Lone Chinese protester humiliates Bush

A FEMALE protester dramatically interrupted a speech by China’s president on the White House lawn yesterday, humiliating President George W. Bush.

She yelled in Chinese at Hu Jintao, “You are a killer and a murderer,” as Mr Bush greeted his counterpart in public.

Security men were slow to move in, but eventually dragged her away in front of the world’s cameras as she continued her tirade.

The woman was later identified as Dr Wang Wenyi, a pathologist based in New York.

She is a member of Falun Gong, a Chinese religious group that was banned and brutally crushed by the Beijing Government in 1999.

Dr Wang had managed to obtain a position on a raised camera platform among photographers and TV cameramen, just a handful of metres from where the world’s two most powerful men were standing.

The leaders, who were meeting for vital talks on trade and the nuclear stand-off with Iran, looked startled and alarmed at the outburst. Mr Bush, standing next to Mr Hu, leaned over and whispered, “You’re okay,” indicating the Chinese leader should continue with his opening remarks. Mr Hu, who had paused briefly when the shouting began, resumed speaking.

He had been saying: “We should respect each other as equals and promote closer exchanges and co-operation.”

Chinese television, which has closely covered the visit, blacked out programming across China as soon as the woman started to shout and only resumed it after she was marched away. Announcers made no reference to the incident and carried on as if nothing happened.

There was further embarrassment for the Americans when China’s national anthem was announced as the anthem of the Republic of China, the formal name of Taiwan, which China lays claim to. China’s formal name is the People’s Republic of China.

In a park across the street from the White House, about 700 protesters had gathered to wave banners and shout slogans condemning China’s human rights record. There were other anti-Chinese demonstrations in almost every large American city yesterday to protest against the four-day visit.

Dr Wang was able to get close to the leaders by showing press credentials from the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper The Epoch Times.

Stephen Gregory, a spokesman for the paper, said: “We expected her to act as a reporter, we didn’t expect her to protest.”

He added that she “probably wanted to call attention” to the sect’s claim that the Chinese have engaged in human organ harvesting, an allegation the Government has denied.

During her outburst, Dr Wang shouted: “President Bush, stop him from killing.” And addressing Hu she called out: “Your time is over. Evil people will die early.”

Derek Mitchell, a former Asia adviser at the Defence Department, said the White House security’s failure to control the situation would only increase China’s suspicions of the U.S. - Daily Mail

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