Vice-President Annette Lu protested Saturday [1 March]
Hong
Kong’s “crude” treatment of a group of Falun Gong practitioners from
Taiwan,
describing it as a violation of human rights as bad as the 228 Incident
in
Taiwan 56 years ago.
In a news conference called to denounce the Hong Kong authorities’
deportation of 80 Taiwanese Falun Gong followers on 20 February and 21
February, Lu said the former British colony has rapidly lost its shine
as
the Pearl of the Orient and a “beacon of freedom” since it was handed
back
to Beijing in 1997.
The Falun Gong practitioners visited Hong Kong 20 February and 21
February
separately but were denied entry at the airport and forcibly turned away
by
Hong Kong police.
If this method of deporting persona non grata is anything to go by, the
vice-president said, Hong Kong’s human rights record is deteriorating.
She noted that she was turned away by Hong Kong customs authorities
“politely” in 1991 when she tried to visit mainland China through the
British colony, but said the Hong Kong police used riot gear to force
the
Taiwanese Falun Gong followers to leave 20 February and 21 February.
Although the Mainland Affairs Council issued a formal protest over the
episode, the vice-president said she hopes other government agencies
will
keep turning up the heat on the Hong Kong authorities.
Many Falun Gong practitioners joined Lu at the news conference and
called on
the Hong Kong authorities to apologize for the crude treatment meted out
to
them.
Chang Chin-hsi, a professor at National Taiwan University and chairman
of
the Association of Taiwan Falun Gong Followers, said 400 members of his
association visited Hong Kong 20 February and 21 February in two
different
groups. All of them with the proper travel documents, but 80 of them
were
denied entry.
Since his association has a list of its members posted on its Web site,
he
said, the Hong Kong authorities probably learned the followers’ names
from
the site and blocked their entry.
Originating in mainland China, Falun Gong now has millions of adherents
around the world. Beijing branded the group a cult organization and
banned
it in 1999.
Source: Central News Agency web site, Taipei. Text of report by Maubo Chang, carried in English by Taiwanese Central News Agency web site
Posting date: 4/March/2003
Original article date: 1/March/2003
Category: Media Reports
