HONG KONG (Reuters) – On Sunday, July 5, five days after China enacted a new national security law in Hong Kong, Yang Xiaolan and three dozen members of Falun Gong were standing in a public park, holding their arms spread over closed eyes while meditating. soundtrack mixed with birdsong.
Yang Xiaolan, a Falun Gong practitioner who fled mainland China, cries during an interview at her home in Hong Kong, China on July 2, 2020. Photo taken on July 2, 2020. REUTERS / Pak Yiu
The spiritual group was banned in mainland China in 1999, but its members were allowed to practice freely in Hong Kong, despite the group urging people to resign from the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Yang said she no longer feels safe in the city after the security law made the broadly defined crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces punishable by life in prison.
“On the mainland, my heart always trembled when I practiced Falun Gong. I constantly feared for my life, “said Yang, who fled mainland China in 2009.” Like the mainland Chinese public security authorities, they can trample on the law and say that anything is illegal, “he said, speaking of the new security law.
The Hong Kong government declined to comment on how the new law would affect Falun Gong, but said the law preserves “the basic rights and liberty that law-abiding citizens legally enjoy.” The law does not mention religious or spiritual groups.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the new Hong Kong law will sanction any behavior that endangers national security.
On Falun Gong in general, the ministry said in a statement: “Falun Gong is a worship organization prohibited by the Chinese government in accordance with the law, which has also been rejected by the Chinese people for a long time. Banning this worship organization is an act of justice by the Chinese government, carried out in response to the people’s demand and an effort to maintain social stability and protect human rights. The alleged deletion makes no sense. ”
Falun Gong was founded in Mainland China in 1992, combining meditation, slow-motion exercises, moral teachings largely based on Buddhism and Taoism, and the sometimes unorthodox theories of leader Li Hongzhi, such as his belief that aliens have begun to dominate the world.
The Chinese Communist Party saw the group’s growing popularity as a challenge to its government and banned it after 10,000 practitioners quietly protested in Beijing, calling it an “evil cult” that threatened national stability and jailed some of its members.
“Of course we are concerned,” said Sarah Liang, a journalist for The Epoch Times, a Falun Gong-initiated newspaper that is highly critical of the Chinese Communist Party and supports US President Donald Trump. “But we are different from other groups in that we have already suffered 20 years of persecution.”
Ingrid Wu, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Falun Dafa Association, an alternative name for the group, said two members have already left Hong Kong for fear of their safety. She identified one of those people only as Susan, and asked that the other not be named.
“It is a knife that hangs over our heads,” Wu said.
Although the new security law does not specifically mention religious or spiritual groups, Maya Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, described the law as broad and arbitrary. “Anyone who is critical of the Chinese government can be interpreted as having broken the law,” he said.
TAKING FLAGS
Yang and six of the approximately 300 other Falun Gong devotees who regularly practice in various locations in Hong Kong told Reuters that they plan to continue as they did under the law.
Some see it as a litmus test of ‘one country, two systems’, the principle that China adopted when it regained control of Hong Kong in 1997, giving the territory a high degree of autonomy and religion and the press. freedoms not available on the continent.
Some Falun Gong members said that they had already made changes. At an advertising stand outside the Star Ferry terminal in Kowloon, Falun Gong used to display a sign saying “Heaven will destroy the Communist Party.” About two weeks after the new law, it disappeared. Wu said that after the law was passed, some police officers asked volunteers to remove those banners, and that some members had agreed to temporarily remove them.
Hong Kong police declined to comment on Falun Gong, saying they did not track national security complaints against specific groups. Reuters was unable to independently verify that the police were behind the removal of any banner.
“Who knows when they’ll call us illegal,” said Wincy Chan, who operated the post.
Although largely left alone by the Hong Kong government, Chan and his colleagues have for years faced opposition from certain city-based pro-Beijing groups.
Next to their Star Ferry post, an organization called Care for The Youth Group Association Hong Kong has a post manned by two volunteers wearing neon vests with “Falun Gong of Evil Cult Worship” stamped in red.
One of them, Paul Chan, a 52-year-old former official, said he distributed leaflets for personal reasons.
“My relatives on the mainland believed in Falun Gong and fell under some kind of influence. They wanted to commit suicide, to hurt themselves, “said Chan, who did not mention his relatives.” They are not a religion. What they say about the healing powers is completely false. ”
Chan’s organization rejected requests for comment. Reuters was unable to determine whether the group has filed complaints about Falun Gong with the police.
Joanna Lau, a Falun Gong practitioner who organizes street stalls, said that only a few members have stopped volunteering. Still, he said that one member, whom he identified only as Ms. Li, had replaced a banner in the Causeway Bay District accusing the Chinese Communist Party of harvesting organs from Falun Gong members, a claim that Beijing denied, by a promoting meditation.
“I think they will spare no effort to try to stop our activities,” Yang said. “I don’t know if we can still continue.”
Despite those fears, some downplay the potential threat. Until now, the Hong Kong government “simply ignored” Falun Gong, said Lau Siu-kai, vice president of the Chinese Association for the Study of Hong Kong and Macao, Beijing’s leading group of experts on issues in those territories.
“If you focus on the qigong aspect (breathing exercise), or the religious aspect of Falun Gong, and refrain from challenging Beijing or attacking the reputation of national leaders, I think the government may have fewer incentives or fewer legal reasons to deal with them, “he said.
Last week, the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, asked Beijing to stop its mistreatment of Falun Gong members on the 21st anniversary of the crackdown.
Hong Kong newsroom reports; Additional reports from the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Bill Rigby
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