From the Staged "Self-immolation" to the Chinese Communist Parties Two-Faced Attitude Toward Western Media

On the 19th of January in 2005, the Xinhua News Agency website published a report by Tian Yu and again brought up the old lie - the staged "Self-immolation" - to frame Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin and his group, the behind-the-scenes manipulators of the "Self-immolation," played an old trick, dragging in two famous Western media outlets to bolster its credibility. During this government-organised visit, certain people specially selected and primed for the interview by Jiang's regime, and the content and description of the "Self-immolation," became a deception that the invited Western media were unable to recognise or see through.

"Carrot and Stick" Policy

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has always been on high alert against any independent Western media that voice things differently from the CCP's ideology. For example, several days ago, before the Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin left for a trip to Asia, the Chinese Embassy retracted the visas of two journalists who were going to accompany Mr. Martin. The Canadian-Chinese journalists whose visas were retracted worked for New Tang Dynasty TV, and the probable reason for the retraction is because the director of the TV station said during an interview, "We have not avoided sensitive subjects...we reported in detail the spread of the SARS virus in China and the persecution of Catholics and Falun Gong practitioners."

This incident attracted wide attention in Canada, and the mainstream media reported the news. Prime Minister Martin said it was a very serious issue, as it involves freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The Canadian government demanded an explanation from the Chinese government. It is reported that Prime Minister Martin mentioned this incident during his meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

It is a well-known fact that Mainland China is forbidden territory for independent Western news reporting. When Western journalists go to Tiananmen Square and capture the image of Falun Gong practitioners holding peaceful appeals, the police take away their cameras and evict them from the square. Sometimes they beat the journalists, put them in jail and even deport them from China. These are just some incidents, which naturally explain why Amnesty International lists Jiang Zemin as a "human rights scoundrel." The non-governmental organisation, Reporters Without Borders, says that China has built "the largest Internet prison in the world," and China is being listed as the country with the lowest degree of freedom of the press.

During the process of Xinhua News Agency and China Central TV (CCTV) bringing up the staged self-immolation, the invitation by the CCP's State Council Information Office for Western media to conduct reporting in China seems very odd. And the CCP's intention probably can be read as, "With an alliance of the international media, it can naturally be proved that the reporting is objective and just, and that our word has solid ground." While the Western media have spread the CCP's slander to the whole world, the CCP imports the fake reports issued by the Western media back into China, to again fool the Chinese public.

How much credibility could such reporting have during this CCP government-organised visit under the watchful eye of a regime that claims, "No second voice on the Falun Gong issue is allowed"? This arrangement for Western media to interview the alleged self-immolators is essentially the same as previous visits by Western media and human rights organisations to interview Falun Gong practitioners held in labour camps and detention centres.

Is there any independent Western reporting on the self-immolation incident? There is! Philip Pan of the Washington Post went to Kaifeng, hometown of immolator Liu Chunling and conducted an on-site investigation. Ms. Liu's neighbors said they never saw her practising Falun Gong. Liu Chunling moved to Henan Province with her elderly mother and 12-year-old daughter and worked at a bar. We have noticed that the CCP didn't invite Mr. Pan, who has firsthand evidence and is therefore a most reliable source on the self-immolation incident, to join the reporting team.

The organised and pre-arranged reporting has a common trait: a strong sense of one-sided propaganda. The CCP and Jiang's group were specifically taking advantage of the media, trying to use the reputation of the Western media to further defame Falun Gong and to deceive people both inside and outside China.

A Close-up Look at the Fabrications

From the CCP's mouthpiece media reports about the "self-immolation," even with very basic medical knowledge, one can see clearly the loopholes in that poorly-scripted and acted play. The scene in which the whole body of a severely burned person is wrapped in bandages could only have been directed by a layman. Furthermore, we can tell from the CCP's report that the self-immolator, Wang Jindong, has a completely different appearance in each of two reports - one appearing on CCTV and the other in the Xinhua News Agency report. The part of the videotape that shows immolator Liu Chunling falling to the ground after being hit with a heavy object over the head by a military police officer was edited out. In subsequent follow-up reporting of the whole incident, there are some clearly changed scenes and some added players.

Slow-motion analysis of the CCTV videotape reveals that Liu Chunling died from being hit over the head by a man wearing a military overcoat -The red circle indicates the heavy object used to hit Liu Chunling

The plastic Sprite bottle filled with gasoline remained intact during the fire	Wang Jindong during the self-immolation in the staged "Tiananmen Self-immolation"

In fact, no matter whether it is the Western media or ordinary citizens, under the "government-organised visit," it's impossible to learn the truth even by speaking with the "self-immolators." However, in any corner of the earth outside of China, one can see the suspicious points of the incident by watching the footage of the CCTV videotape from four years ago (see pictures above). The discrepancies in this tape serve as clear evidence demonstrating the Jiang faction's act of murder and framing.

Three different Wang Jindong's

It is not difficult to see the phoniness of the scam. Any reporter can look at the above pictures and ask himself, "Which Wang Jindong have I interviewed?"