Recorded Phone Investigation by WOIPFG Reveals Chinese Consulate in New York Orchestrated Hate Crime Against Falun Gong, Surrounding and Attacking the Quit-CCP Center’s Activities in Flushing, New York

May 22, 2008

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On May 17, 2008, a rally held by the Quit-CCP Service Center in Flushing, New York met with vicious verbal and physical attacks from a group of Chinese people suspected to be organized and premeditated. In the following days, the daily operations at the same service center faced similar assaults. World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) immediately undertook an investigation. On the morning of May 21, a WOIPFG investigator with a special status made a telephone call to Consulate General Mr. Peng Keyu of the Chinese Consulate in New York. The following is the transcript of the recorded telephone conversation. The English is translated to be more accurate to the original Chinese.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Investigator: Is this consulate general Mr. Peng Keyu?

Peng: Who is this?

Investigator: This is XYZ.

Peng: How are you?

Investigator: This time you have really made a huge scene in fighting Falun Gong in Flushing!

Peng: Hey, hey, hey…That’s right!

Investigator: I would like to know how you organized them?

Peng: They (Falun Gong) protest against the Chinese Communist Party! Well, I went there the day before yesterday, and also three days ago, because we have to be very careful with this kind of thing! Otherwise, people will say the Chinese consulate is behind it, agitating people. Some were among the crowd and they talked to me afterwards. I am quite familiar with them! But we encouraged them secretly! Because I showed up at the scene, everyone was very excited. The first time, they Falun Gong practitioners came, right? A few hundred people surrounded them. When they were surrounded, both sides started to argue. Finally the police persuaded Falun Gong [practitioners] to leave. The second day was the same. It was even fiercer. Then yesterday and the day before yesterday. This has been going on for 4 to 5 days.

Investigator: How did you find so many people all of sudden? Do you have experience on this?

Peng: I wouldn’t call it experience. It’s because of the overseas Chinese community. Let me put it this way. It’s because of the work focused on the overseas Chinese community. Since the incidents in Tibet and the Olympic torch relay, there is such a kind of passion… Of course, it also has to do with this earthquake. I have always gone to them and thanked them in person. On Monday I went there [Flushing], I also held two meetings. I ran other things on the scene. I went to their Association in person to thank them…because Falun Gong was there nearby.

Investigator: Oh.

Peng: Paying visits like this would sometimes create something like an encouraging effect.

Investigator: Didn’t the consulate do any ideological work on the Chinese community?

Peng: What do you mean?

Investigator: In other words, giving them a hint or some guidance.

Peng: (Laughing with satisfaction) Oh! Indeed, we have done it! To tell you frankly, we have done it! It’s something we cannot openly tell outsiders, we have done it. Sometimes we give them hints, in and out. We say something to Chinese community leaders. Yes, I have done it very often, especially this time! I often say something that you describe as hints. Yes, I have done it! I do it very frequently! Including this time when I went out to the scene! I have done that! I have even agitated them! I said, “Write some reports!” I say things like this. Today I told the people from the CCTV, “You guys should take some footage of these phenomena.” It is not bad indeed. I can only tell you the facts secretly. Well…

Investigator: It appears you have done the solid work on the Chinese community leaders on the regular base.

Peng: I would say I have kept a very good relationship with them. Given their passion, I must go in person. Showing up in person or not makes a lot of difference in terms of effect, so I pay them personal visits frequently. This way those overseas Chinese people would feel closer to me at heart. For example, they came over after they fought with Falun Gong [practitioners] and I shook hands with them one by one and thanked them. I say nice, encouraging words to them. This is what I must do. To tell you the facts, I must do it when the thing has been done to this point, yet I must not do things like that right in front of Falun Gong. I parked my car far from the scene because I must avoid being seen by them [Falun Gong practitioners]. I must be really careful in this regard; otherwise, people will accuse me of this or that. This will give them [Falun Gong practitioners] leverage. That will not be good. You know, I have been very careful. When they came down here and told me that they had driven them out, I shook hands with them. I said thank you and made a few encouraging remarks. In addition, I held a press conference and condemned Falun Gong. It was yesterday when I held a press conference.

Investigator: Did you have the press conference in the name the Chinese consulate general in New York?

Peng: The consulate general. Condemn. It is on the newspaper today. I read the news today. The China Press (Qiao Bao) made a very detailed report.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The entire conversation revealed that the whole incident in Flushing has nothing to do with Sichuan earthquake or earthquake relief, and that incident was not initiated by local residents spontaneously. Instead, this incident was controlled by CCP and was orchestrated by and directly involved the Chinese Consulate in New York. WOIPFG will closely follow up the investigation of this incident.

