BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji lashed out hard at the outlawed Falun Gong (news - web sites) spiritual movement on Monday but avoided criticism of the group's role in Hong Kong which would have fuelled anxiety there.
Falun Gong is legal in Hong Kong, and the territory had been watching to see if Zhu's speech would add to concerns about Beijing's commitment to its promise of a high degree of autonomy to the former British colony.
Senior Chinese officials accused the Falun Gong last month of using Hong Kong as a platform to ``point its spears'' at China's ruling Communist Party, the most recent cause for alarm.
Analysts said any such criticism from Zhu would have stoked fears of an erosion of the autonomy Hong Kong was promised under the ``one country, two systems'' deal that returned the territory to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Its conspicuous absence triggered a sigh of relief.
``That says Beijing is letting the Hong Kong government take care of its own problems,'' said Allen Lee, a Hong Kong delegate to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament.
Political scientist Sonny Lo of Hong Kong University said: ''It gives the impression that the central government is avoiding interfering in Hong Kong affairs.''
In a speech opening the annual two-week session of the NPC, Zhu reiterated Beijing's hard line against Falun Gong, which he called a ``cult which has become a tool for domestic and overseas forces hostile to our socialist government.''
``We need to mete out severe punishment to the small number of criminals while making unremitting efforts to unite, educate and rescue the vast majority of people who have been taken in,'' he said of the movement China banned in July 1999.
He lumped Falun Gong together with terrorists, ethnic separatists and religious extremism as ``criminal activities that pose a threat to social order and national security.''
Tacit Orders
By avoiding the issue, Beijing was telling the world it would keep its promise of giving Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, said political analyst Lau Siu-kai at the Chinese University.
``The central government does not want to be seen as putting any pressure on the Hong Kong government to force it to act against the group,'' Lau said.
``If Zhu had made any comment, and if Hong Kong should deal harshly with the group, that would cause such an international furor and raise serious questions about Hong Kong's freedoms,'' he said.
Falun Gong outraged Beijing in January by staging an international conference in Hong Kong at which delegates denounced President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites) for a ruthless crackdown on the movement.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa appeared subsequently to toe Beijing's line by saying Falun Gong has some of the traits of an evil cult and that he would monitor its activities closely in Hong Kong, where there are about 500 members.
Lo said Beijing understood that the Hong Kong government knew what it should do without being told publicly.
``Beijing has stated its bottom line and doesn't want to say explicitly that Hong Kong must follow its policy directives. But of course Hong Kong knows what to do. It has already adhered to the bottom line,'' Lo said.