El Mundo: Editorial about the Chinese Economy and Falun Gong

Spain - On July 22, 2004, one of the two most important newspapers in Spain, El Mundo, famous for its investigative reporting, published an editorial lead article presenting the persecution against Falun Gong as the most evident example of why China's "economic freedom" is an illusion that will clearly fail without human rights and the rule of law.

Falun Gong, Evidence of a Failure

Editorial

The fifth anniversary of the Chinese government's illegalization of the Falun Gong organization recently passed; it is considered religious by some, although it is probably more precisely defined as spiritual. It suffered a brutal spiral of repression: the reeducation of hundreds of millions of people--a repetition on a smaller scale of that terrible act by the regime, the Cultural Revolution--as well as the jailing of over 6,000 members, of which an important number, perhaps more than one thousand, have died in Chinese prisons. Falun Gong, with the support of international human rights organizations, affirms that many of them have suffered terrible tortures.

This group preached a practice by which to improve physical and spiritual health through qigong exercises, a form of ancient oriental gymnastics, and incorporated elements from various religious traditions. Its elimination in China by use of force has not prevented its spread to many other places in the world in the last five years. Whatever one's opinion may be about this movement and the goals of its leader, Li Hongzhi [slanderous terms of Jiang's regime omitted], it is clear that its members have always acted in a peaceful manner. Even angelically. But that did not prevent a brutal persecution, one that reminds of the repression some years before of those equally peaceful demonstrators of Tiananmen. These precedents do, in fact, make one fear the worst for the growing movement defending the democratic rights of Hong Kong, which has drawn huge demonstrations.

The persecution of these most benign and civilized forms of dissent, brings out the deep contradictions of Beijing's reportedly reformist regime. In the long run, it is not possible to promote economic liberalization--with such colorful examples as the incorporation of capitalist principles and entrepreneurialism with those of the communist system--and, at the same time, to mercilessly continue suppressing civil rights and freedom of expression. A homologous capitalist system in the international community must provide legal security for investors and consumers, and public administrations must make decisions based on equality.

A communist regime that acts arbitrarily, and often dictatorially, can't offer the conditions--in particular, an independent legal system--necessary so that the so-called economic liberty does not end up being synonymous with abuse and corruption. In this way, Falun Gong's sad fate becomes a premonition of the future failure of the Chinese political system, as schizophrenic as it is unjust.

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