Dear Mrs. Mary Robinson,

The government has been equally forceful in its crackdown on the Falung Gong. The mass meditation of 10,000 members it organized in Beijing in April petrified the communist brass.

The idea of a religious group capable of mobilizing thousands of followers right at the doorstep of Zhongnanhai, the residential compound of China's leaders, is a nightmare. Inside China, some bureaucrats are worried that the Falun Gong protests signify a state system too weak and too dazzled by change to defend itself from threats. If thousands of quiet mediators can wreak this kind of havoc, they fret, just imagine what millions of angry rebels could do. Is China's ideological shield really that fragile? Says a young Shanghai painter who works with religious themes: "China is a bit like a moon colony, a place where life seems to exist sheltered only by a thin glass dome. Everyone knows it is supposed to be strong enough to resists meteorites, but it has never been tested." And no one in Zhongnanhai is eager to see it tested soon. Explains the Rev. Johan Candelin, a Finnish evangelical leader who has worked in China: "There are two words that define China's attitude toward religious freedom: control and stability."

In chaos-fearing China, those sound like wonderful values. But the nation is so large and its religious faith so broad and fiery that control and stability are nearly impossible to achieve.

BEIJING, Oct. 28 ---
Adherents of mainland China's outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement stepped up their defiance of a harsh government crackdown on Thursday by appealing for international help, saying they were being persecuted.

Almost 39 Falun Gong practitioners invited foreign journalists to a clandestinely arranged news conference in suburban Beijing, itself an extraordinary act of defiance in Communist-ruled China.

"Persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by some governments across the country is gradually escalating," said Jiang Chaohui, a former assistant manager at a foreign venture in the southeastern city of Fuzhou.

"We call on the United Nations, various governments, human right groups, Amnesty International and people with conscience at home and abroad to condemn and stop the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners," Jiang said.

He alleged "almost 10" adherents had died in police custody. Police have acknowledged only one such death, of a young woman they said leapt from a moving train to commit suicide.

Reading from a prepared statement, Jiang demanded the government rescind a warrant for the arrest of the movement's U.S.-based leader, Li Hongzhi, release detained adherents, clear the name of Falun Gong and allow followers to practice.

Communist China branded Falun Gong a cult for the first time on Thursday, setting the stage for an even harsher crackdown on the movement outlawed in July, accused of challenging the Communist Party's monopoly on power.

"We are indignant the government forcibly put the cult label on us," Jiang said with recording of followers chanting Buddhist sutras playing in the background.

Adherents told different stories on one nature: persecution.

Qu Yuyan, 11, said he had been thrown out of school in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang because he refused to stop practicing Falun Gong --- a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, meditation and breathing exercises.

"The teacher will not let me go to school," Qu told Reuters as he held a picture of U.S.-based sect founder Li Hongzhi in safron robes and sitting in the lotus position.

Wang Zhiguo, a 37-year-old policeman from Anshan in the northeastern province of Liaoning, said he chose Falun Gong over the Communist Party, of which he is a member.

"I was forced to choose between Falun Gong and the Communist Party," Wang said " I could only choose to give up my job and take off my police uniform."

Another policeman, Shi Jiangsheng, 35, said he "could no longer be silent because suppression was worsening."

Jing Hai, a 25-year-old workers at the Shengli oilfield in the eastern province of Shandong, said he visited and spoke to the family of Zhao Jinhua, a 42-year-old peasant he said was beaten to death because she refused to stop practicing Falun Gong.

Beijing has denied persecuting practitioners, saying China is a country ruled by law. But it says the movement "seduces, brainwashes and blackmails."

President Jiang should bear in mind that if the genuinely whishes to see the realization of "peaceful reunification," he should chart a process of democratization.

Beijing's relentless crackdown on Falun Gong over the past three months is a flagrant violation of human rights. It bodes ill for mainland China's democratic future and alienates those who entertain the hope that the communist regime might undergo a process of peaceful evolution toward and open and democratic society.

It is the time for Beijing to fulfill their promises on human right.