HONG KONG (AP)--China's religious affairs chief fueled the controversy over Falun Gong's activities by coming here and calling the sect a "poisonous tumor," and mainstream religions expressed fears Tuesday that they, too, could come under attack.
Ye Xiaowen, the head of the State Administration's Religious Affairs Office, suggested Monday that Hong Kong could strip Falun Gong of its registration as a local organization - a tactic being urged by pro-Beijing newspapers and politicians.
The Hong Kong government has not yet indicated it was willing to act against Falun Gong, although Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa recently labeled the group a "cult." Representatives of several faiths told lawmakers in a hearing Tuesday they fear they could be next.
"I'm worried about what our chief executive said," Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Zen said. "He used `evil cult.' That's really serious."
Beijing aggravated concerns it will push Tung to act against Falun Gong when Ye appeared Monday at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and reiterated much of Beijing's line on the sect banned in mainland China as an "evil cult."
Ye is the highest-ranking Chinese official to attack Falun Gong in Hong Kong, where the group remains legal and has been protesting Beijing's often-violent crackdown on the mainland.
Hong Kong Falun Gong spokeswoman Hui Yee-han said Tuesday there was no need for China's religious affairs chief to get involved, because Falun Gong is a "method of cultivation" and not a religion.
Hui said Ye was merely repeating Beijing's propaganda, instead of rationally and objectively discussing the issue.
Falun Gong has angered Beijing through Hong Kong demonstrations where followers demand the right to practice freely on the mainland and an end to alleged torture-killings of followers by Chinese security forces.
With pro-Beijing forces insisting Falun Gong be muzzled, and pro-democracy forces arguing just as vigorously that Hong Kong must be allowed to say what it wants, the issue has emerged as potentially one of the biggest tests of Hong Kong's freedoms of speech and religion since it reverted from British to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997