Extracts.
Commentary on Evil Nature of Falun Gong: People's Daily
Our Daily, China's leading newspaper, published a byline commentary Friday,
denouncing the evil nature of the Falun Gong cult which suborned five
practitioners to set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square on January 23.
The suicidal attempts, which left one dead and four others seriously
injured, were a terrible tragedy on the eve of the Chinese New Year, says
the commentator.
Similar to other evil cults worldwide, Falun Gong idolizes its ringleader,
Li Hongzhi, who fled to the United States, tortures human life, endangers
the whole society and infringes on human rights, the article says.
Since founding Falun Gong, Li has carried out spiritual worship for himself
and disseminated malicious theories of doomsday and sin eradication among
practitioners.
Li fabricates malicious fallacies and proclaims that the law of Falun is a
kind of supernatural science. Under the disguise of pursuing truthfulness,
goodness and forbearance, the cult leader advocates fatalism and organizes
underground activities in order to subvert the government, the commentary
says.
The Falun Gong cult attempts to spiritually control its practitioners, many
of whom have gone too far and become maniacal, the writer says.
Before the ban on Falun Gong, many of its members beguiled by Li refused to
take medicine when ill and some even committed suicide.
Official statistics show that in the last couple of years, more than 1,600
Falun Gong practitioners have died unnatural deaths throughout the country,
which has affected thousands of families.
On April 5, 2000, a Falun Gong practitioner in Jiutaihe City, northeast
Jilin Province, burnt himself to death, leaving only a letter to his wife
and family.
In the suicide incident in Tiananmen Square on January 23, the cult
bewitched a 19 year old college student and a 12-year-old girl to set
themselves on fire.
The Chinese government announced on July 22, 1999 that Falun Gong is an evil
cult, and afterwards began operating crackdown activities.
After meticulous education and persuasion by various levels of governments,
most of the Falun Gong practitioners left the cult and began to live a
normal life again.
A retired shoe-maker in Baicheng City, Jilin Province, finally revealed the
falsehood of Li's so-called principles such as truthfulness, goodness and
forbearance.
While Falun Gong believers shed blood in China, Li and his family have led a
luxurious life in the United States, with the money they gained through
cheating practitioners and other benefactors, the newspaper says.
A Beijing Economics College graduate was formerly a die-hard member of Falun
Gong. She gradually became suspect of her beliefs and discovered the evil
nature of the cult. After learning of some incidents involving suicide, she
said that she is really happy to be responsible to her family, the state and
society, the commentary says.
In tandem with striking against the cult, the Chinese government is foiling
Li Hongzhi's ugly attempts. The cult leader throws himself into the lap of
Western anti-China forces and acts as their tool for subverting the Chinese
government.
Meanwhile, he continues cheating his followers through the Internet and
provokes them to sacrifice their lives for his ulterior political motives.
The suicide incident on January 23 exposed again the evil nature of the
Falun Gong cult, which must be rooted out for the sake of long-term social
stability and safety of the people, the commentary says.
****
Forum on World and China Scheduled
An international forum on topics concerning the world and China in the 21st
century will be held in Beijing this fall, according to the organizer - the
Chinese People 's Institute of Foreign Affairs in Beijing Thursday.
Participants, including world-renowned statesmen, experts and entrepreneurs,
will focus on the development trends of the global situation, opportunities
and challenges facing China, and in particular China's effect on the world
in the new century.
They will also exchange views on such issues as world political and security
environment around China in the next decade, China's economic and social
development trend, its WTO entry, and investment environment.
Meanwhile, government officials will elaborate on China's policies on
security and foreign affairs, economic development strategy, opening-up, and
prospects of foreign trade and economic cooperation.
****
Senior Official on Party Building in Rural Areas
Zeng Qinghong, head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of
China (CPC) Central Committee, recently urged Party officials in rural areas
to improve their overall performance and to solve hot issues facing farmers.
While touring rural areas in east Jiangsu and central Hunan provinces, Zeng,
who is also an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central
Committee, said that grassroots Party officials must earnestly follow the
instructions of Jiang Zemin, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee,
on the Party construction.
In a study tour of south China's Guangdong Province, Jiang Zemin once said
that the communist Party will remain successful and enjoy the heartfelt
support of the people of China and lead them to constantly advance so long
as it always earnestly represents the development requirements of China's
advanced social productive forces, the progressive course of China's
advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority
of the Chinese people.
