The Far Eastern Economic Review: Hotel Security Check for Banned Spiritual Group

The Far Eastern Economic Review: Hotel Security Check for Banned Spiritual Group

March 13, 2002

Discomfort Inn for Falun Gong

Security sweeps in Beijing's high-end international hotels are thought to be a thing of the past. But worries over the banned spiritual group, Falun Gong, weighed so heavily during the annual meeting of the National People's Congress that security officials searched and nearly emptied a new Canadian-invested four-star hotel. On March 8, a few hours after Australian Falun Gong members were deported for trying to unfurl a banner, Public Security and State Security officers searched guest rooms at the Comfort Inn and Suites in the diplomatic Sanlitun district. Most guests at the brand new facility were asked to move to a neighbouring hotel. Staffers told guests the hotel was singled out because American members of Falun Gong had stayed there in February and protested in Tiananmen Square. In a letter, the hotel later apologized.

Whose Rights?

China may escape censorship of its human-rights record when the United Nations Commission on Human Rights meets in Geneva from March 18-April 25, according to diplomats and human-rights activists. The United States, which has sponsored resolutions condemning China on human rights, lost its seat on the commission last year and must find a new sponsor of a resolution. On March 12, 18 senators and representatives urged President George W. Bush to approve a U.S. drive for a resolution on human rights in China. Last year, China used a "no action" procedural motion to prevent the U.S. resolution from coming to a vote.

FALUN GONG

The banned Falun Gong spiritual group hijacked a state cable-television network in a north-eastern city to show a 45-minute film protesting against a government crackdown on its followers. State television broadcasts in Changchun were interrupted on March 5 by a tape showing the Falun Gong's U.S.-based leader, Li Hongzhi, and a documentary-style film accusing the government of staging the self-immolation of alleged adherents in Tiananmen Square last year. It was one of the most daring protests staged by the Falun Gong.