A Renowned Chinese Journalist in France: Wang Zhaojun breaks China’s Falun Gong Taboo

After the Standing Committee Member of the Anhui Political Consultative Conference, Wang Zhaojun, published his letter to the Chinese President Hu Jintao, there has been quite a stir both at home and abroad. When interviewed by our reporter on October 31st, 2007, former Radio France International (RFI) Chinese department director and veteran news journalist Wu Baozhang said that this letter is very meaningful, because Wang Zhaojun pointed out the issues avoided by all the documents of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Mr. Wang stressed that this letter may be the turning point of ending the persecution against Falun Gong and the turning point of democratising China.

The timing of this open letter was excellent

The timing when Wang Zhaojun published his open letter was excellent. But whether the 17th National Congress of the CPC had discussed the most important issues and touched upon other issues concerned by the Chinese people? The answers are negative. To put it simply, in Hu Jintao’s reports, he did mention about democracy and the issues regarding people-first more than once. But the question is that why there’s no democracy in China after the Chinese Communist regime was established about sixty years ago. Hu’s report didn’t touch upon this area, nor did he really answer the problems with China’s economy, society, finance and environmental protection. Instead, all the problems avoided at the 17th National Congress were pointed out in Wang Zhaojun’s open letter. Therefore, I think the timing of this letter was excellent in that it allows the Chinese people the opportunity of knowing the facts. That’s why it is so meaningful.

I think the first thing we should do is to extensively disseminate the message to the general public, as we did in disseminating the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party. It is to let the Chinese people know that right after the 17th National Congress was over; a Standing Committee Member of a provincial Political Consultative Conference challenged the conclusions of the National Congress with strong arguments. This kind of things has never happened in the Chinese Communist regime’s history, and it is indeed something good.

Breaking China’s Falun Gong taboo

What’s most significant about this letter is that it broke China’s Falun Gong taboo. The Falun Gong issue was finally discussed formally again. This is something very important, as not only did Wang mention that the crackdown on Falun Gong is wrong, but he also called for an immediate end to the persecution of Falun Gong. Besides, he stated that the suppression of Falun Gong is tantamount to the suppression of the entire Chinese population.

Whilst I was in Paris I met some Chinese people, but once I touched upon Falun Gong issues, they would purposely shy away from the issue. On the contrary, when visiting many other countries in Europe and America, I found that many people talking about Falun Gong at ease and that there are many Westerners practising Falun Gong. If fact, it has been practised by people in over eighty countries around the world.

Back then, the Chinese Communist regime once resolved to eliminate Falun Gong in eighteen months, but to no avail. Instead, Falun Gong has become more and more popular. Some said that Falun Gong is getting involved in politics, but perhaps we should say that they are regarded by some people as getting political. To my understanding, they don’t have any political platform and what they have demanded is simply justice that can allow them to have the right and freedom of practising Falun Gong exercises freely.

Under such circumstances, we should take advantage of this open letter to change the current situation. The issues such as Falun Gong should no longer be a taboo for open discussion. Instead, it should be a topic for the general public to openly discuss. We should let people realise that the so-called Falun Gong problem is nothing more than a flagrant crime committed by the Chinese regime under the guise of the blatant lies they have fabricated. With the foundation of this public opinion, I think it would be of great help to some of the leaders in China's upper echelons who hope to solve the problem.

This open letter is addressed to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, who might intend to solve the problem. To our understanding, they were not directly involved in the atrocities persecuting Falun Gong. To date, they have been circumspect in their statements, and have never revealed their position on the Falun Gong issue. This allows people to have an impression that they intended to solve the issue. If we took advantage of this open letter to break the Falun Gong taboo, and help the general public to have a correct understanding of Falun Gong based on the foundation, the public opinions may serve as an impetus for Hu and Wen to deal with Falun Gong issues. By doing so, it can create a more favourable climate for them to solve the issue.