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong

Tel: 347-448-5790
Fax: 347-402-1444

Address: P.O. Box: 84, New York, NY 10116, USA
Website: http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/en/

(April 5, 2008)

One year before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Communist regime has intensified its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Based on official documents from Chinese authorities and reports from persecuted victims, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) has gathered ample evidence to show that the Chinese Communist regime never intended to improve its human rights practices by hosting the 2008 Olympics. The regime has actually taken advantage of the Beijing Olympics and used it as a justification to further persecute Falun Gong. This report documents the evidence in detail below.

I. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and government documents, meeting records, speeches by government officials, and media reports show that the Beijing Olympics has been used as a pretext to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong

In May 2000, the Public Security Bureau and the High Court of Jilin Province jointly issued a secret document based on an internal memo from the Ministry of Public Security and the People’s Supreme Court. The document stated in particular that the crackdown against Falun Gong practitioners “should be intensified. As soon as they are identified, they should be arrested immediately and any arrest warrant can be made up later.” The intensified crackdown ordered by this document under the auspices of supporting the Beijing Olympics started from May 20, 2000, and continued to December 30, 2007.¹ The crackdown actually started one year before Beijing was officially granted its Olympics hosting rights.

In early April 2007, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security issued a secret document, “Notice on Strictly Carrying Out Background Checks on Candidates for the Olympics and the Olympic Trials,” to the public security departments and bureaus of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government. In the notice, it ordered strict background checks on everyone, domestic and foreign, who will participate in the Olympic Games, to maximize the effort to screen out all “dissidents” who will cause trouble to the Chinese Communist regime. Forty-three types of people in 11 categories will be barred from the Beijing Olympics.² On April 24, the Office for Beijing Comprehensive Management of Public Security held a director-level meeting in Pinggu District in Beijing for local branches of the Office for Comprehensive Management of Public Security and the Office for Control and Management of Migrant Population. The meeting was held to relay and study the spirit of the National Symposium on Comprehensive Management of Public Security. At the meeting, it proposed: “Take full advantage of the opportunity under the ‘Safe Olympics’ campaign to increase capability of public control and to solidify basic-level infrastructure and foundation.” It also ordered monitoring and investigating “critical groups of migrant workers, unemployed teenagers, ex-convicts released from prisons and forced labor camps, foreigners in Beijing, drug addicts, Falun Gong followers, etc.”³ Those labeled as “critical groups” fit well with the main content of the 43 types of people grouped under 11 categories in the Ministry of Public Security’s secret document.

There is evidence in another document, “Operations Program for Gulou Neighborhood Olympic Security and Social Control.” This program was organized based on the “Operations Program for Beijing Olympic Security and Social Control” and the corresponding “Miyun County Operations Program for Olympic Security and Social Control.”⁴ Its main content was taken from the Beijing operations program. The fourth item of its “Operation Objectives” and the first item of the “Critical List of People” singled out Falun Gong as a major category for suppression.

On November 8, 2007, the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee responded to the reports that the Bible would be banned at the Beijing Olympic Village. Li Zhanjun, the director of the Beijing Olympics Media Center, declared religious items for personal use are permitted into China by athletes and tourists. But Li added that such policy does not apply to Falun Gong, which is banned by the government.⁵

II. Chinese Communist regime labels dissident groups “terrorists” to justify the persecution under the name of “Olympic Security”

As part of China’s propaganda to demonize Falun Gong, the director of the Research Center for Comprehensive Management of Public Security of the Beijing Academy of Social Science, Yin Xingchen, gave a speech at the Olympic Auditorium on the topic. He made false accusations against Falun Gong under the topic “Olympic Security and Anti-Terrorism,” claiming that “Falun Gong orchestrated the self-immolation incident at Tiananmen Square and failed in their attempt to start a nuclear explosion.” Yin went on, saying that “Falun Gong is planning to start terrorist attacks during the 2008 Olympics.”⁶

Actually, Beijing Olympics anti-terrorist action was never aimed at the international terrorist groups from the beginning. Professor Niu of the Anti-Terrorist Research Center at the International Relationship College of the People’s Liberation Army pointed out that “China has been very careful on foreign affairs. China keeps friendship with most of the countries, especially the Third World countries. The terrorists are not targeting China at this moment.”⁷

On September 18, 2007, China’s Deputy Minister of Public Security, Liu Jing, made a keynote speech at the International Cooperative Conference on Security for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Li stressed that the Olympics will be “an important target for all kinds of international terrorist groups, ethnic separatist groups, religious extremist groups, and cult organizations to create disruption and to cause damages.⁸“

