Chinese Communist Party Uses the Olympics to Cover Up the Persecution of Falun Gong

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of "genocide" is "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group." One example is the Holocaust, where the killing was done mostly inside concentration camps. The Chinese Communist Party's genocide of Falun Gong differs from the Holocaust. The CCP's genocide has continued mostly covertly, preventing people from knowing the full extent of brutality involved.

I. Chinese Regime's Systematic Genocide

Eight years ago, then-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide persecution of Falun Gong. He was tremendously jealous of Falun Gong's popularity., and he vowed to "wipe out Falun Gong within three months."

As early as February 21st 2001, as China entered the final stages of bidding for the 2008 Olympics, a Reuters news report revealed that the campaign against Falun Gong had escalated. The report cited the state-run Xinhua propaganda outlet as saying that the government had rewarded 110 organizations and 271 individuals "for anti-Falun Gong work," and to "wipe out Falun Gong."

On January 20th 2001, 610 Office top official Luo Gan presided over a national "Strike Hard" campaign and ordered local officials to arrest and hand heavy sentences to more Falun Gong practitioners. From then on, Falun Gong became the primary target of each annual "Strike Hard" campaign.

In 2005, Liu Jing, deputy minister of Public Security, was instructed to "annihilate" Falun Gong before the Olympic Games. He passed down the order to all levels of the police system to carry out this plan.

In March 2007, Zhou Yongkang, then minister of Public Security, issued a nationwide order to launch another round of brutal attacks on Falun Gong. Massive arrests and an escalation of the persecution soon followed in many regions of China.

II. Police Illegally Arrest and Torture Practitioners Following Issuance of Secret Orders

Due to the unlawful nature of the persecution, the Communist regime spared no effort to cover it up. One of the strategies was to issue secret verbal orders to avoid a paper trail and public outrage, while allowing the persecution to continue unabated behind the scenes.

For example, on February 19th 2008, officials at the CCP Political and Judiciary Committee issued a secret order entitled "Suggestion on Maintaining Social Stability and Ensuring Safety During the Olympics." The order was sent to 40 province-level Political and Judiciary Committees and "offices that deal with Falun Gong."

The order instructed Party officials around the country to "concentrate time and manpower to organize specialized activities to investigate and resolve conflicts." In particular it stressed to "meticulously guard and severely strike against Falun Gong."

Last May, the Party issued a secret notice under the pretense of "adequately preparing for a successful Olympics Games." The notice required various regime sectors to "strike hard on illegal organizations," including but not limited to "gatherings with three or more people who refuse to obey orders." It says "organizers of illegal organizations" and "Falun Gong adherents" should be "first be arrested, and the required legal documents can be processed at a later time." All of these are blatant violations of China's constitution.

On May 23rd 2007, Chaoyang City Party Committee officials and those from the Chaoyang City Government in Liaoning Province jointly issued a classified document [The 21st Document in 2007 by Chaoyang City Party Committee] entitled "Suggestions on Battling Counterrevolutionary Propaganda by Falun Gong and Other [...] Cults," which detailed plans to sustain the persecution of Falun Gong. 290 copies of this document were distributed among county and city-level Party offices, and officials were required to study the directives at meetings.

A drastic increase in both arrests and deaths of Falun Gong practitioners followed these orders. According to reports on the Clearwisdom.net website, at least 1,878 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested since late 2007. The arrests took place in virtually every corner of the country.

Three recent death cases are summarized below. Such cases are unfortunately fairly typical. All three practitioners died within a short period of time following arrest.

1. Officers stopped practitioner Yu Zhou and his wife Xu Na on their way home from work on January 26th 2008. The couple was arrested and taken to the Tongzhou District Detention Center in Beijing. Their families received a notice on February 6 and rushed to Qinghe Emergency Center in Beijing, where they saw 42-year-old Yu Zhou's body covered with a white sheet. He was wearing an oxygen mask, and his legs were icy cold. When the family asked the cause of death, the doctor once said that Yu Zhou held a hunger strike, and at another time said that he had diabetes, but the family insisted Yu had never been diagnosed with diabetes.

2. Practitioner Zhang Chun from the Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province was arrested at 9:00 p.m. on March 14th 2008. It happened as he was putting up posters with the truth-clarification information about Falun Gong at No. 2 Zhongnan Road in the Wuchang District. Several days later, No. 7 Hospital officials in Wuhan City notified Zhang Chun's family to claim his body. The hospital officials stated Zhang had died from a stroke and ordered the family to cremate his body immediately.

