TEN US-based Falun Gong members, on the fourth day of a hunger strike outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, have vowed to continue their protest ``as long as possible'' in an effort to help free 130 followers held in the Masanjia Labour Camp in northeastern Liaoning province.
The United States has also voiced its concern following reports that 45 Falun Gong activists have recently been jailed for up to 13 years on the mainland.
The Washington hunger strikers accused President Jiang Zemin of masterminding a ``vicious'' crackdown on the sect. They continue to refuse all food and liquids other than pure water, sitting silently while practising breathing exercises in a small park across from the embassy.
Wang Tao, a protest organiser, said: ``We want to let people know that there is an urgent situation [in China] right now.
``Already, 267 Falun Gong practitioners have died from persecution. If we don't do anything, then that number is going to be added to by these 130 practitioners.''
The prisoners in Masanjia have been on a hunger strike for nearly three weeks protesting against the failure to release them on the completion of their terms.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the Bush administration found the latest news of Falun Gong sentences ``disturbing''.
``We've raised with China on many occasions our concerns about the crackdown on the Falun Gong and reports of torture and mistreatment of detained and imprisoned practitioners,'' he said.
``We'll continue to call upon China to end its crackdown on the Falun Gong and to respect the fundamental rights of citizens.''
Beijing yesterday escalated its propaganda campaign to discredit the Falun Gong, as Xinhua News Agency reported a sect member had committed suicide in Chongqing municipality. Wang Yongfei, 52, a retired teacher, plunged to her death from her fifth floor flat on August 12, it said.
``This blood debt is owed by Li Hongzhi [the group's US-based founder],'' Xinhua quoted her husband as saying.
A practitioner for five years, Wang had been detained twice for protesting against the official ban on the sect over the past two years.
Hong Kong Falun Gong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung, said the Xinhua report was totally fabricated.
``The official media have always taken the position to slander Falun Gong,'' he said.