Jiang warns Macau, HK to curb anti-China acts

Jiang warns Macau, HK to curb anti-China acts

MACAU (AFP): Chinese President Jiang Zemin urged Macau's
rulers on Wednesday to stamp out any anti-China activities in a
speech marking the first anniversary of the enclave's return to
Beijing's rule.

Jiang said the mainland government would not intervene in the
daily running of the former Portuguese colony, but that
authorities in the Macau Special Autonomous Region (SAR) should
prevent acts undermining China.

The Chinese leader was speaking at a cultural gala after some
40 members of the Falungong spiritual movement, which is banned
on the mainland but not in Macau, were arrested to stop them
protesting during his visit.

Jiang also said his message applied to Hong Kong, which
returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under the same "one country, two
systems" formula allowing both former colonies a high degree of
autonomy.

"The Macau SAR should take concrete measures to defend the
national interests and the authority of the central government
and should never allow anyone to stage any activities in Macau
against the central government or to split the country," Jiang
said, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

At least five Falungong practitioners were arrested on Tuesday
in Macau, while 32 were detained at Macau's ferry port as they
tried to arrive from nearby Hong Kong.

An Australian-Chinese Falungong member Kelly Hong Xu, 30, told
AFP seven police officers stopped her when she arrived in Macau
early on Wednesday to take part in exercises in a park by about
20 practitioners.

"After dragging me into a lift, they started punching me on my
head and body," she said.

"They carried me out of the lift and forced me to board a Hong
Kong-bound ferry, despite my protests that they were infringing
my human rights," said Xu.

Police briefly interrupted the morning exercise in the park,
asking the group to take down banners condemning Jiang for
Beijing's crackdown on the sect. The exercises were then allowed
to resume.

But Frank Lu, director of the Hong Kong-based Information
Center for Human Rights and Democracy, said the clampdown in
Macau proved China was not respecting its commitments.

"If Macau's authorities ban us from entering, then there is no
such thing as 'one country, two systems,'" said Lu, who was also
prevented from entering the territory.

Jiang meanwhile praised the performance of Macau's Chief
Executive Edmund Ho, who was hand-picked by Beijing to run the
territory, saying the economy and rampant gangland crime had been
effectively tackled.

"The Macau SAR government, with the support of the central
government, has dealt a heavy blow to various evil forces which
has resulted in visibly improved law and order and better
economic performance," he said.

The enclave on the tip of southern China had been plagued by a
series of bombings and killings in the run-up to the handover as
triads had battled for control of lucrative gambling and
prostitution rackets.

Concerns were expressed earlier this year that cross-boundary
crimes in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong have increased since the
handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and Macau in 1999 to China.

Tight security was thrown up in Macau for Jiang's visit,
although People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops which have been
stationed here since the handover kept their usual low-profile.

Jiang was due to go on a walkabout later on Wednesday,
visiting Macau's most famous landmark, the ruined facade of St
Paul's Cathedral, as well as an old fort.

But crowds of curious onlookers who had gathered to catch a
glimpse of him were shooed away by security men.

Despite fears that religious freedoms could be abandoned under
Beijing's rule, Catholic leaders here have said they have
continued to worship freely as during the four centuries of
Portuguese rule.

Both Macau and Hong Kong theoretically enjoy broad political
and judicial autonomy but human rights groups say Beijing has
reneged on some pledges, in particular by overruling Hong Kong's
highest court in a key immigration case.