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".
Have a nice day
What the heck are we apologizing for? Free speech? It's time we stopped kowtowing to the Butchers of Beijing.
But recall that early in the Bush administration, China shot down one of our airplanes,and what did we do? Did we demand our plane and airmen back? No, we apologized to the Chinese for their act of shooting down our plane. The airmen were released, but I believe they still have the plane.
Stop kowtowing to tyrants, Mr. President, especially those who have nuclear warheads pointed at our country.
LOL, too funny! : )
$ is the answer you seek....
There have been several things I've been unhappy with President Bush about, borders and budgets primary amongst them. But with China he is taking the right tack of engagement. Better to be polite and respectful and make one or two tactful comments about religious and political freedom being the next step rather than overt confrontation.
I think we Americans often forget some basic realities about China:
- human life is cheap; it always had been there. We Americans take 'space' and the security of two oceans for granted, every Chinese government since the dawn of recorded history has been able to take having masses and masses of people as a resource in much the same manner.
-Things change very slowly. Really, Mao just replaced the emperors in a system that remained very Confucian. And 10, 50 or 100 years seems a long time to us; in that culture it really isn't.
-Exactly as with Putin, anyone who thinks President Hu does not consider himself at least as rightfully entitled as President Bush to be the leader of the worlds primary superpower is unrealistic. President Hu as as much obligation to advance the interests of China as President Bush does the interests of the United States. And I would bet that he is quite aware that China has more to lose from a nuclear madman in North Korea than we do.
Uh, the "cheap stuff" that WalMart sells is also sold at Costco, and Target, and Mejier, and everybody else.
This will not help that group here or there.
If anything it will help them more in the West. God help them now in China!!!
As usual, you are long on pronouncements and insults, and short on facts. Please don't reply.
Actually it is an embarassment to the President and the Country. This is the kind of crap one expects from a third world nation with no courtesy or etiquette. Bush is not subjected to such nonsense in China.
You're probably right.
The offender should be tortured and publicly executed for her crime against the State! Just like she would be in China.
I doubt that you RINO bootlickers have to stomach to even view these but I want you to see the kind of tyrant and his works that you think that the President of the United States should apologize to.
Apparently you have no idea about common courtesy. I don't invite guests into my house to insult them do you?
Hey Hey....Bootlickers has been used once on this thread....use a Thesaurus in the future....you're welcome! ;)
I don't invite mass murderers to my house to begin with (see #275).
Are you a troll or do you really belive your worn out bushbot counterpoints?
These are the type of stunts the Left continually pulls. I want no part of them or those who stage them.
"Look at Cindy as she screeches at the President." "Look at the fags as they screech at the Senator." "Look at the PETA as they screech at the Doctors."
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