Holland Theme Park Mangament Refuses to Bow Under Pressure from Jiang's Regime

LANDGRAAF, Netherlands -- The People's Republic of China has urged the theme park Mondo Verde in Landgraaf, The Netherlands to cancel a part of the program of the Asian week there. It concerns a workshop from the meditation group Falun Gong, a movement prohibited in China. Mondo Verde refuses to meet the demands of China.

Manager J. Nonneman of Mondo Verde said Tuesday that he "got a strange feeling" of the admonition from the Chinese People's Republic. The fax from the Chinese embassy was addressed to him personally, with indicates to Nonneman that "it seems that here too, they keep a close eye on everything around Falun Gong". Nonneman has not responded to the fax.

Asian week

During the Asian week in Mondo Verde, which lasted until Sunday, in the park's Asian gardens, around three hundred people are busy expressing all kinds of eastern arts and techniques, such as meditation and martial arts. "Only six of those people show the meditation techniques of Falun Gong", says Nonneman. The other parts are, among other things, kung fu, tai chi, judo, Javanese dancing and batiks.

Nonneman points out that the former Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs Van Aartsen has stood up for Falun Gong, as well as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. "What Falun Gong is showing in Mondo Verde is not inciting or spectacular. Some people are sitting there meditating, that's all. Falun Gong wants to clean the spirit so that people can use their own strength and feeling. That seems to be a sensitive subject to a communist government."

In China Falun Gong has been prosecuted since 1999. The movement, started in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, has millions of followers worldwide.