Taiwanese Citizen is Detained for 96 Hours in China's Jiangxi Province - Authorities Try to Recruit Her as a Spy

On January the 29th 2004, Taiwan resident Ms. Li Xinju went to her original hometown in Jiangxi Province to celebrate her mother's birthday. As soon as she stepped off the airplane, she was abducted and taken to a clandestine location. During her 96-hour detention, she was subjected to search and interrogation. Nanchang National Security Bureau police tried to force her to become a special agent for them to collect information on Falun Gong activities in Taiwan and other countries, and on the Taiwan elections etc.

Li Xinju's experience visiting Jiangxi, her old hometown, at the end of February 2004

During the 5 years of persecution of Falun Gong, many cases around the world have been exposed on the Clearwisdom website of practitioners who went back to China and were subjected to persecution such as detention and threats. The persecutors include the National Security Bureau in Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Recently, there has been another case about Nanchang National Security committing a similar crime.

As reported on the Dajiyuan website, on February 29, 2004 when Ms. Li Xinju went to her old hometown in Jiangxi to celebrate her mother's 80th- birthday, she was stopped by the Customs' police when she stepped off of the airplane. They searched her backpack and made a list of its contents. Then, several plain-clothes police officers abducted her to an unknown location for interrogation. She noticed some writing on envelopes on a table, which read "Nanchang City National Security Bureau."

Ms. Li said that while being detained, the plain-clothes police officers searched her luggage again, and took away all her identification, cellular phone, cash etc. They even conducted a body search -- in which she had to remove all of her clothes except for her underwear and bra. She was also not allowed to close the door when using the restroom or taking a bath.

Ms. Li's husband visited his relatives in October 2003. He told the deputy chief of the local National Security Bureau, Cheng Chengda that his wife practised Falun Gong and benefited from it. And he also told the deputy chief not to harass his wife if she ever came to the mainland. But, in fact, Cheng Chengda began monitoring their phone calls.

Ms. Li said that she was detained because it was discovered that she was carrying "Falun Gong books and exercises music" and Nanchang National Security Bureau labelled these as "illegal." The police told her that bringing these materials into China broke the law. She said to the police, " I know that carrying narcotics and weapons into a country is breaking the law, but I never heard that carrying books teaching one how to be a good person is breaking the law."

The police asked her repeatedly what her purpose was in carrying such materials, why she was visiting Nanchang, and who gave her orders. "I told them that nobody gives me orders. Because I benefited from practising Falun Gong, I always read the books and do the exercises every day, so I carry the books and the exercise music with me," Ms. Li Xinju said.

They mentally tortured her by keeping her under prolonged interrogation.

As Ms. Li said, around twenty minutes after having lunch on the third day, she felt cold and later felt very hot, her heartbeat increased, her hands kept trembling, and she could not sit or lie down. She felt her heart would explode. She then asked the guard whether they had put some drugs in her meal. The guard answered that she might be too tired and that caused her blood pressure to increase. The symptoms did not subside until 3PM.

During her detention, personnel from Nanchang National Security Bureau kept interrogating her and asking, "Where is the Falun Gong's headquarters in Taiwan? Who is the leader? Where does the financing for all activities come from? Does the US give Taiwan Falun Gong any financial support?" She told them, "All the expenses of Falun Gong activities are paid by ourselves. We do not ask a penny from any country or people. All the activities are open to the public."

On the afternoon of the fourth day, an upper level officer came and told her that she could go to see her mother, but the supervision on her would not be lifted, and that she must come over whenever they asked her to do so. She said, "Cheng Chengda threatened to force me to write a letter of regret, and he said that he had an intention to ask me to do something for them in 2001. He said openly that he wanted me to help them collect information about Falun Gong's activities in Taiwan and in other countries around the world, and information on the Taiwanese election etc...They attempted to force me to be their secret agent."

Ms. Li continued, "I was allowed to go to see my mother on the morning of the fifth day. Right before I left, they kept reminding me that I could not reveal anything about what happened to me or what they wanted me to do." She was detained for a total of 96 hours after her flight arrived on the mainland.

When she was with her mother, the Nanchang National Security Bureau monitored their home phone and her son's cellular phone. The day before she left for Taiwan, they met her in a hotel and again asked her to cooperate with them, and threatened her family, children, and mother who are still on the mainland.

Ms. Li said, "While I was illegally detained, my son asked for me at the mainland customs police. The customs personnel told him that everything was all right and asked him to wait for their call at 6pm. But they did not call on the second day. My son went to customs and told them, 'I will call the Overseas Foundation and report that my mother disappeared in your jurisdiction. I will ask my sister in Taiwan to report it to the world media.' The customs personnel immediately said, 'I will call and investigate this, you must trust us.' My son said, 'Why should I trust you, do you have any credibility? You told me yesterday that you would call me at 6; I waited but did not get a call. If I did not come here today, I would still be waiting. Who can guarantee my mother's safety?'"

At the same time Ms. Li was being detained and harassed, her sister was also being persecuted. On March 2, 2004, the local National Security Bureau picked up Ms. Li's sister and interrogated her for a full 24 hours, trying to force her to tell them what the connection was between local practitioners and her sister. During the interrogation, she was not allowed any food or water. When she was finally released, she had to leave home for safety concerns and to avoid further persecution.

