Zhang Jiyan Leaves the Chinese Consulate, Discards the Communist Party and Enters Free Society

Ms. Zhang Jiyan, a Falun Gong practitioner and the wife of a diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in Canada, walked out of the consulate on March 5th, publicly renouncing the Chinese Communist Party on March 30th. Canadian Member of Parliament Rob Anders calls Zhang Jiyan "a great example and more people shall do the same."

Zhang Jiyan's defection coincides with a time when 20 million Chinese people have publicly announced their withdrawal from the Communist Party, the Communist Youth League, and the Young Pioneers. Her action is both symbolic and a sign for the future. Zhang Jiyan freed herself from the dark claws of the Communist regime through physical departure, while more Chinese people are freeing themselves spiritually by saying "no" to the Chinese Communist system, the most brutal regime in the history of mankind. Falun Gong practitioners are not the only ones who are leaving the Chinese consulates and entering a free society. Zhang Jiyan was not the first, nor will she be the last person to leave a Chinese consulate for good.

Communist Party imposes total control, and leaving it amounts to saving oneself

In democratic countries, Chinese consulates and embassies maintain firm control over the employees' thoughts, speech and action as the Party does inside China.

After Zhang Jiyan clarified the truth about Falun Gong to people around her, the embassy started watching her more closely. Zhang Jiyan said, "After the summer of 2006, wherever I went, there was always someone spying on me. They wanted to know where I went and what I had in my car. More surveillance devices were installed at the embassy. They inspected our phone bills and tried to figure out who I was talking to. They opened my mail without my knowledge and sometimes my mail simply 'got lost'. They even looked at my bank statements." These are human right violations unheard of in democratic countries.

When recounting her experiences at the Chinese embassy, Zhang Jiyan said, "You never know where they put the tapping devices; furthermore, colleagues spy on each other. My husband and I had to turn on the kitchen fan or turn up the TV volume every time we talked to each other at home. It was very depressing."

Chen Yonglin, a former political affairs officer at the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, Australia is familiar with this fear and oppression. He revealed his life at the Chinese consulate, a life in which he had to ask for permission whenever he needed to go outside. He said that the Party's control got to a point where it became intolerable. In addition, he was not allowed to have a personal life or think independently while working for the consulate. Each time the consulate participated in a community event, at least two officials would go together so they could keep a close eye on each other. Chen Yonglin said that his passport was taken away each time before he left the consulate. The top consular authorities and department heads could open any door in the consulate with a master key at any time and carry out a random search. They also opened private letters and packages at will.

We want to emphasise that the Chinese consulates' and embassies' full control over its employees every action and thought is an extension of its exhaustive tactics of persecution of the general public in China. The Party forces its will on the Chinese people, and it's committing crimes against the Chinese people, which should not exist at all. Anyone, regardless of whether he is a Falun Gong practitioner, has the right to free himself from this type of control; liberating oneself from the Party's tentacles marks the beginning of a new future.

Zhang Jiyan said, "With the exception of a few hardliners who follow the Party out of self-interest, most consular personnel do not really want to persecute Falun Gong. I know one official who carries out specific tasks. He told me in private that he does not want to do this thing [the persecution of Falun Gong] and he managed to get out of many assignments."

However, one is still considered to be participating in the persecution if one is either willingly or passively involved. In other words, Chinese consular and embassy officials are assisting the Communist regime in carrying out its atrocities. The crimes against Falun Gong practitioners, who cultivate Truth-Compassion-Tolerance, are particularly serious. From a certain perspective, leaving the Communist Party is the true means of saving oneself.

Rivers merge into an ocean; waves of withdrawals from the Party bring hope for the Chinese people

We believe that Zhang Jiyan will not be the last person to walk out of a Chinese consulate. Back in March 2005 when the number of people who quit the Party exceeded 200,000, Rob Anders predicted that "streams can merge into rivers and oceans" and "the awakening of the Chinese people will bring about a profound impact on Chinese society."

Time has proved him right. Two years later, this number has increased by more than 100 fold. Rob Anders appeared again at a rally to support the 20 million Chinese people who quit the Party and its affiliated organisations in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 31st.