The Les Presses Chinoises Falun Gong Slander/Hate Propaganda Case: How Jiang Exports Hate Propaganda Through Official Channels

On February 23, 2004, Les Presses Chinoises Falun Gong slander/hate case entered the last phase. The lawyers from both sides have presented final arguments before the judge. According to pronouncements from Zhou Jinxing, the head of Les Presses Chinoises, as well as from related facts it becomes obvious that Jiang's group is systematically exporting hate propaganda abroad while it is persecuting Falun Gong in Mainland China. Why is Zhou Jinxing hiding the facts?

Zhou Jinxing said during cross-examination that he had an office in Guangzhou City that didn't have any actual business dealings, and it closed in late 2001. From then on, he stated, he did not have any other business besides Les Presses Chinoises. The plaintiffs' lawyer, though, presented evidence that shows the trademark of a company called Crescent International once appeared on the Les Presses Chinoises website. Crescent is Zhou Jinxing's English name, and the company was doing immigration business in Guangzhou City. Why was Zhou Jinxing hiding the existence of this company in court?

When questioned by his attorney, Zhou Jinxing stated before the court that Les Presses Chinoises has no political backing and no connection with any Chinese consulate in Canada. Zhou even claimed the newspaper's website does not even contain a link to the consulates. The newspaper was very firm in its claim. After this particular court session, Zhou Jinxing argued that there were various numbers in the phone book of Les Presses Chinoises, including those of Chinese consulate, but he still denied any direct connection. The plaintiff's lawyer provided reliable evidence that showed Les Presses Chinoises website did have a direct web link to the Chinese consulate, but it was taken off a few months after the trial began. Why did Zhou Jinxing hide this fact?

Les Presses Chinoises continues to use the Chinese government's Falun Gong-slandering propaganda after the court had issued a "safeguard order"

When the plaintiff's lawyer asked whether Zhou Jinxing had followed any code of ethics in guiding the writing of his social commentary articles, Zhou Jinxing, who had been in the newspaper trade for 23 years answered "no." Les Presses Chinoises has never published reports by a third party on anything regarding Falun Gong, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, the US government, Canadian government or any other official agencies. Zhou Jinxing himself once wrote a commentary to attack Falun Gong, but he had never interviewed any Falun Gong practitioners.

Zhou Jinxing admitted he knew the reality of the persecution of Falun Gong since its beginning. He also learned about the ruthless torture Falun Gong practitioners at labour camps and prisons are subjected to from pamphlets Falun Gong practitioners had given him. Zhou also admitted he didn't read any Falun Gong books prior to publishing a slanderous article by He Bing in December 2001.

After the court issued two safeguard orders prohibiting Les Presses Chinoises from publishing further anti-Falun Gong articles, Les Presses Chinoises continued to publish Falun Gong-slandering articles almost verbatim from the ones the Chinese government uses and publishes.

Les Presses Chinoises is one of the few overseas Chinese media the Chinese government tolerates

According to a certain investigation, the Chinese government blocks many overseas Chinese media. The Chinese government approves of few overseas Chinese media; Les Presses Chinoises being one of them. The Falun Gong-attacking articles published in their paper in Canada can be read in major papers and websites in Mainland China several days after they are published in Les Presses Chinoises. Considering the strict censoring system of the Chinese propaganda machinery, ordinary overseas reports would not take up space in the government-controlled media so quickly if there is no special "looking after."

Zhou Jinxing said in court that he knew that the media in Mainland China routinely reprinted Falun Gong-attacking articles from Les Presses Chinoises. He also admitted that the People's Daily used his social commentary attacking Falun Gong as a reference.

