According to media reports, two Chinese officials from the most tightly guarded departments of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently defected and disclosed many accounts of the CCP adopting nefarious tactics to persecute Falun Gong. The two people are Chen Yonglin, a diplomat from China's Sydney Consulate in Australia, and Hao Fengjun, a former member of the 610 Office in China. (an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems)
The testimony of Hao Fengjun shows that the persecution of Falun Gong in China has been conducted purposefully and systematically from top to bottom, from the inside out for the last seven years. In addition, Chen Yonglin said that there are as many as 1000 Chinese spies in Australia. Hao Fengjun supported Chen's claim and confirmed the Chinese government's huge espionage network operating abroad. Meanwhile, Chen disclosed the CCP's policy on Falun Gong in Australia: "Launch an attack on one's own initiative, strive for support (of the Australian government), win sympathy (from the Australian public)." The information they provided validate that the CCP has extended its persecution outside China.
The Persecution is Systematically Conducted from the Top Down, Inside and Out
Hao Fengjun stated, "In July, the higher authorities passed down the news that Falun Gong was going to be banned on July 18th. They also informed us that the news was going to be broadcast on Central China TV (CCTV). Later on, it is said that due to disagreements among higher authorities, the news wasn't publicised. Before July 20th, my workplace organised people from different levels and ranks to hold meetings to firm up our understandings of the Communist ideology. In those meetings, an oral order from the General Secretary of the CCP (Jiang Zemin) was passed down, saying that we shouldn't wait any longer to ban Falun Gong, nor should we require solid evidence to do so. Otherwise, Falun Gong will ruin the Party and the nation, etc. On July 20th, the news of the crackdown on Falun Gong was finally broadcast by CCTV, and my workplace organised everyone to watch it." He pointed out that the higher authorities must have had disagreements before the crackdown, but Jiang himself in the end made the decision to suppress Falun Gong. Jiang initiated and directed this persecution, and then influenced all those below.
Chen Yonglin said: "The CCP established an office against Falun Gong on June 10th, 1999, calling it the '610 Office', and then individual cities and provinces established corresponding 610 offices. The 610 Office is a centralised administrative organ, and it became a tool for persecuting Falun Gong. Because the 610 Office is a tool that mainly deals with Falun Gong, it often adopts unconventional procedures, such as taking practitioners into custody and using forcible transformation and brainwashing tactics. If due to their belief, Falun Gong practitioners do not cooperate, they are forcibly detained." (7)
Hao also claimed the establishment of the 610 Office in Tianjin aimed to eradicate Falun Gong. (4) Hao Fengjun said, "Originally the 610 office was established to specifically deal with Falun Gong, which meant collecting data on Falun Gong practitioners, monitoring them, and persecuting them.
But after April 2004, the government included religious groups, which the Chinese government calls "evil cults" within the jurisdiction of the 610 Office. Besides Falun Gong, there are 14 religious groups and 14 'harmful' qigong organisations (Qiqong refers to practises that cultivate "Qi" or "vital energy"). However, the management and persecution of Falun Gong is more severe and brutal. Hao said that regardless of the fact that the slander of Falun Gong is no longer prominent in the media, the CCP actually has not lessened the persecution of Falun Gong, but merely went underground with it. (6)
Chen Yonglin said publicly that he has been the Consul for Political Affairs at China's Sydney Consulate for four years and two months. He said that his job in Sydney had been to "carry out the policies of the Chinese government, persecute Falun Gong practitioners in NSW, and monitor their activities including engaging people to collect information about the activities of and other intelligence on Falun Gong practitioners." (2) Chen's case is a typical one. Due to the CCP's dictatorial nature, we can surmise that the CCP extends the persecution to all countries that have the CCP's organisations abroad through the same diplomatic mechanism.
The Persecution is Active with the Investment of Massive Manpower and Physical Resources
Hao Fengjun said, "In October of 2000, in order to strengthen political stability, the Central Committee of the CCP decided to raise the administrative power of the Political and Security Department in each Public Security Bureau in the country (i.e., the No. 1 department in the Tianjin Public Security Bureau) to the sub-bureau level, and combined it with the local 610 Office to form the current Bureau of State Security."(3) "The Central Committee and Ministry of Public Security allocated substantial funding to the individual Security Protection Bureaus, thereby providing excuses for the director generals and commissars, especially deputy director general Zhao Yuezeng, who was in charge of the 610 Office, to demand activity funds in the name of performing work, making themselves quite wealthy." (3) In addition, the "103" special case of Falun Gong practitioners breaking through firewall blockades and accessing the Minghui website was listed as a special case by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. From this, we can see that the CCP has invested massive manpower and physical resources in the persecution.
Hao also revealed that the Chinese government has a huge espionage network operating outside of China. The CCP's policy of "launching an attack on one's own initiative" shows the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners outside of China is implemented purposefully and actively. "Striving for support (of the Australian government), winning sympathy (from the Australian public)" shows that the CCP intends to isolate and segregate Falun Gong practitioners from governments and people outside of China through deceptive propaganda.