The solution of Falun Gong issue may be a turning point for China’s democratic reforms

Judging from the publication of Wang Zhaojun’s open letter, the solution to Falun Gong issue may be a turning point for China’s democratic transformation. It’s been fifty eight years now since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949. Over the past fifty eight years, there have been a variety of political persecutions launched one after another and about eighty million people died from these political movements. How should we deal with these problems? I think the most urgent one is the Falun Gong issue, as the killings and torture are still going on. To date, over 3,000 Falun Gong practitioners were confirmed dead due to the persecution. That being the case, anyone with a little bit of conscience or sense of humanity would never tolerate this kind of thing to take place. In particular, those with power in hand, such as Hu Jintao, who has the authority of control over the CCP, the Chinese government and military. With this power, he should have had the capability to solve the problem.

By the 16th National Congress, there might still be interference's from Jiang Zemin, but after the 17th National Congress, Hu’s position has been quite stable. With that, we should give Hu a hand to help him bring up the Falun Gong issue. If he really wants to resolve this issue then I don't think that there will be a problem.

What puzzles me now is why Hu and Wen still keep silent

Optimistically speaking, perhaps they are still in the process of preparation. But if they continue to keep silent in this way, I cannot help wondering whether there has been a political deal among Hu, Wen and Jiang. I doubt the pre-condition for Jiang to allow Hu to be the president was that Hu should neither touch upon Falun Gong issue, nor re-instate Falun Gong’s reputation. Despite the fact that there might be a deal like that among them, if Hu and Wen really want to solve this problem, it would not be too difficult for them to overturn the deal. I think under the current circumstances, every thing is ready and the only thing they still need is impetus.

As a journalist who can work independently, I think we need to fully disclose the political views, position and attitude as what Wang Zhaojun held to the general public. This is something very important. As we can see, after the open letter was publicised, it has been supported widely. Some people within the CCP system are among the supporters of the open letter and most of them are still in China.

We should let the general public know that following the crack downs on landlords, capitalists, rightists, democracy activists participating in the Xidan Democracy Wall movement, the so-called square mobsters and local ruffians, the crackdown on Falun Gong is nothing but a political persecution. It is a flagrant crime committed by the Chinese regime, along with the blatant lies it fabricated, including the harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. If the general public were aware of the facts about these atrocities, I believe this persecution would be impossible to continue.

“The persecution of Falun Gong is doomed to failure”

In the half-century history of China, not only Mao Zetong and Deng Xiaoping, but Jiang Zemin also encountered opposition forces. But the situation nowadays is different. Nowadays, opposition forces may become even more formidable when they are suppressed. Take Falun Gong practitioners for instance. As we all know, to clarify the truth, they have established their own independent media, which have been very effective in extensively spreading the truth about Falun Gong to people around the world.

During Mao’s era, the opposition forces were not able to make it, as the historical conditions were not ripe. After so many years, the opposition forces in the eras of Mao, Deng and Jiang have consolidated and reached a consensus that the CCP’s autocracy must be ended as soon as possible, and this is the only hope for China; therefore, the sagacious people within the Chinese Communist Party should have noted that there is no choice but to proceed with political reforms. It might be painful to make it through constitutional and democratic reforms; however, historical experiences have fully proved that this is something that we cannot do without. It’s better to take initiative to proceed with reforms than to go with the stream of history.

Based on my knowledge about the Party’s history, it’s actually very simple to put an end to the persecution of Falun Gong, that is, to convene a special plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the CPC and come up with a report on the Falun Gong issue. An announcement is made on how to deal with the Falun Gong issue, such as who should be brought to justice and who should be demoted, after a motion is carried at the plenary session. Therefore, it’s not so difficult to solve these problems.

The Chinese regime is very experienced in making this kind of arrangements. The key is their political will. If they really mean it, they would make it; if the regime doesn’t want to make it, then the issue has to be procrastinated. That being the case, we might end up being historical garbage along with tyrannies such as Mao Zetong and Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin.

Note: The Democracy Wall was a long brick wall on Chang'an Street in the Xidan District of Beijing, which became the focus for democratic dissent. Beginning in December 1978, in line with the Communist Party of China's policy of "seeking truth from facts," activists in the democracy movement such as Xu Wenli recorded news and ideas, often in the form of big-character posters, during a period known as the "Beijing Spring".