At a Ministry of Public Security Direct Affiliates Meeting on Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the National “Two Congress,” and at the Ministry’s Party Committee Outreach Session Conference on Security Measures for the 17th Communist Party Congress in September 2007, the former minister of Public Security and the incumbent secretary of the Central Political and Judiciary Committee, Zhou Yongkang, included Falun Gong as one of the aforementioned “groups” and demanded a “hard strike.”^9,10

On June 28, 2007, the director of the Military Operations Bureau of the Beijing Olympic Games Security Command Center, Tian Yixiang, spoke to 64 defense attachs from 56 foreign embassies in China at a briefing on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) security preparations for the Olympics. At the briefing, Tian accused Falun Gong of planning and preparing to sabotage the Olympics.¹¹

From July 14 to 18, 2007, General Administration of Customs of PRC carried out the Olympic Security Anti-Terrorist exercise at Tianjin Binhai Airport. One of the main targets of the exercise was Falun Gong. ¹²
III. The “610″ Office is an important part of Beijing Olympics security measures

The “610″ Office, established on June 10, 1999, is an agency specifically created per order of Jiang Zemin to persecute Falun Gong, and is above and beyond all regular political and judiciary systems. As a command center, it is the execution arm of the “Leadership Team for Handling Falun Gong Issues” at each level of Communist Party Committees. The “610″ Office should be held responsible and liable for all the arbitrary arrests, detention, imprisonment, forced labor, injuries, and deaths caused by the torture of Falun Gong practitioners.¹³

A director-level meeting of district and county branches of the Comprehensive Management of Public Security Office and the Office for Control and Management of Migrant Population was organized by the Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security Office in Pinggu District on April 24, 2007. The structure of the leadership and of the internal organization of social control for the districts and counties in Beijing City was revealed at this meeting: “The officials from the CCP District Committee and the district government will take the leader’s positions. The direction of coordinating, liaison, intelligence gathering, and other work will be the responsibility of the Office for Comprehensive Management, the Office for Maintaining Stability, the 610 Office, and other departments.” ¹⁴

In 2007, Beijing City issued the “Operations Program for Olympic Security and Social Control.” By May 2007, each district and county of the Beijing Municipal Area developed its own “Operations Program for Olympic Security and Social Control” and the program’s “main task breakdown and progress schedule.” As for a “branch headquarters for social-level security” established at the district and the county levels, the local 610 Office played a major role.^15,16

According to a full-version document issued by Miyun County in Beijing of the “Gulou Neighborhood Operations Program for Olympic Security and Social Control,” the director of the 610 Office will be both a member of the Gulou Neighborhood Olympic Security Social Control Command Center and the assistant director for the Command Center Office, as well as a member of the Comprehensive Coordination Group, the Intelligence and Information Group, and the supervisor of the Steering Group under the Command Center Office.¹⁷ According to the CCP internal hierarchy rules, the structures are similar at the district, county, and Beijing city level. Thus, 610 offices are the members of the Olympic security for districts, counties, and city in Beijing.

In the book, The Chinese Secret Services from Mao to the Olympic Games, written by French writer Roger Faligot, published on February 29, 2008, it disclosed that the Olympic Security Command Center under the leadership of Qiang Wei has a budget of 1.3 billion dollars. It launched large-scale surveillance and intelligence-gathering activities both at home and abroad. The 610 offices, specifically set up for the persecution of Falun Gong, are also included in this system.¹⁸ In comparison, the total proposed Olympic budget (not including the cost of the Olympic bid) was only US$1.5 billion when Beijing applied to host the Games.

IV. Persecution during the application to host the 2008 Olympics

The Beijing regime claimed that the Olympics should not be politicized. In March 2001, BBC Chinese.com chief editor Li Wen interviewed with Liu Jingming, then executive vice chairman of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee. When Liu was asked about whether or not the human rights issue would become an obstacle to Beijing’s bid, he answered that the Falun Gong issue should not be mixed in with Beijing’s application. There was no correlation between the two.¹⁹

However, the separation of politics and sports is only Beijing’s Olympic bid tactic, while using the Olympics as a pretext to persecute Falun Gong has been the Party’s policy all along. It is precisely the Chinese Communist regime itself that linked the two together. When the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee traveled to Moscow, they brought anti-Falun Gong propaganda materials with them for distribution.²⁰