The Persecution Means of State Terrorism: Murder, Torture, Deceit, Brainwashing, Supervision, and Implication...
Murder: According to the AAP's report on June 9th, the third unnamed former policeman saw a Falun Gong practitioner tortured to death in his local police station. Bernard Collaery, a prominent lawyer in Canberra, told the ABC's Lateline program, "He hears the beating in his police station. He intervenes. He's told to go away. He goes upstairs to his office," "His conscience stricken, he comes back downstairs and says: 'This must stop'." Later, he saw that this Falun Gong practitioner died from torture. "And then sees this naked man with his head on a chair, his legs poking out, clearly deceased, and he's horrified by it..."(8)
Chen Yonglin confirmed that the death of Falun Gong practitioners from torture is secret in China, because those dead practitioners are normally categorised as people who have committed suicide by the CCP. This kind of information is usually kept secret. (7)
Torture: In China, the means that the CCP has adopted to persecute Falun Gong is usually to achieve mental control via physical torture. Hao Fengjun described Falun Gong practitioners being tortured: "I rushed to work with a female officer to the prison of the Nankai Branch of Tianjin Public Security Bureau. When we arrived at the prison, located at Erwei Rd., Nankai District, I saw Sun Ti sitting on a table in an interrogation room. Her eyes were severely swollen from a beating. The officer who interrogated her was Mr. Mu Ruili, captain of the 2nd division of the 610 Office of the Bureau of State Security. Mu was holding a threaded steel rod about a half-inch thick, stained with blood. There was a high-voltage electric baton sitting on the table." "She turned around and pulled up her shirt. I was terribly shocked. Almost her entire back had turned black and there were two cuts about 8 inches long that were still bleeding."(3) "A police officer tortured her with a steel rod half a meter long. When I saw this, I realised I could no longer do this job."
After July 20th, a great number of Falun Gong practitioners who went to appeal were arrested. Hao said: "There were three female practitioners brought back to my police station. They were in their forties and fifties. Our criminal investigation team interrogated all three. In the next couple of days of interrogation, I could hear extremely tragic crying and screaming every time I went to work. I later heard from a colleague that they received orders to use all means to force Falun Gong practitioners to reveal their names and family addresses." (1)
Deceit: The case that Hao Fengjun mentioned is typical. It can be estimated that the state media such as CCTV has been adopting similar methods for several years. Hao confirmed that on November 5th, 2003, CCTV's news show, Focal Point, concocted the special piece "Behind the 'Patent'". In this program, Jing Zhanyi, Falun Gong practitioner and chief engineer of Handan Iron and Steel Company, denied the supernormal phenomena he had experienced through practising Falun Gong. After it was broadcast on CCTV, it was carried by other local medias. It became another lie used by CCTV to attack Falun Gong as a "false science."
Hao Fengjun said that he was a direct witness of the program's production process. In 2003, the Tianjin State Security Bureau received a special assignment. Four or five policemen, led by 610 Office chief Shi He, went to Shijiazhuang City in Hebei Province to handle a "special" case. After they had returned, Hao Fengjun saw a white-haired, elderly man hanging by his handcuffs in the interrogation room. Hao later learnt that he was Jing Zhanyi, a high level official from Hebei province. After the interrogation, a reporter from China Central Television came to interview Jing Zhanyi. The plan was to show the world how much this official regretted his involvement with Falun Gong.
The State Security Bureau carefully planed the interview. Hao Fengjun was outside the door that day and heard the Deputy Director of the State Security Bureau, Zhao Yuezeng, tell Jing Zhanyi that they would reduce his sentence if he was willing to recite some lines that they had prepared for him. Otherwise he would be charged with treason and face either a life sentence or execution by firing squad. The old man complied with their demands and went on TV to criticise Falun Gong using their words. Afterwards, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. (6)
Next, let's look at Chen Yonglin's opinion on the "1700 cases of Falun Gong suicide" fabricated by the state media. He said: "Most of the 1700 people previously had mental problems or suicidal tendencies before they joined the Falun Gong practise. However, we should see that after many people practised Falun Gong, they had good spiritual results in the end, so they no longer wanted to commit suicide. For example, some people were recovering from bad relationships or had broken families, but after practising Falun Gong, they became spiritually fulfilled. My feeling is, according to the figure of over 200,000 suicides each year in China, it is likely that Falun Gong has saved several hundred thousand lives." (7)
Brainwashing: Hao said: "The period after July 20th involved both public and underground registration and investigation in the city. The authorities required every police station to register and report on Falun Gong practitioners (with an emphasis on collecting data on participants in the events on April 25th, July 20th and July 22nd). The authorities also demanded Falun Gong practitioners to write a "guarantee letter" saying that they would never practise Falun Gong again. Anyone who refused to write the letter would either be sent to education classes that were established by local governments, or be punished for disturbing social stability." (1)
"During the Chinese New Year of 2000, in order to strengthen control over Falun Gong practitioners and prevent them from appealing in Beijing, work units, neighbourhoods and police stations were ordered to set up brainwashing sessions and open 'education classes.' Falun Gong practitioners were forced to listen to brainwashing materials together in one place. They also had to pay a "study fee."...(1)
Chen Yonglin confirmed, "One of the CCP's policies on Falun Gong is to investigate illegal activities, and to gather up ordinary Falun Gong practitioners through education and transformation. From the Central Committee to local government, people had to take the responsibility of 'uniting and transforming work.' So the local officials, in order to protect their official positions or get promotions, do everything in their power to prevent Falun Gong practitioners in their area from leaving, either for some free religious activities or if they are visiting relatives and friends, because once they lose control of these people (Falun Gong practitioners), they (the local officials) feel that because it is their responsibility, so they may be punished by the central government, hence their official position will be threatened. Therefore they want to take control of Falun Gong practitioners and often hold brainwashing classes." (7)
Supervision: In regards to the "Tianjin incident", Hao said, "On that day, cameras were secretly set up in the buildings around the Tianjin City Education Institute. The images of over 5000 Falun Gong practitioners were all recorded." (3) During the press conference held in Melbourne on June 7th, when Hao Fengjun supported Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin's claim of "1000 Chinese spies are active in Australia", he gave an example of Ms. Li Ying being monitored by Chinese spies. He said he had seen a report about Ms. Li's activities in Australia.
