RFA (Radio Free Asia): Jiang Zemin (Receives) Severe Warning During His Visit to United States

On October 23rd, 2002, RFA (Radio Free Asia) published a commentator's article. It said that this might be Jiang's final visit to the U.S. The Chinese media stated that it is the highest honour to have a barbeque at President Bush's Crawford ranch in Texas. He Yafei, the secretary for the Chinese department of foreign affairs in the U.S. said at a press conference that China and United States would soon publish a joint statement. Before Jiang's arrival, 13 large international enterprises from China and United States signed a contract amounting to US $4.7 billion in New York, securing Jiang's barbeque.

However, the White House immediately replied that there won't be a joint statement from President Bush and Jiang during their (meeting) at APEC. Furthermore, New York Times pointed out immediately that the propaganda from Beijing was exaggerated. Among the foreign dignitaries that President Bush received at his Crawford ranch, only Russian President Vladimir Putin and UK Prime Minister Blair stayed overnight. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Abdallah spent 5 hours there with President Bush, and they had a formal meeting that lasted at least two hours. President Bush also drove a small truck himself to take the Putin couple around the ranch.

Compared to this, Jiang, as the head of a major world power, was rushed to leave only after one and a half hour's meeting with Bush, which seemed to rank him low amongst foreign dignitaries.

The first stop of Jiang's visit was Chicago. According to the media reports, his "welcoming group" had 400 - 500 people, but the protestors amounted to 1,000 people. Most of them were Falun Gong practitioners, but there were also human rights organizations, some Chinese democracy advocates, the U.S. Independent Federation of Chinese Students & Scholars in the United States (IFCSS), some Tibetan and Taiwanese etc. Jiang was so scared to see the protestors that he entered the hotel through the back door. This disappointed the "welcoming group," so the Chinese Consulate comforted them by promising to give them T-shirts, hats and travel allowances.

On the first day of Jiang's arrival, he was served with a lawsuit from the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division that is located in Chicago. Falun Gong practitioners as plaintiffs sued Jiang as the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, for his crimes of human rights violations and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners since July 1999. According to incomplete statistics, over three years since July 20th, 1999, it has been verified that 505 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death. According to the Chinese Communist's internal official statistics at the end of October 2001, the death of detained Falun Gong practitioners has amounted to at least 1,600. At least 6,000 practitioners were sentenced in the country. More than 100,000 practitioners were sent to forced labour camps, and more than 1,000 practitioners were forcibly sent to mental hospitals, where they have suffered from "treatments" damaging their central nervous systems. Countless practitioners were kidnapped and taken to local brainwashing classes, and tormented mentally there. Many people were brutally tortured, physically punished and financially blackmailed by the so-called law enforcement personnel. Of course, Jiang was not served the lawsuit directly for security reasons; rather, it was served to his security guards. This "highest honour," though, was plenty enough to cause him to lose a lot of face.

A display truck made by Chinese democracy advocates accused Jiang of selling land in Northern China attracted many Chinese people's attention. Some people from the "welcoming group" were holding their Chinese flags in their hands. When they saw this display truck, they were too shocked to hold up their Chinese flags.

In Texas, a very large group of protestors has terrified Jiang and his followers. On one hand, the Jiang group used various incentives to form the "welcoming group." On the other hand, they were worried that they could not control the situation. So they pressured the hotels nearby to cancel all the bookings by Chinese people, and they also asked the sponsors to send emails to the participants of the "welcoming group," requesting them to sign an agreement: "In consideration for this invitation, I agree to abide by the rules and regulations of the Welcoming Group. I also agree if any disturbances are caused by me (e.g. protest against the United States and/or President of China) to pay $5,000.00 as minimal damages for any harm that may result from such disturbances to the group's reputation." It seems that while Jiang claims to represent advanced productivity, advanced culture and the citizenry's welfare, he is still resorting to financial threats to maintain his support base.