A strange press conference on October 7 claimed that Hongkongers strongly support the application of the National Security Law against the movement.
by Gladys Kwok
“Citizens want Falun Gong banned in Hong Kong.” This was the message of a strange press conference Bitter Winter followed in Hong Kong on October 7, 2021.
The Hong Kong Public Opinion Exchange Association introduced what it presented as a survey of Hongkongers’ opinions on Falun Gong. The speakers displayed signboards claiming that 70% of the interviewees answered that Falun Gong is an “anti-Chinese organization disrupting Hong Kong” and exactly the same percentage, 70%, supported the application of the new National Security Law to ban Falun Gong. In fact, one speaker mentioned 70% and another 72%, which already gives an idea of the survey’s “reliability.”
Rong Haien, a member of the CCP-controlled Legislative Council, also spoke at the press conference, and stated that Falun Gong should be banned in Hong Kong “as soon as possible.” He also suggested that other groups classified as xie jiao (“heterodox teachings,” sometimes translated as “cults”) in China should eventually be banned in Hong Kong as well. In fact, it was argued that 68% of the 8,855 interviewees expressed their belief that Falun Gong is a xie jiao, and only 28% characterized it as a religious organization.
Pollster Chen Zhihao, from the Hong Kong Public Opinion Exchange Association, called Falun Gong an “American organization hostile to China and Hong Kong,” and said he is favorable to its ban. Cai Hong, the vice chairman of the same Association, stated that Falun Gong “operates in collusion with foreign powers, which is reason enough to ban it under the National Security Law.”
These comments clearly showed that the so-called pollsters are not independent, and that their “survey” has no scientific credibility. Asked how they interviewed citizens in their sample, they answered that the survey was conducted “partly via the Internet” (where of course manipulation is very easy) and partly “in the streets” (where interviewees, assuming interviews were real, might have been very much concerned of being overheard expressing opinions not in line with the authorities).
CCP keeps moving towards a ban in Hong Kong of Falun Gong and other religious and spiritual groups classified as xie jiao in China. Why it needed a farcical “survey” to support this campaign is unclear.
