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 claimed no such thing.
And I wasn't offended. It was you who took great offense at my telling you to reserve your emotions for more important things. I thought we were just having a conversation which is why your freepmail surprised me.
You were the one who was hurt, not I. There is no more offense in what I said than in what you said. There should have been none taken on either side.
You make your own rules for what the truth is...........and that's not even close to being conservative.
Now, unless an apology for your lie is in the next post, don't reply.
And don't ever say I don't disagree with the President, because it will be yet another lie.
My original comment above stands.
Right.
...I can tell you that lot of us are sick to death of posters who think they define conservatism, turning FR threads into black holes of hatred. It's ugly.
I'm sorry but the above line is hysterical coming from you, the quintessential apologist for the Bush administration. They really should consider you for the job of press spokesperson.
If you ever say anything like this again on this forum, it will be a baldfaced lie, and I will hit the abuse button.
Don't DO it, T. Don't lie again.
There is a difference between your opinion that I should ARGUE against the President with its dripping condescension, and your outright lie that I am a blind follower who never disagrees with him.
If you are not decent enough to see the difference, then you need prayer and confession, not conversation.
NO MORE LIES. That's all I'm going to say about it.
I feel sorry for them.
He ran for President 2 years before I was born, so I only know of his historical impact to the GOP and conservatism. Goldwater is a case study for unintended consequences. Clearly President Johnson was Barry's biggest fan. Goldwater destroyed the GOP so Johnson was able to enact his great society. Goldwater knew how to scare the sheepish moderate into getting in line for liberalism. As he got older he started to show his true colors.
Yeah. I'm not a Goldwater fan.
You're not going to get any takers if all you ever do is preach hatred from the pulpit.
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