BEIJING (Reuters) - China vowed Monday to punish members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement who hijacked state-run satellite signals during the soccer World Cup finals in one of the group's most daring protests to date.
"This is extremely despicable and represents yet another crime committed by Falun Gong," said Liu Lihua, Director-General of Ministry of Information Industry's (MII) Radio Regulatory Department told a media conference.
The MII said Falun Gong followers had, under the guidance of U.S.-based leader Li Hongzhi, hijacked nine national channels and 10 provincial stations by interfering with signals of state-run Sino Satellite (SINOSAT) company between June 23 to 30.
"We solemnly warn the Falun Gong cult to immediately stop its lawless disruption of normal communications," the ministry said in a statement.
Followers had hacked into cable television networks earlier this year but this was the first time Falun Gong had intercepted the Sinosat satellite, which serves strategic interests such as the national weather bureau and state-run Xinhua news agency.
Millions of Chinese missed part of the World Cup finals, celebrations for the fifth anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule, and news related to the fatal floods that had swept the nation, Liu said.
Instead, viewers concentrated in poor and mountainous areas of the country were intermittently shown blackened screens and, at one point, around 20 seconds of images showing Falun Gong adherents meditating in seated positions.
It disrupted a government scheme to broadcast propaganda to the massive rural population, part of efforts to maintain social stability as wrenching reforms threaten to see millions lose their jobs ahead of an expected key leadership re-shuffle.
Xinhua quoted a senior official as saying the act was an "overt challenge to modern civilized society" and a "flagrant subversion of social order."
China's sensitivity over Falun Gong was highlighted last week when Beijing stopped transmission of the BBC's World Service Television channel after it showed group members in Hong Kong protesting against visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin
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Falun Gong, banned in China after followers staged a peaceful demonstration to demand recognition of their faith in 1999, practices a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism, traditional Chinese exercises and its founder's own ideas.
The group's once frequent demonstrations, mostly on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, have petered out following a fierce crackdown.
Followers appear to have changed tactics to focus on state media, and successfully hacked into cable television networks in the southwestern city of Chongqing in January and in the northeastern city of Changchun in March, Liu said.
He said substantial progress had been made in tracking down the perpetrators, who he said had breached national security and international telecommunications conventions.
"They can run but they cannot hide forever. They will be subjected to severe punishment according to the law," Liu said.
The interception of Sinosat's signals, which disrupted more than a dozen hours of viewing, had caused extensive but unspecified economic losses to the commercial reputation of Sino Satellite Communications Ltd, officials said.
While it was easier to interfere with cable television systems than with a satellite, people could buy some of the necessary equipment from local shops and learn how to analyze satellite signals, said Du Baichuan, deputy chief engineer of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).
"It is not as high-tech as a layman may think," Du told the news conference.