Zeng urged the officials to hear people's complaints with real earnest and
accept supervision from the common people when implementing their duties.
In addition, Zeng encouraged local officials to go to farmers' homes to
solicit their opinions.
While consolidating Party construction in rural areas, Zeng urged the
officials to effectively arrange farming production in the coming Spring
plowing period.
****
China to Guarantee Cultivated Land No Less than 1.92bn Mu
China will make efforts in coming five years to achieve a balance between
occupancy and supplement of farmland to secure a national cultivated land of
no less than 1.92bn mu (15 mu = one hectare), said Tian Fengshan, minister
of Land and Resources.
To this end, related departments will tighten control over land use and
intensify examination and approval of farmland to be diverted to other
purposes, and plan the use and management of land according to law; they
will conscientiously implement the basic farmland protection system and will
strictly control the use of basic farmland for the construction of various
types of projects; they will legally institute the system of compensation
for the cultivated land used for construction purpose; persist in connecting
the use of land for construction projects with the projects of development
and improvement, and introduce a project assessment system regarding a
balance between the occupancy and replenishment of cultivated land,
guaranteeing implementation of the responsibility, fund and plan regarding
supplemented arable land. A farmland reserve system will also be introduced
to gradually ensure that supplement precedes occupation of cultivated land.
China will strengthen management of farmland and prevent the destruction of
cultivated land; it will press ahead with improvement of land, intensify
reclamation efforts and appropriately exploit the reserve resources of
cultivated land. Meanwhile, it will pursue the policy of tapping the
potential of land for construction purpose and vigorously promote the
intensive use of land.
Strengthening management of land property is an important measure for
intensified protection of cultivated land under the condition of the market
economy. The Ministry demands that land investigation work be done in the
next five years to further clarify the land ownership of the rural
collective, and that license-issuing work be completed which regards the
right to use land for construction projects.
****
Integrating Rule of Country by Law and by Morality
In his speech delivered at the National Conference of Heads of Publicity
Departments of CPC, Comrade Jiang Zemin
<http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/leaders/jzm/jzmhome.htm> put forward
a very important idea, that is, in the process of building socialism with
Chinese characteristics and developing a socialist market economy, we should
unremittingly strengthen socialist legal system construction, and run the
country by morals, at the same time, we should untiringly strengthen
socialist morality construction and run the country by morality. This
important idea represents the application and development of our Party's
strategic thinking known as "doing two types of work at the same time and
attaching equal importance to both", it is a sublimation of our
understanding of the law governing the building of socialism with Chinese
characteristics, a perfection and innovation of the basic strategy for our
Party to lead the people in the administration of the country, and
enrichment of and contribution to the Marxist theory on the State.
Conscientious study and resolute implementation of this important idea will
definitely yield major and far-reaching influence on China's development in
the new century.
Rule by law and rule by morality complement and promote each other, neither
of them can be dispensed with and neither should be overemphasized at the
expense of the other. Many people in Chinese history have advocated the
simultaneous use of Confucianism and law. During the Tang Dynasty, a period
of prosperity of Chinese feudal society, the rulers, on the one hand,
formulated a set of feudal morality systems for properly running the family
and bringing stability to the world; on the other hand, they enacted laws,
which formed the most compact and most systematic feudal code-the law of the
Tang Dynasty in Chinese history. This practice not only expressed in legal
form the will of the ruling class, but also required the forcible
implementation of their moral concepts in the form of law. Its aim was to
"formulate rites to express one's respect, and establish law of penalty to
show one's might", so as to promote social development.
Today, as we practice administration of the country according to law and
running the country by morality, our fundamental aim is to guarantee that
the masses of the people genuinely become masters of the country. Ruling the
country according to law means that the Party-led State organs of power,
administrative organizations, judicial organs and other social organizations
should administer the country in accordance with the law and systems that
express the will and interests of the people. Running the country with
morality means that taking Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng
Xiaoping Theory as the guide, we should actively establish a socialist
ideological and moral system that is adapted to the development of the
socialist market economy, and develop socialist culture and ethics. This
system takes serving the people as the core, collectivism as the principle,
and loving the motherland, the people, labor, science and socialism as the
basic requirements.
