FDI: Why All Should Heed Jiang Zemin's Shrinking of Justice and Freedom in Hong Kong

NEW YORK, August 2, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Centre) -- Seldom does a court case afford such a clear choice. Seldom do we observe such black-and-white morality in a shades-of-grey world. In the case of the Hong Kong police against 16 Falun Gong practitioners who allegedly caused obstruction by their small and peaceful appeal in front of Hong Kong's Chinese Liaison Office, we can see without hindrance or blurring, the contrast of opposing people and principles.

Not so immediately apparent, but deserving our sober attention, is what this trial actually represents for Hong Kong and why those who live in Hong Kong, those who do business in Hong Kong, and those who care about the future of morality, all should care about this case.

A reasonable person can conclude that the case against the 16 Falun Gong practitioners should have been dismissed on its merits long ago. The practitioners are charged with obstruction and attacking police last March, when it was actually the police who obstructed and attacked, as eyewitness reports and video footage of the event reveal. Furthermore, Hong Kong police have not provided convincing evidence to the contrary.

This trial is difficult for the lives of the 12 Hong Kong residents and four Swiss citizens, difficult for their families and friends. It is expensive, also, for them and the government.

Yet it should be noted that these 16 individuals were unpaid volunteers making peaceful appeals on behalf of others: The Falun Gong practitioners suffering persecution inside China. As practitioners have been doing in Hong Kong and around the world for that past three years without incident (except in cities where Jiang Zemin was visiting and pressured the local government to block Falun Gong practitioners from his sight), these people were appealing with conscience and from the heart.

Those who oppose them are a bureaucratic and propaganda machine doing things with money under the forceful hand of Jiang Zemin.

Inviting Jiang's campaign of injustice against people such as this, through the current trial, is sure to leave a dark stain on the pages of Hong Kong's history and will damage Hong Kong's image internationally.

Perceptive observers understand this as a significant test case for the "One Country, Two Systems" under which Hong Kong is supposed to be governed for 45 more years. Pressure from Jiang Zemin to restrict Falun Gong in Hong Kong is here bending and distorting the legacy freedoms and legal system. Political pressure is hastening the crumbling of the agreement; Rule by Fiat is eclipsing Rule of Law.

So what is the result of this? If you're not politically connected, you're not protected by the law. Your business will be subject to arbitrary penalties, your property to random seizure, and your personal freedoms to capricious cancellation. Looking at the flip-flop changes in China over recent decades, where Deng Xiaoping can be imprisoned in disgrace and later rise to "paramount leader" or where Liu Shao Qi can rise and fall and rise again, we can see that catering to and appeasing a dictator is not the formula for long-term prosperity. With the shifting winds of the times, even if you're on the right side today, you might be on the very wrong side tomorrow. Looking the other way as Jiang eviscerates Hong Kong's freedoms and justice system may be thinking simply too short-term.

What is equally frightening is what forms of moral compromises are often required in order to remain politically favoured. In the persecution of Falun Gong inside China today, we see such moral quicksand. Neighbours, co-workers, and family members are forced to turn in practitioners to avoid serious punishment themselves. Police and security personnel receive heavy pressure from the top to meet arrest quotas of practitioners, or face loss of pay or position. The bystanders are taken down along with the innocent who are on the wrong side of fiat.

The absence of stability afforded by Rule of Law cannot lead to prosperity for any but a few who are both ruthless and lucky. Today, it is Falun Gong practitioners on trial for peacefully speaking out. Tomorrow, will it be you who is caught on the wrong side of Rule by Fiat?

From observing this trial and from observing the three years of relentless persecution of Falun Gong in China, what is most alarming is what Jiang has chosen to so vehemently oppose. The 16 individuals on trial, as do all Falun Gong practitioners, strive as a first priority to cultivate values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance in themselves. They stand for these values. It is to this that Jiang is so adamantly opposed.

These three words--Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance--printed on a cloth and held up in public in Mainland China will get a person arrested and deported (if a foreigner) or beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and possibly killed (if a Chinese national).

What kind of political forces would treat three good and righteous words--Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance--as a threatening slogan? What kind of dictator would tremble at the mention of these words or cringe at the sight of yellow clothing emblazoned with the characters representing these principles?

Everyone should be concerned when the man calling the shots in the most populous nation vilifies and defames those who strive to live by these principles. Everyone should be concerned when the commander of the largest army, police, and security forces in the world wields them as instruments to attack and persecute people who live by the highest moral standards. If a leader attacks his own citizens who are peaceful and non-violent, what will that leader do on the world stage?

History is marred with examples of those who have persecuted people of upright beliefs. In all cases, such persecution has not resulted in long-term prosperity. A turn of events in China is inevitable. It is hoped that Hong Kong does not follow going the wrong way.

This one court case in Hong Kong will echo loudly when a decision is handed down. For people of rationality and conscience, the issues are clear. For engaged citizens, to protect the interests and rectitude of the defendants is to protect the interests and rectitude of all.