Mr Daja Meston from the US on a trip in the remote western province of Qinghai recently to investigate the programme, which involves resettling impoverished Chinese farmers on traditional Tibetan land. All three were detained: Mr Lafitte, of Melbourne University, was deported on Saturday; and Mr Meston, from Massachusetts, is in a Chinese hospital with serious spinal injuries after leaping from a police building in an attempt to escape.