According to a report dealing with the first 2003 issue Guangzhou Wah Shing, between December 1 and December 7, 2002, the Guangzhou City Office of Overseas Affairs and the city news office jointly invited people from the overseas Chinese media, including Qiao Bao in the Western U.S., Ming Bao in Western Canada, from Les Presses Chinoises, Chinese Daily in Australia, and New China in Thailand. The World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) has discovered through independent investigations that, aside from Les Presses Chinoises, the other four papers also have strong political connection to the Chinese government. Qiao Bao, founded in 1990, is directly controlled by the Chinese government, and its modus operandi is to quickly and "objectively" report official Chinese news. Ming Bao is a media outlet "heavily influenced by the Chinese government." The founding of the news outlet Chinese Daily in Australia was reported by China News Net, the widely known state-run news agency that once attacked New Tang Dynasty TV, which supports Falun Gong. In late February 2001, New China published a social commentary attacking Falun Gong, which China News Service wrongly had used as "proof of an anti-Falun Gong trend abroad."

"How China's Government Is Attempting to Control the Chinese Media in America," is the name of a chapter in a publication called China Brief. It was prepared by the Jamestown Foundation. It states: Four main tactics characterise the Chinese government's effort to influence the Chinese media in America. First is the attempt to directly control newspapers, television stations and radio stations through complete or majority ownership. Second is the government's use of economic ties to influence independent media who have business relations with China. This leverage has had major effects on the contents of broadcasting and publishing, effectively removing all material deemed "unfavourable" by the Chinese government. Third is the purchase of airtime and advertising (or more) from existing independent media. Closely related to this is the Chinese government media's provision of ready-to-go programming and content. Fourth is the deployment of government personnel to work in independent media, achieving influence from within their ranks.

Lies and propaganda followed by the incitement of hatred

In terms of attacking Falun Gong, Les Presses Chinoises used exactly the same methods as Jiang's group: lies and propaganda followed by the incitement of hatred. When people began to resent the page after page of gory so-called "news and reports" that were used to defame Falun Gong, Jiang's group staged the "Tiananmen Self-immolation Incident," which the international community put into the spotlight. From then on, hate propaganda has been spread on a large scale. Let us look at the Chinese Department of Education as an example: on February 1, 2001, the Party Committee of the Department of Education and the Youth League Central Party Committee headed by Chen Zhili, had issued a notice (Education-party [2001], No. 1), ordering all school organisations in China to hold activities to attack Falun Gong. After the order was issued, the education system first promoted the "one-million signatures" campaign. People in authority forced students to sign their names to oppose Falun Gong as "anti-cult;" they then reported this activity through the media and promoted it throughout society. Later, the signatures were taken before the United Nations and were used as "proof" of "the people's will" to suppress Falun Gong.

On February 6, 2001, within one day, under direct influence and orders from Wang Maolin, head of the central "610 Office" and also from Zhou Qiang, secretary of central Youth League Party Committee, eight million young people in 100 cities and nearly 1000 districts throughout the nation participated in anti-Falun Gong activities. The report claimed that more than 500,000 propaganda pictures were posted, over 10 million flyers were passed out, more than 200 gatherings were held, and more than eight million young people including children took part in these activities. The official report stated, "Young people in Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jilin, Jiangsu, Shandong, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Fujian, Neimenggu and other areas walked into the streets and into different districts to take part in these large-scale anti-Falun Gong activities...by posting bulletins in public places, distributing flyers, broadcasting videos and audiocassettes..."

Now let's take a look at what Les Presses Chinoises did. While repeatedly violating the Safeguard Order issued by the court, Les Presses Chinoises collected signatures in the Chinese community. They used people's kind nature to incite hatred. Zhou Jinxing said in court he had "collected 5,000 signatures supporting Les Presses Chinoises."

Mrs. Lucy Zhou, a Dafa practitioner, testified in court that Les Presses Chinoises took an appeal letter to a meeting of elderly Chinese people in Ottawa, Canada and publicly asked for signatures. When Mrs. Zhou clarified the facts and told the people at the meeting that Falun Dafa is good, a Chinese person quietly said to her, "I am aware of the things you are saying, but don't say them here, because people from Chinese consulate are here."