HONG KONG (AP)--Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said Sunday that the activities of the Falun Gong meditation sect - which he again described as a cult - will be watched "very carefully" in Hong Kong.
Tung told reporters upon his arrival in Beijing earlier in the day to attend a meeting of the National People's Congress that the authorities won't allow "anybody including Falun Gong to create any disorder or instability in Hong Kong or on the mainland of China."
Beijing has outlawed Falun Gong on the mainland as an "evil cult" but the sect remains legal in Hong Kong, where it has annoyed Beijing by staging frequent protests against the Chinese crackdown.
Describing the sect as a cult, Tung added "we need to watch their development very, very carefully."
A transcript of Tung's remarks was released in Hong Kong by the government.
Recently, pro-Beijing figures in the territory have urged a clampdown on the Falun Gong, saying the government shouldn't allow Hong Kong to be used as a base for attacking China.
Pro-democracy campaigners and local religious groups in Hong Kong have expressed fear that any crackdown on the Falun Gong could undermine the high degree of autonomy the territory enjoys since reverting to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.