04/25/2000

Agence France-Presse

BEIJING, April 25 (AFP) - US ambassador Joseph Prueher said Tuesday his country was carefully monitoring China's crackdown on the Falungong movement and called on Beijing to observe international human rights standards.

"What went on today in Tiananmen with the detention of Falungong practitioners is something we (are watching) very carefully," he said.

"Our nation disagrees strongly with the detention of anybody who is peacefully practising or expressing their political or spiritual beliefs.

"We call on all countries and all nations, including China, to observe these international standards."

The ambassador's comments followed the rounding up of at least 100 Falungong members in the capital's Tiananmen Square, which had a heavy police presence on the first anniversary of the group's landmark mass demonstration against the Chinese government.

Although Prueher diplomatically avoided directly criticisizing the crackdown, he said human rights "are a particular core value in our country in the United States."

"Certainly the climate would be more enriching where international standards are upheld," he told reporters while accompanying a US trade delegation led by Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

The Tuesday protests indicated that belief in the group's quasi- religious teachings remains strong a year after the movement first grabbed international attention by staging a 10,000-strong demonstration around the Chinese leaders' headquarters in central Beijing.

The government has labeled Falungong an "evil cult" and the biggest threat to social stability since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.