Police have foiled an alleged religious cult attempt at the
South Pacific Games in Suva.
But those involved said that they are evangelists of the group.
Nancy Chen, Yan Liang and Ruowei Yang are in the country to introduce the faith
of Falun Dafa.
Falun Gong, (pronounced fah-luhn goong), literally means "the Practice of
the Wheel of the Dharma." Falun Gong refers to five sets of exercises,
done to Chinese music and involving lotus postures and hand movements. Falun
Dafa is the spiritual movement that practices Falun Gong. Increasingly, the
movement itself is being called Falun Gong.
Police Games spokesman Mesake Koroi said their investigation was to determine
the truth and otherwise of the allegations bearing in mind the all-important
issue of national security.
This caused police to beef up security at the Games venues after the three
women managed to enter as spectators and distribute pamphlets to young people
at the Games.
Mr Koroi said police were investigating the women since they had entered the
country from Australia last Friday.
Mr Koroi said police action followed after a section of the Chinese community
living in Suva had filed a complaint.
A Chinese official last night said that the women were of a "dangerous
group that could cause mass deaths."
The spokesman claimed the group had been involved in large unexplained deaths.
Ms Yan Liang alleged the Chinese Embassy in Suva were the cause of the
investigations as her sister has been imprisoned because she was a follower of
the faith.
Ms Liang claimed her sister is unable to walk properly as a result of the
torture while imprisoned.
"We understand that the Chinese Embassy officials here wrote a letter of
complaint to CID officials alleging we are cults ... this is not true and we
believe the Chinese Government has been applying pressure on the Fiji
Government defaming us and saying we are dangerous and our intentions are
bad," she claimed.
Mr Koroi said the organisation was outlawed by the government of China towards
the end of the last century following complaints that some members of the
organisation were involved in mass suicides.
"As a result of the complaint, detectives moved into the hotel where the
women stayed and seized several cartons of printed and reading materials,
banners and phamplets about Falun Dafa," he said.
"At the same time the three women were taken in for questioning on Friday
night and again on Saturday morning."
"Allegations were made that these women were distributing pamphlets with
the view to establishing a branch of the religious cult in Fiji," he said.
"Our investigations also took into account whether the women had breached
conditions of the visitors visa granted to them by actively and publicly
campaigning for their faith".