The June 28 Shooting Spree in South Africa Reveals that the Jiang Zemin Group Is Now Escalating Its Persecution Against Falun Gong Practitioners Outside of China

China’s Deputy National Chairman Zeng Qinghong visited South Africa from June 27 to June 29. China’s Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai joined Zeng Qinghong in this trip. Bo Xilai has already been served with lawsuits in the United States and Poland for his genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity against Falun Gong practitioners. Many Falun Gong practitioners also came to South Africa prepared to file a lawsuit against Zeng Qinghong, one of the main participants of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.

Around 8:30 P.M. of June 28, 2004, while nine Falun Gong practitioners from Australia were driving two cars from from Johannesburg International Airport to the Presidential Guest House in the capital city Pretoria, gunmen in a white car suddenly opened fire from the side and slightly behind the second vehicle driven by the practitioners, targeting the tires and the driver. The car was hit at least five times. The driver of the second car was an Australian citizen David Liang. He was also the only Falun Gong practitioner who wore a top with a Falun Dafa insignia. David Liang was shot in both feet. The car he was driving was severely damaged and came to a stop. Seeing this, the gunmen quickly fled the scene. David Liang was immediately taken to the nearby Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital for emergency treatment. X-rays showed that one foot suffered crushing fractures.

A lot of evidence shows this incident is not likely to be a random shooting spree, but a planned assassination with a political motivation. First, according to one of the witnesses of the scene, the gunmen opened fire on the highway when both cars were moving at approximately 100 to 110 kilometres/hour. If any of the front tires should explode at this speed, the car would surely flip and everyone in the car could face severe injuries or even death. There is no doubt that the gunmen knew about this; otherwise, they wouldn’t have targeted the tires.

Secondly, David Liang is an Australian citizen who has never been to South Africa before, so it is impossible that he has any personal enemy in South Africa. It is evident that the gunmen’s motivation was not robbery either; otherwise, they wouldn’t have fled from the scene without trying to take anything from these Falun Gong practitioners. Third, David Liang, the only man who was gunned down in this shooting spree, was also the only man who wore a jacket with a Falun Dafa insignia.

A reasonable conclusion derived from the facts would be that Zeng Qinghong and Bo Xilai were trying to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from filing a lawsuit against either of them. They may have hired local hit men or Zeng may have ordered his bodyguards to assassinate Falun Gong practitioners to attain the goal.

This is not the first time that the Chinese Communist government hired underground society thugs to attack Falun Gong practitioners outside of China.

*In the evening of June 23, 2003, an incident in which Falun Gong practitioners were maliciously assaulted occurred outside Yidong Restaurant (88 Palace) in New York City’s Chinatown. A group of people led by chairman Liang Guanjun of the Chinese General Associations, Hua Junxiong and other leaders of New York’s pro-communist Chinese associations assaulted Falun Gong practitioners nearby distributing leaflets containing the facts about Falun Gong.

*On September 7, 2001, Yong Yujun and Zhen Jiming ferociously beat up Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Fang Ling who was on a hunger strike in front the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to protest the Chinese Communist government’s persecution against Falun Gong. They also verbally threatened another Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Lu Feng.

*At noon of March 3, 2002, nearly 100 Falun Gong practitioners from Chicago, New York, and San Francisco came to Washington, D.C. and held a press conference at the Federal Court Plaza in D.C. They announced that they would file a civil lawsuit against China’s National Security Bureau, the Ministry of Public Security, and Chinese Communist government’s mouthpiece, CCTV. Three plaintiffs read their press statements and revealed the heinous crimes against them. One practitioner’s home was broken into, another’s car was burned and the other’s private conversations were taped and played back on his answering machine.

These are but three out of many threats and attacks that China’s National Security Bureau and the Ministry of Public Security have made through the Chinese Embassy and consulates to Falun Gong practitioners outside of China since July 20, 1999. They have violated Falun Gong practitioners’ personal rights and freedoms as American citizens and legal residents.

The shooting spree in South Africa further confirmed the Chinese Communist government’s unholy alliance with the underground society and revealed the fact of their persecution against Falun Gong practitioners outside of China.

Falun Gong practitioners have never backed down in fear when threatened or attacked by violence. Falun Gong practitioners inside of China have proven their mettle one hundred times over and one hundred times again for the past five years of brutal persecution. The tragic deaths of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have spoken plainly: They shall not submit to the persecution or give up their belief in Falun Dafa. Falun Gong practitioners outside of China have faced death threats and physical attacks, and they have responded very consistently with their actions for the past five year: They shall continue to reveal the facts about Falun Dafa and the persecution, and they shall bring those commit crimes against Falun Gong practitioners to the court of law.

Jiang Zemin and his henchmen may be able to disregard the law inside of China, but I suspect they can be as wilful outside of China. The shooting spree in South Africa also revealed that they are beginning to be desperate. Each Chinese high-level government official who participated in the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners has been served with multiple lawsuits for their roles in the persecution. In a few years, few Chinese high-level government officials will have the temerity to travel outside of China for they know they would face either criminal or civil lawsuits from Falun Gong practitioners. Now they have apparently reduced themselves to hiring hit men to assassinate Falun Gong practitioners to avoid lawsuits. They may be able to avoid the lawsuit today, but will they be able to avoid it forever?