On July 13, 2001, Beijing was granted the hosting right for the 2008 Olympics. Two days later, on July 15, six CCP and central government organizations, including the Department of Propaganda and the 610 Office of the Central CCP, jointly launched a large-scale public exhibit in Beijing called “fighting the cult and promoting civilization,” advancing a campaign to demonize Falun Gong. Li Lanqing, a CCP Central Politburo Standing Committee member, the head of the Central CCP Leadership Team for Handling Falun Gong Issues, and the Chinese government representative who went to Moscow for the Olympic bid, had claimed on the opening day of the exhibit that winning the right to host the 2008 Olympics meant international vindication of the Chinese social order. He called for more intensified effort with winning the Olympic hosting right to “expose and defame Falun Gong.”²¹ The international media had taken his speech as a signal for escalating the persecution of Falun Gong after Beijing won its Olympic bid.²²

On July 20, 2001, just one week after Beijing won its bid, the Chinese Consulate General in Houston hosted a forum for overseas Chinese and scholars of the Greater Houston area. The title of the forum was “Enthusiastically Celebrate the Victory of Applying for the Olympics; Intensify the Exposure and Criticism of Falun Gong.”²³

V. Persecution in the Name of “Safe Olympics”

“Safe Olympics” has become the major excuse for the Chinese communist regime to persecute Falun Gong. In 2006, the Beijing Comprehensive Management Committee issued its No 2. Document titled “‘Safe Olympics’ A Comprehensive Management and Action Plan (2006-2008)”. In this document, it specified the means of searching for and arresting Falun Gong practitioners in the name of checking rental properties.²⁴

The “Safe Olympics Action,” which started in January 2008, will last until the Olympics end. The Safe Olympics Action was divided into three stages, including the strict regulation and management stage, the strict prevention stage and the strict control stage. This action singled out Falun Gong as the major target.²⁵

This action was organized jointly by the CCP Beijing Municipal Committee and the CCP Beijing Political and Judiciary Committee. On January 12, 2008, Beijing Political and Judiciary Operations and the “Safe Olympics Action” Mobilization and Deployment Conference were held. Liu Qi, the secretary of the Beijing Municipal CCP Committee; Guo Jinlong, the vice-secretary of the Beijing Municipal CCP Committee and acting mayor; and Du Deyin, the chairman of Standing Committee of the Beijing City People’s Congress attended the conference. The chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Beijing Committee, Yang Anjiang, and the vice-secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of CCP, secretary of Beijing CCP Political and Judiciary Committee, Wang Anshun, also attended the meeting.²⁶ The entire mobilization was implemented down to the street level in the neighborhoods.²⁷

The goal of the “Safe Olympics Action” is to “prevent major adverse events, minimize minor adverse events, maintain strict regulations and fair social orders.” It emphasized Falun Gong gatherings will be considered as “major events” that must be curtailed.²⁸ On March 7, 2008, in the opening ceremony for the Olympic Security Drill held by Xi Luoyuan neighborhood, the second part of the three-part exercise was aimed at Falun Gong.²⁹

In the name of safeguarding the Olympics, the town of Mapo in Shunyi District determines the annual bonuses of the (CCP) party secretaries of the villages or units are directly tied to the number of incidents in the villages. If there are any Falun Gong incidents, any major criminal cases, major industrial accidents, gas-poisoning accidents, or groups appealing their cases to higher authorities, all types of annual bonuses or rewards will be withdrawn. The major leaders of the village or unit will be subjected to punishment or party/administration disciplinary measures.³⁰

The Chaoyang District of Beijing is the main venue for the 2008 Olympics. All of its towns, villages, streets, and neighborhoods have implemented the so-called Safe Olympics Action plan targeting Falun Gong.

In the 2006 Annual Work Report of Anzhen Neighborhood, it summarized: “Year 2006 is the first year to implement the 11th ‘Five-Year Plan,’ and also the critical year to embrace the Olympics and accelerate the construction of Olympic functional areas.” It is mandated in the battle with Falun Gong to execute the following actions well: Emphasize Personnel Management and Control, Implement Well Propaganda and Criticism, Surveillance and Tracking, Holding Transform Classes, “Caring and Assistance,” etc. The effort should yield the “0″ target [meaning no Falun Gong followers not transformed], and the 100% transform and consolidate rate [on Falun Gong followers].” It requires reaching all targets to comprehensively win the battle with Falun Gong.”³¹

Xiangheyuan neighborhood has established a local headquarters of “Safe Olympics” to “increase society-wide prevention and control, especially for key units and positions that had been identified as potential disrupting sources to the Olympics, ‘Falun Gong’ and the so called eight types of key personnel,” and to train staffs who are “responsible for monitoring Falun Gong practitioners and other key personnel.”³²

On January 7, 2008, the 610 Office of Liulitun Neighborhood in Chaoyang District held a “610″ meeting of 10 communities, and assigned the 610 Tasks for the Olympic Year to “not leave any chance for a Falun Gong practitioner.”³³