Li Ying immigrated to Australia in November 2003. She said she was locked up in the forced labour camp and tortured in 1999. Since then, the spies have monitored her. "I am really scared, because they know every action and movement of mine in Australia. All my family members are still in China, so I really worry for them." Li Ying said. (5)
Hao claimed that he believed what the Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin said about there being as many as 1000 Chinese spies in Australia. Hao confirmed, "When I was working for the 610 Office in China, I spent most of my time dealing with reports from abroad every day. The information was from Australia, the U.S., Canada and other countries. After the data was sorted, it was then sent out to the State Security Protection Bureau, and some were sent to the Public Security Bureau." Hao said he has seen evidence of spies infiltrating Falun Gong groups abroad and collecting their members' information. He said: "I have worked for the State Security Protection Bureau, so I believe what Chen has said."
Chen Yonglin confirmed that the Chinese government's tactics against Falun Gong practitioners outside of China is mainly supervising, paying close attention to the developments, and preventing the progress being made overseas from spreading to China...(7)
Hao said: "The Falun Gong practitioners who were registered or family members of the practitioners registered would have their rights deprived in many aspects, including university entrance, employment, children's military assignments and pensions, etc. They were put under great hardship. Some work units would even fire anybody who had been categorised as a Falun Gong practitioner." (1)
Conscience Awakens Courage, Bidding Farewell to the CCP
After these two former Chinese officers who were forced to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong understood the truth, their hearts were greatly touched. Chen Yonglin mentioned, "When I worked for China's Sydney Consulate, in the beginning I did not know much about Falun Gong, of course I firmly carried out the CCP's policy of launching an attack initiatively. When I enforced the policy, inevitably I had extreme words and behaviour towards Falun Gong. However later through my gradual contact with Falun Gong practitioners, and learning the principles of Falun Gong, I found that I would violate my conscience if I continued my job, so I could not do it any more. Because I think what these Falun Gong practitioners need is help not persecution. I hope the Chinese government reviews its policy on religion as soon as possible."
After witnessing the encounter of Sun Ti and her daughter, the miserable situation after Sun Ti was tortured often appeared in Hao Fengjun's dreams. It caused him some sleepless nights, and he felt despair about the future of China and his future as a policeman. Hao Fengjun said that this incident was the big turning point in the course of events in his mind, and it began his plans for escaping to Australia.
As the truth about Falun Gong goes deep into people's hearts, I believe more kind-hearted people who are forced to participate in the persecution will forsake darkness for light, expose the various forms of evidence of the CCP persecuting Falun Gong to the public, and help people see the devastating effect of this terrible persecution.
References:
(1) "In His Own Words: Hao Fengjun Explains Why He Escaped from China, Part I", The Epoch Times, http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-6-9/29414.html
(2) "Chinese Diplomat Appeared at June 4 Rally and Farewell the CCP", The Epoch Times, http://www.dajiyuan.com/gb/5/6/4/n944224.htm
(3) In His Own Words: Hao Fengjun Explains Why He Escaped from China, Part II, The Epoch Times, http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-6-10/29446.html
(4) "Second China defector backs Australia spy claims", Reuters http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect= 143&sid=5853391&cKey=1118191818000
(5) "Falun Gong Practitioner is Spied and Worry for Family", The Epoch Times, http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/5/6/8/n948404.htm (in Chinese)
(6) "Hao Fengjun: Why I Escaped from China (Part III)", The Epoch Times, http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-6-11/29430.html
(7) "Chen Yonglin Got Away the Chinese Consulate From Carrying on Persecution of Falun Gong - Defector Chen Yonglin Talks About Falun Gong", The Epoch Times http://dajiyuan.com/gb/5/6/9/n949605.htm (in Chinese)
(8) "Third man backs spy claims" AAP(Australian Associated Press) http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936 15567257%255E1702,00.html
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