Practitioners in other countries are also subjected to mainland national security's persecution

Mr. Wang Xingguo and Ms. Wu Fengjiao, a couple in Geneva, Switzerland, Ms. Li Juan and Ms. Xin Qin in the US, Mr. Liu Yi in Hilton, New Zealand, Mr. Lin Xiaokai in Taiwan, Mr. Zhang Junan in Germany, Mr. Fan Ziyu in Canada, Ms. Zhu Ying in Montreal, Ms. Cai Yingzi in Japan, Ms. Wang Zhengtian in Hong Kong etc. have all been subjected to mainland national security's harassment and persecution. Their experiences are published on the Clearwisdom website.

Mr. Wang Xingguo and Ms. Wu Fengjiao live in Geneva, Switzerland. One of them is a retired cadre who has over thirty years membership in the Party and over thirty years of working history. The other is an international working staff member sent by the Chinese government and currently still an active employee at the UN. On December 10, 2003, the couple wrote a letter to the Clearwisdom website exposing their experience while visiting their elderly mother in mainland China. The national security police harassed them and tried to force them to give up Falun Gong.

An extract from the letter the couple wrote:

"With deep feelings for our hometown, the two of us went back to China in mid-September and October of this year to visit our mothers. Both our mothers are in their 80's. Who would have thought that people from the National Security Bureau would tail, monitor and harass us, simply because we practise Falun Gong overseas, a practice that is extremely beneficial for the well-being of ones mind and body? We were forced to 'chat' with them three times -- the longest lasting seven hours.

One morning in late October while we were shopping at a local market, a middle-aged man suddenly appeared and showed Mr. Wang his National Security identification badge. Before Wang had a chance to take a closer look at the ID, the man began taking him away for a 'chat' and did not allow him to contact his family.

Mr. Wang was shocked by what was happening. Such conduct is in violation of civil rights and took place in broad daylight! He remembered what a friend told him about a Falun Gong practitioner being suddenly taken away by persons from the National Security Bureau while shopping at a vegetable market. There was no news of his whereabouts for over 20 days and his family got extremely worried.

Under Wang's strong protest, the man from the National Security Bureau had to agree to go to Wang's home, which was not far away. The man told Wang to tell me to come with them as well. He then took us to a remote hotel and forcibly separated us for 'chats.'

We told them that what they were doing was against international law, yet one of them named Li said rudely, 'No need to talk to us about international law.' He said this in a manner indicating that he had absolute disregard for the law. When Mrs. Wu protested against their illegal conduct, Li said, 'What is so special about being an employee in a foreign country? We dare to charge even American citizens. You will not be allowed to leave here unless you tell us everything!'"

US citizen Ms. Li Jun, who lives in New York State in the US, wrote an article in March 2004, describing how she was detained and threatened by local national security on January 24, 2004.

During the Spring Festival of 2004, Ms. Li Jun went to China to visit her severely ill father. The police of the National Security Bureau detained and interrogated her. They also detained Ms. Li's sister and brother-in-law and interrogated them in a hotel. They tried to search Ms. Li Juan's parents' home using excuses and attempted to take away Ms. Li's brother who refused their illegal search.

On the afternoon of January 24, when Ms. Li Juan took a ride with her sister and brother-in-law to her brother's home to celebrate his birthday, a black car blocked their way under a highway. Several persons got out of the black car and knocked on the their car window shouting, "Open the door!" These people forcefully opened the car door, and dragged Ms. Li's sister and brother-in-law out. Two persons jumped in the back seat, and sat on either side of Ms. Li. Her sister and brother-in-law were then forced into the other car. Soon, a plain-clothes policeman drove Ms. Li's sister's car following a black SUV and quickly left the scene.

As Ms. Li Jun recalled, the car was driving at very high speed and did not obey any traffic rules or traffic lights. When she asked them who they were and where they were taking her the plain-clothes policeman said impatiently, "You will know when you arrive."

Ms. Li learned later on that while she was interrogated and threatened by the National Security Bureau police, a local policeman led three of four people who claimed that they were from the National Security Bureau, to her parents home and wanted to search the house. Ms. Li's brother asked them to show a search warrant, which they were unable to provide. Ms. Li's parents stood in the doorway to stop them from coming in. The police tried to take Ms. Li's brother away, saying that he was not actively cooperating with the government's work to persuade Ms. Li to tell them where she went every day. After 45 minutes, they realised that they were getting nowhere and left.

Is it really out of concern for national security?

Jiang Zemin has used the secret operation of national security units to directly control all national security sections in the country to serve his personal purpose. It is true even now.

For example, the personnel from Ningbo City National Security Bureau in Zhejiang Province said openly that their jobs were directly given by Jiang Zemin and so they were only responsible to Jiang Zemin.

About persecuting Falun Gong, the personnel of Shanxi Province National Security Bureau said that Jiang Zemin ordered it. National Security is mainly to supervise those key persons in Falun Gong, and investigate the contacts among them, and public security is in charge of arresting practitioners.

The staff of Guangzhou City National Security Bureau said, "We have installed a lot of advanced equipment, but we had never thought that most of the equipment would be used to deal with Falun Gong."

A newly graduated student working for Chongqing City National Security Bureau complained that his job was extremely boring; his work every day was to monitor a group of elderly women chatting on the phone.

An expert on China's problem who just immigrated to the US, who spoke anonymously, said the foreign relationship committee is the same as the National Security Bureau in that huge amounts of money belonging to the Chinese people is spent, not to serve the people anymore, but to serve Jiang Zemin's personal interest.

(Reported by Minghui reporter Chu Tianxing)