The leaders promised practitioners they would be able to continue to practice, as long as they did not riot. This is not hearsay. I read the CCP Executive Office announcement in the People's Daily. I thought they handled it wonderfully and this should have led to a peaceful resolution. Unfortunately, later, the announcement seemed to have been annulled because a great leader considered Falun Gong a cult.

Bao Tong in front of his home in Beijing.

Therefore, the National People's Congress of China passed a resolution, a decision, and a law to ban cults. I am afraid it was not done in the spirit of law. How can [a group] become a criminal? What did [it] do that violated the law? Only people commit crimes. Suppose I had set fire or murdered someone, I would be personally responsible, not any [group] that I happen to belong to. Later they said that Falun Gong was a cult because some people [who practised] Falun Gong committed suicide. The evidence was really flimsy in my opinion.

From what I know, numerous Chinese Communist Party members have committed suicide ever since Mao Zedong launched a series of purges and infightings. Even Gao Gang, a CCP Politburo member, attempted suicide twice before succeeding. How can anyone say CCP is a cult because a politburo member committed suicide? Some practitioners might be sick, pessimistic, desperate, suicidal, or psychotic. Even if all these were true, they should not be used as excuses to ban Falun Gong. I think there is insufficient evidence to label [a group] with tens of millions of [adherents] a cult. I consider these millions of practitioners exemplary Chinese citizens. They should have medical insurance and be entitled to get medical care. Unfortunately, most of them have neither. They had to use the often inexpensive and yet quite effective qigong. There is nothing wrong with that. If things went as the CCP Executive Office had announced and the authorities had not banned them and let them continue to practice, the appeals at Tiananmen would have been a very positive thing.

I think someone just wanted to make trouble out of nothing. Or probably it was just a bad move. Now it is no longer simply a qigong practice issue and has evolved into a civil rights issue. Actually, I am not a practitioner and have no relation to Falun Gong at all. However, I think it is inappropriate [to persecute Falun Gong]. It is extremely rare for a state to use law to prohibit citizens from using a simple method to improve their health. This has rarely been seen throughout the history of the world.

Source: The Epoch Times, 14 March 2004 (full text)