Posted on 04/20/2006 4:43:09 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
A HECKLER from the Falun Gong spiritual movement, who entered White House grounds as a reporter, interrupted a formal arrival ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao today, prompting President George W. Bush to apologise to his guest.
After being welcomed by Mr Bush, the Chinese president was just beginning his response when a woman, who had been allowed into the press section, started shouting.
She was escorted away by a uniformed US guard.
"President Hu, your days are numbered. President Bush, make him stop persecuting Falun Gong," the woman yelled.
US officials later identified her as Wang Wenyi, 47, a reporter with The Epoch Times, an English-language publication strongly supportive of the meditation movement that is banned in China.
"This was unfortunate and I'm sorry this happened," Mr Bush told Mr Hu, according to Dennis Wilder, a senior official with the National Security Council.
The Secret Service charged Ms Wang with disorderly conduct under local statutes.
The US Attorney's office was weighing federal charges of "willing intimidation or disruption of a foreign official", said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren.
Outside the White House, hundreds of yellow-clad Falun Gong disciples, Taiwanese nationalists, and Tibetan youth group members demonstrated against Mr Hu and his government.
The protesters denounced China's human rights record, its missile build-up near Taiwan and its 55-year-long rule over the Himalayan Buddhist region of Tibet.
"Communist Party = Tyranny + Lies", read a yellow banner, carried by one female member of Falun Gong, which China outlawed and brutally crushed in 1999.
"Taiwan is not a part of China," read a placard hoisted by one of around 300 Taiwan activists, who reject China's claim of sovereignty over the island. Tibetans, mostly US-based students, called for independence for their homeland.
A US official said Mr Hu's team was probably offended by the incident.
"The hardliners on Hu's team are going to ask, why did it take so long for us to pick her up. It is not a good thing," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mr Zahren of the Secret Service said the woman had passed through "all appropriate levels of security", including a metal detector. She was allowed into the event under a temporary press pass.
Falun Gong, which thrives overseas despite being largely stamped out in China, alleges that government persecution of the group includes a vast system of concentration camps, where doctors harvest inmates' organs for transplants.
China has vehemently denied this, but a UN investigator is examining the allegation.
In remarks at Mr Hu's arrival ceremony, Mr Bush did not mention Falun Gong, but he said he would discuss human rights.
He urged Mr Hu to allow "the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely and to worship".
I guess you don't need a lot of meds yet. Give it time. There is nothing wrong however with being an iconoclast, and going against the tide. I do that myself on many issues (including subsidized medical care, my views on which would make me totally unelectable, at present). But I don't delude myself about personal wishes versus reality, or let my wishes get in the way of dealing with reality in a practical way.
Ah, but the straightman is the most underrated and most important element in the comedy team... it's hard to be the straightman, because they have to do all the heavey lifting...and no one seems to notice just how difficult that is!
Why is this lady a threat to security. Isn't security for making sure no one shows up with a weapon? Sure it was inappropriate and disruptive, but certainly not a threat to security.
Why is this lady a threat to security. Isn't security for making sure no one shows up with a weapon? Sure it was inappropriate and disruptive, but certainly not a threat to security.
I'm curious why you would think that. We didn't seem to need anyone's help with Iraq. What would be the difference? And what tiny shred of evidence would lead you to believe the Chinese would ever "help" us with North Korea?
I don't know which makes me more nauseous, Bush's continual treasonous sucking up to communists, Arab despots, and third world, tinpot dictators or the people who continue to find ways to rationalize his actions beyond the point where any shred of rationality ceases to exist.
And this tells you what?? That over 50% are against conservatives? Best to try tell you what most of us in the mainstream are thinking. We love and respect our President but we have more allegience to our Constitution. You political types need to get some sort of understanding. You're getting ready to lose it. If the Republican party could actually generate some interest in that, we might actually have a chance.
Exactly!!!
pinko commie twinkle toed limp wrist @##stains that worship the dollar above all else
Coming from a hypnotized BushBot like you, a great compliment!
And this tells you what?? That over 50% are against conservatives?
You aren't too bright are you.
And the policies you advocate, to better achieve the smiting of them all is ... ?
Decency? Could you have imagined FDR taking his shoes off in a Shinto shrine days after Pearl Harbor, proclaiming the Japanese as a "culture of peace"? And he is a Liberal icon. What Bush did in that mosque was detestable, not to mention unneccessary. As far as today's protest lady, why was an apology neccessary? How about "hey, that's life in a free country, Chopsticks".
You are an idiot.
And if you're a pastor, I pity your poor congregation......being shepherded by a hate monger who doesn't have a brain.
Sheesh! This guy voted for President Bush just like Howard Dean did......
The lady committed a crime. She could have done it legally, outside, but she chose to commit a crime. That is OK, perhaps, as an act of civil disobedience, but it ain't chopsticks, and the prez is reasonable for apoligizing for what should not have happened.
True supporters of Ronald Reagan don't bash President Bush.
"You are an idiot."
Well put!
Hey wanna know a secret? The dingbat as you call her likely has a higher education than you. She was also very likely a legitimate press corespondent from what I am seeing by actually bothering to see who she is and why she likely did this.
Near as I can find out She was a Medical Doctor in China and made it out to the U.S. so it seems. Under the circumstances a rational reaction and response to a TYRANT being honored by our President. You'd think just maybe she saw some things in her life that prompted her to do this?
Sad isn't it. A man who serves our nation perhaps even earning citations and awards keeping our nation free now rates a Boom Box playing of Taps in many cases unless veteran groups show up when the vet passes on. Yet a Communist Dictator who's government has killed scoreless innocents is given full honors and a state welcome? Our nation needs to do some serious soul searching indeed.
Praise the Lord that we have a follower of Jesus Christ in the White House.
This country has been blessed by God to have someone completely unlike YOU leading us. Being on this forum daily makes me more thankful for President Bush every single day.
The contrast between him and his attackers, left or right, is startling. The hate coming from you and your buddies' fingers is frightening.
Thanks. The simple truth of the matter has never been so obvious.
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