Chinese congress opens

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which channels the interests of non-party organisations into government policies, has opened with an attack on the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

The vice-chairman of the Conference, Ye Xuanping, said everyone must realise that the struggle against the movement would be complex, protracted and acute.

Mr Ye also raised the issues of the government's stand against ethnic separatism and Taiwanese independence forces.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service