HONG KONG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Human rights campaigners accused Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa on Friday of siding with Beijing's communist leadership by joining in branding the Falun Gong spiritual movement an "evil cult."
Tung warned the Falun Gong on Thursday that it would be closely watched and prevented from exploiting Hong Kong's freedom to upset stability in the territory or provoke mainland China.
Tung told a session of Hong Kong's 60-member legislative council that the Falun Gong had some characteristics of "an evil cult," the words China uses to describe the movement which is banned on the mainland.
Falun Gong is legal in Hong Kong, which was granted a high degree of autonomy after returning to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula worked out with Britain.
Falun Gong has taken an aggressive stand in Hong Kong this year, pushing its anti-Beijing protests.
Law Yuk-kai of the group the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor deplored Tung's echoing of Beijing in calling the group an "evil cult" and questioned what closer scrutiny meant.
"Describing it as an evil cult is irresponsible. Governments have to restrain themselves from calling any belief or group such names," he said.
"If Falun Gong is just voicing its views, it does not deserve such things (surveillance). Does that mean the government will tap their phones, intercept their mail?"
Martin Lee, leader of the Democratic Party, said: "If we carry on like this and the central government isn't nice to the Catholics, Protestants or Buddhists either, and seeks to brand all of them as cults, will Hong Kong call them cults too?"
An editorial in the mass-circulated Chinese-language Apple Daily called Tung's remarks "dangerous and unreasonable."
Beijing has stepped up its vilification campaign against the group and warned recently it would not allow Falun Gong to turn Hong Kong into an anti-China base.
TUNG WALKS FINE LINE
But political analysts said Tung, picked by Beijing for the post-colonial role of chief executive, was walking a tightrope between pleasing Beijing and defending Hong Kong's special status and freedoms within communist China.
Sonny Lo, a politics professor at the Hong Kong University, said: "Sandwiched between Beijing and the Falun Gong, that was the best Tung could do."
"By calling the group an 'evil cult', Tung was giving a clear signal to Falun Gong to tone down and understand the predicament of the Hong Kong government."
Political commentator Lau Siu-kai, a sociology professor at the Chinese University said the best approach was to persuade Falun Gong members in Hong Kong to assume a lower profile.
"The government must appeal to people's political pragmatism that high profile Falun Gong activities will hurt the relationship between Hong Kong and Beijing, and that will be detrimental to Hong Kong," Lau told Reuters.
Some analysts said Tung had been sensible in saying he was in no hurry to press for a sedition law that the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini constitution, requires the territory adopt.
"It seems to me Tung understands the virtue of keeping that law ambiguous for now. That grey area is beneficial for Hong Kong as it means the Falun Gong and other sensitive issues are up for bargain, negotiation, politicking and compromise," Lo said.
Despite the flap over Falun Gong, international rating agency Standard & Poor's upgraded Hong Kong's sovereign credit rating on Friday.
"Hong Kong's ability to administer its own affairs within the limited autonomy provided by the Basic Law has been tested by several economic and political challenges," the agency said.
03:54 02-09-01
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