Beijing said a Hong Kong trader arrested in July had...

Beijing said a Hong Kong trader arrested in July had been transporting bibles into China as cover for secretly importing banned booklets associated with an "evil cult".
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi also rebuffed a call by U.S. President George W. Bush to use international standards in dealing with Li Guangqiang.
"I must point out that the Bibles were a mere pretence. Large quantities of evil cult booklets were found with him," Sun said.
"He broke Chinese laws and will be dealt with according to Chinese laws. No other country should interfere in China's judicial independence."
A Hong Kong-based rights group has said Li could face the death penalty on charges of "using an evil cult to damage law-based society" after supplying 33,000 bibles to the "Shouters' sect", an underground Christian group. The rights group's report made no mention of cult booklets.
A Bush spokesman said the U.S. president had taken a personal interest in the case and ordered diplomats to take it up.
A U.S. embassy spokesman said it had been raised with Chinese authorities in Washington and Beijing. China's statement that Li was arrested for smuggling "evil cult" literature into China had not changed the U.S. position, he said.
"We are concerned about the reports of this arrest. We have called upon China to meet international standards on freedom of religious expression and freedom of conscience and know of no change to this stance," he said.
But Sun said Li conspired with an "evil cult" to transport more than 16,000 of the cult's booklets into the city of Fuqing in the coastal province of Fujian from Hong Kong in May 2001.
"His case was exposed when he attempted to sell and distribute the booklets in the mainland," Sun said.
Li's case has prompted a flood of sympathy and concern in Hong Kong, where he was described by local newspapers as a devout Christian.