Through energetically initiating social morality, such as promoting ethics
and courtesy, taking pleasure in helping others, cherishing public property,
protecting the environment, observing discipline and abiding by law,
vigorously advocating professional ethics as expressed in the love for one's
job and devotion to one's career, being honest and keeping faith, handling
affairs with fairness and justice, serving the masses, and being dedicated
to society, and forcefully promoting the family virtue featuring respect for
the old and care for the young, equality between man and woman, harmony
between husband and wife, diligence and thrifty in running the household and
unity between neighbors. We should set down rules of conduct to be generally
confirmed and consciously observed by all people; and we should establish an
inter-personal relationship featuring unity and mutual-aid, equality,
fraternity and common progress.
Ruling the country according to law and running the country with morality
are a closely integrated whole. The rule of law belongs to political
construction and to political civilization; while rule by morality belongs
to ideological construction and to advanced culture and ethics. They both
have their respective positions and functions. Rule by law regulates the
conduct of social members with its authoritative and coercive means; while
rule with morality enhances the ideological understanding and moral
consciousness with its moving and inspiring force and its strength of
exhortation. Socialist rule of law provides a legal guarantee for
establishing, safeguarding and practicing socialist morality. Socialist rule
of morality is to regulate the conduct of all social members with socialist
ideology and morality and raise the moral level of the entire nation.
Success in rule by morality makes it possible to administer the country
according to law.
In the new historical period of the reform, opening up and modernization
drive, ruling the country by morality requires strengthening the building of
socialist culture and ethics. Through painstaking, in-depth and careful
ideological-political work, we should form a favorable public opinion
environment, so that Marxism and the ideological theory on the building of
socialism with Chinese characteristics will go deep into the minds of all
Party members and cadres and the entire people, and that the ideology of
patriotism, collectivism and socialism can really become a strong spiritual
pillar for rallying and uniting the whole Party and the people of the whole
country.
The establishment of a socialist ideological and moral system compatible
with the socialist market economy is a colossal social systematic project.
Centering around the establishment of a correct outlook on world, life and
value, we must integrate the inheritance of the fine tradition with the
promotion of the spirit of the times, unify the respect for personal legal
rights and interests with the shouldering of social responsibility,
coordinate attention to efficiency and the safeguarding of social justice,
combine advanced requirement with extensive requirement, and strive to set
down a healthy, harmonious, and progressive ideological and moral standard
adaptable to economic and social development. We must carefully formulate
and earnestly implement a guidance plan for moral construction, blend the
requirement of basic moral concepts with related laws, regulations and
various specific policies and mix it in various fields of social management,
and constantly promote the formation and perfection of the socialist
ideological and moral system. We must, in compliance with the requirements
of the "three representatives" (representing advanced culture, advanced
productive forces and the fundamental interests of the people), strengthen
Party building, so that the broad masses of Party members and cadres will
become models in carrying out the "three representatives" and in pursuing
socialist and communist morality, and that the Party members can become
examples of the entire people and Party cadres at all levels can become
examples for all Party members.
We are convinced that under the leadership of the Party Central Committee
with Comrade Jiang Zemin at the core, as long as members of the whole Party
and people of the whole country adhere to the basic strategy of ruling the
country according to law and running the country with morality, the great
cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics will definitely
develop even faster and better.
****
Mainland Boat Expected to Sail for Taiwan Island of Kinmen on Tuesday
China's southeastern Fujian
<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/fujian.html> Province is
planning to send a boat on a historic trip to the small Taiwan
<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/taiwan.html> island of
Kinmen off the mainland coast early next week, officials in the province
said Thursday.
The crossing, which has tentatively been set for Tuesday, will be the first
officially sanctioned trip by China's mainland to Taiwan in more than 50
years.
"We are shooting for a trip to take place on February 6," said a staff
member with the semi-official Kinmen Compatriot Federation in the Fujian
port city of Xiamen, who said his surname was Dai. "We are trying to work
out the formalities with the Taiwan side."
The boat is expected to carry about 100 passengers, most of them senior
citizens who intend to visit relatives in the island, he said.
If the trip goes ahead as planned, the boat will be the first mainland
vessel to sail for Taiwan in about 50 years. Taiwan authorities released a
"three mini-links" policy at the end of 2000, which opened direct shipping
between Kinmen and Matsu Islands and mainland's Fujian province.
Taiwan sent its first two boats to travel directly between Taiwan and the
mainland in nearly 52 years on January 2, in a move hailed by Taipei as a
breakthrough in cross-Strait relations and a move toward removing tensions
across the straits.
The three "mini-links" -- direct transport, trade and postal services --
between the two islands and Fujian are expected to develop into broader
relations as early as the end of the year, sources said.
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