3. Practitioner Jia Yan from Mulan County, Heilongjiang Province was arrested on December 6th 2007. Participating in the arrest were officers from the Linye Police Station headed by Jiang Shuchen. It happened as she and three other practitioners were distributing copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in No. 7 Village in Dongxing Town, Mulan County. She was sent to the administrative custody center affiliated with the Linye Police Department in Tieli City on December 14th 2007. Her family was notified of her death three months later, on March 16, 2008.

III. Temporary Residence Permits and More to Sustain and Intensify the Persecution

According to the Legal Evening Press, Beijing police started to handle temporary residency registration work on February 22nd 2008. They carried out mass ID checks on the transient population, demanding that everyone from outside of Beijing register for a temporary residency card. This special project was done under the slogan "Get a card according to law – together create a peaceful Olympics." The regime said it would last 39 days, and the purpose was to create a "safe and harmonious environment" for the Olympics.

Recently, a source inside China revealed the existence of a "Registration Form for People Coming to Beijing From Other Areas." The form asks for specific personal information including name, age, hometown address, ID number, occupation, political affiliation, reason for staying in Beijing, and type of residence in Beijing.

In fact, both the registration form and residence permit pave the way for further persecution. The Party already has a detailed record of most, if not all, Falun Gong practitioners after almost nine years of persecution. Many practitioners went into exile to avoid persecution. They either lost their ID cards or their names were blacklisted. In other words, this project is actually a disguise for massive arrests, targeting Falun Gong practitioners.

Perhaps for some, a more convincing act of the Party's sinister intent is a mandatory liability pledge, which all of the regime's industry and commerce branches in Beijing were required to sign. On March 5th 2008, Beijing Industry and Commerce Bureau head Zhang Zhikuan signed the "Liability Pledge to Uphold Economic Order in the Capital and Realize a Peaceful Olympics," along with officials in charge of bureau branches in 25 districts and counties. The pledge states, "thoroughly execute various tasks to uphold safety and stability in the capital, and thoroughly complete various tasks to ensure the Olympics business order."

It further says, "Devise a liability system among head officials, who must assign specific tasks to specific departments and units. All levels of officials must sign the pledge, and each person's responsibilities must be unequivocal and detailed to ensure the task of upholding and stabilizing business order to solidly rest with all departments and posts, in order to thoroughly realize individual work objectives."

The pledge listed Falun Gong as a "major target" for "strict discipline, strict prevention and strict control." It requires "intensified education and reform efforts. Those who cannot be resolved at the present, effective measures must be taken to solidly carry out administrative and control duties." "Reform" means forcing Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs.

If the residence permit and registration form can be seen as methods of surveillance, then the "pledge" is the implementation of persecution.

The Party dreads Falun Gong practitioners who spread the truth about the persecution, so it resorts to violence and deception to make them give up their belief.

IV. Encouraging Mass Participation in the Persecution

The Party posts rewards and stipulates a "reporting policy" to encourage people to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. According to the policy, anyone who reports information about Falun Gong to the regime would receive between 500 yuan and 5,000 yuan. Liangyang City Police Department officials even posted this "reward for reporting" notice on its website.

Taxi drivers in Beijing are told they must "strictly guard against" Falun Gong practitioners and are given hotline numbers to report Falun Gong practitioners. Some taxi drivers were required to install emergency reporting systems in their cabs to report any Falun Gong practitioners to police by pushing a button. The GPS would locate the cab and police would arrive in a few minutes to arrest the practitioners.

During the 17th Party Congress in 2007 and the 2007-2008 "Good Luck Beijing" sporting events, Beijing "610 Office" officials hired certain retired officials. They had to monitor and report Falun Gong practitioners who explain the facts about the persecution at key Party and government offices. The "610 Office" agents claimed they do not need any evidence to send a practitioner to a forced labour camp. All they need to do is bring a Falun Gong book or two pieces of paper [a Falun Gong flyer] to the practitioner's home and claim they were found there, as a single Falun Gong flyer [found on someone] is enough to send that individual to a labour camp.

On or about December 19th 2007, Internet control officers stole personal information from Falun Gong practitioners' email boxes, or duped certain practitioners into revealing their information on Internet forums. They then used the information to identify, locate and arrest many practitioners in Beijing.

The Party has also done a great number of other things to use the Olympics as a means to carry out its genocidal policies and cover up the persecution. This article lists only a few examples, to help people see through the Communist Party's wicked nature and bring its crimes to light.