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this articleZhang Hongbao in Blast Furnace
A Documentary on How the Outstanding Spiritual Leader
Transformed to a Political Leader
U.S. Grants
Asylum to Banned China Sect Leader
(Summary)
HONG KONG, Jun 15, 2001 -- (Reuters) The United
States government has granted political asylum to the leader of a spiritual sect
banned in China, a Hong Kong-based human rights body said on Friday.
The founder of the Zhong Gong sect, Zhang Hongbao, was granted asylum by the
U.S. Board of Immigration Appeal on Wednesday, reversing a previous ruling, the
Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said in a statement.
The move signalled the end of Zhang's seven years in exile, and could spell a
new irritant in soured Sino-U.S. ties.
Beijing has accused Zhang of raping followers, which his group
dismisses as fabrication, and angrily demanded earlier this year that the United
States
repatriate him.
The Board of Immigration Appeals said China's charges were not credible, as the
alleged victim only reported the incident 10 years later, the center said.
Zhang, 47, started the group in 1987 in China and built up a following of 38
million people by 1990, the center said.
He fled China to southeast Asia in 1994 after Beijing began cracking down on the
sect and its members.
Last September, Zhang fled to U.S.-administered Guam seeking political asylum.
U.S. State Department and White House officials said they had no information on
Zhang's status.
The Hong Kong group said Zhang should be able to become a U.S. permanent
resident by June next year.
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