Editor's note: This article was written by a non-practitioner and does not necessarily represent the understanding of Falun Gong practitioners.

(Clearwisdom.net June 4, 2003) On February 11, 2003, at a press conference in Guangzhou, China, a local official responded to a Hong Kong reporter's question by saying, "Hong Kong people need not worry about the mysterious disease that is currently spreading in Guangdong Province. That is not a new disease and it is completely under control. Hong Kong people should trust the Chinese government."

Now we all know that during the period of time when the disease was claimed to be "totally under control," the actual death toll was a few times higher than what was reported by the government.

As a result, ten days after that press conference, a kind of virus later named "severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS) unknowingly crossed the Luohu bridge, entered into unprepared Hong Kong, then spread to the world. The virus caused about one hundred deaths in Hong Kong, infected thousands of Hong Kong people, and severely damaged Hong Kong's economy.

Today, more than five years after the handover of Hong Kong, another kind of "virus" is being deliberately planned to enter Hong Kong. That is the "enactment of Article 23." Its goal is to breach the freedoms of press, expression, and assembly, and to suppress Hong Kong people's right to monitor and criticize the government, which severs the immune system of the Hong Kong society. Although the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR) government and mainland officials vow solemnly that Hong Kong people need not worry about it, this virus will fundamentally erode the function of the Hong Kong society, and put the so-called "one country, two systems" into its grave. It will become the turning point for Hong Kong to be completely converted to Chinese rule.

The spread of both of these viruses drew support from the same tool, that is, lies and cover-ups. Not only on February 11, not only before April 20, but up to the present day, the Chinese government still forbids media from reporting the epidemic situation without official approval. In addition, it uses the excuse of "making and spreading rumors" to seize and arrest people who speak out about the epidemic.

According to the current draft, when Article 23 is enacted, if a SARS-like disease that threatens Hong Kong breaks out and the Mainland conceals the reality, if any Hong Kong media or ordinary Hong Kong people expose or report the true situation, or simply spread it by word of mouth, they could be put into jail accused of "illegally disclosing state secrets."

Last week, Yang Zili and three other young scholars concerned about problems of China's society were sentenced to eight to ten years in jail for exchanging opinions in private. Two weeks earlier, Huang Qi from Sichuan received a heavy sentence for setting up a website to search for lost children. Last December, when SARS started spreading in China, Liu Di, a female university student in Beijing, was arrested because she expressed her views on the internet. Her case has still not been tried.

After Article 23 is enacted, all of these could happen in Hong Kong.

For the sake of Hong Kong society's health, for the sake of Hong Kong people's health and safety, and for the sake of Mainland China's people's health and safety, and even the health and safety of every one of us here, Hong Kong people need the right to know the facts, and the right to expose them. Hong Kong needs a big "virus prevention" mask, that is, opposing the enactment of Article 23.

(This article was composed from Zhang Xiaogang's speech at the Sydney public rally entitled, "Exposing Lies, Saving Lives.")