Taiwanese Falun Gong Practitioner Arrested in China By Zhong Yuan & Chen Zhen

TAIPEI, Taiwan—A Taiwanese businessman and Falun Gong practitioner was abducted by Chinese security forces last week, starting a campaign by his family to raise political and media attention about the case on the small island.

Zhong Dingbang left Taiwan on June 15th for a three-day trip to Ganzhou, China, to visit relatives. He was expected to return home on June 18th, but never did. His phone was dead, too.

The relatives of Zhong’s wife and his daughter, Zhong Ai, in the mainland learned that domestic security forces had taken him away. They said he was needed to “help with an investigation into Falun Gong,” a peaceful spiritual practice that has been persecuted often relentlessly by the Chinese authorities since 1999.

Zhong is 53 and holds a Master’s in Engineering. He travels to China for business and to see relatives.

“The Taiwanese government needs to request that the Communist Party release my father from custody!” His daughter, Zhong Ai, wrote in a letter that was quickly circulated online.

Confronting the communist behemoth across the strait has so far not been the specialty of current Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou, however.

Lawmakers are putting pressure on him nevertheless. Legislator Yu Emi-nu took Mrs. Zhong and Zhong Ai to the Legislative Yuan office where they held a press conference recently. They discussed the persecution of Falun Gong in China and Mrs. Zhong’s 25 year marriage.

Zhong Ai, the daughter and a recent university graduate, said that although she doesn’t practise the discipline, she thinks it “teaches people to be better people … it’s a good spiritual belief that brings peace and harmony to our family.

It’s not like what the communist party describes it to be,” she added.

Theresa Chu, an attorney that often represents Falun Gong practitioners and litigates Chinese officials for genocide and torture, said that Zhong is probably now in the hands of the 610 Office, a secretive, powerful, and extrajudicial police agency that was established with the mission of “eradicating” Falun Gong in China, using whatever means necessary.

Ms. Yu, the legislator, pointed out that the reciprocal judicial assistance agreement reached by both sides of the strait requires a report about the place and reason for the detention of a Taiwanese citizen. It’s unclear whether the mainland will be furnishing that in this case. Falun Gong practitioners, persecuted and vilified by the ruling party, are often treated without recourse to any law in China.

There are somewhat encouraging precedents in cases like this, however. The detention of Falun Gong practitioner Lin Xiaokai in 2003 for example was handled at the presidential level, according to legislator Cheng Li-chiun. “We also demand that the Communist Party release Zhong Dingbang unconditionally, and allow his return to Taiwan to be reunited with his family,” Cheng said.

From 1998 to 2009 there were 14 Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners that were persecuted upon visiting mainland China, all serving periods of detention but being released before having to serve their full sentences.

Among them was Li Xinju, who was forced to by a spy by Chinese security forces. Li was made to collect information on Falun Gong practitioners around the world and intelligence about the election in Taiwan for use by the communists.