VI. Massive arrests in the name of “Safe Olympics Action” in 2008

According to the news of Minghui Net on mainland China, from the end of 2007 to March 11, 2008, based on incomplete statistics, evidence of 1,878 illegal arrests of Falun Gong practitioners was received from 29 provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in mainland China.³⁴ The situation is especially serious in cities or regions such as Beijing that have Olympic venues. For example, Shunyi County in Beijing City will have water events like boat racing and rafting, and equestrian events. According to informal statistics, Shunyi County alone had over 20 incidents of abducting Falun Gong practitioners about a year before the Olympics. The arrests happened mostly in Mapo, Muling, and Beixiaoyingzhen, which are near Olympic venues, and Tianzhu, Houshayu Village, which are near the Capitol Airport.³⁵ According to the information gathered from Beijing, from December 2007 to the middle of March 2008, more than 190 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Beijing, accounted for nearly 10% of the reported arrest throughout the whole nation. The arrest number in Beijing is much higher than those in the whole nation on the basis of population.

On Jan 28, 2008, practitioner Yu Zhou, a member of the folk-song trio “Xiaojuan and Folks in the Valley,” and his wife Xu Na were arrested for no apparent reason by the police on their way home. They were stopped by police who checked cars in the name of “welcome the Olympics” after their performance. They were then taken to the detention center in the Tongzhou District Office of the Beijing City Public Security Bureau. Ten days later, Yu was persecuted to death, while his wife was transferred to the Detention Center of the Beijing City Public Security Bureau and has been held there ever since.³⁶

WOIPFG investigated the Political and Judiciary Committee and the 610 Office in Haidian District in Beijing, where the arrest of Falun Gong practitioners was especially severe. Both organizations indicated that because of the Olympics, they were particularly strict on Falun Gong practitioners. Those doing exercises would be sent to forced labor camps, and those caught distributing flyers would be sentenced to prison. There was official decree for that. (See appendices)

Appendices

Transcripts of phone conversations with the 610 Office of Haidian District:

A: Hello.

Q: Is this Haidian 610 Office

A: Yes, it is.

Q: The thing we want to know is that in Haidian District, what would you do when you find a Falun Gong practitioner You have official documents about this, haven’t you”

A: You won’t be able to see them.

Q: Yes

A: These are all secret documents from the city. We cannot show them to you. That means, we can’t sent to you and let you examine one by one. When we began suppressing Falun Gong a long time ago, the policy was absolutely no one would be allowed to practice. The policy of the central at that time was to get rid of Falun Gong. No exceptions.

Q: Just because of the Olympics

A: Related to the Olympics, we are now in a state of severe strike against Falun Gong. It is not like …what you said, it is already…. the so-called nip it in the budding state no longer exists now. We are not in a state to explain it to you at this time. Now is the time for the Olympics. Such issues are absolutely not allowed to exist.

Q: That is to say that the document ordered that because of the Olympics, as long as one is practicing Falun Gong, you suppress them without any exceptions. Is that it

A: Yes, yes, yes. It is absolutely true. Because there are all kinds of situations, you may not truly understand it. Our office is a classified security organization. To talk about these things on the phone, how shall I say… This is the first time we speak to each other on the phone. We don’t know each other well. If you truly want to know, you can go through proper channels. Either you come over here, or some way or the other. We will more than welcome you. Over the phone, it is hard to talk about such things.

Transcripts of phone conversations with Haidian District Political and Judiciary Committee Director:

Q: Are you Director Deng of the Political and Judiciary Committee

A: Yes, yes, yes

Q: Director Deng, I would like to know in Haidian or in Beijing area, with respect to the Olympics, your organization….what measures do you take against Falun Gong practitioners

A: In our county, whoever is found distributing flyers will be arrested. Following this, especially during the period of the “Two Conferences,” we arrest one as soon as we see one. I am going to call the 610 Office. I want to talk with them about their policy in this area. They are responsible for this matter.

Q: Can you go into a bit more specific. That is, say, you practice Falun Gong, then as far as the 610 Office, or at the police department, or at other places, what measures will be taken… Specifically, what consequence will he face

A: Forced labor camp, or…. Detain them together and reeducate them through forced labor. Yes, arrest them all and put all of them together for re-education. The sentence will depend on what kind of material evidence is found. If we find a flyer, we will search his home. More serious ones will get prison sentences.

Q: As far as Beijing is concerned, is there any document directing the treatment of Falun Gong What are the measures stated in the documents

A: Yes. There are such laws and regulations.

Q: Are there written documentations

A: Yes. For specific documentation, you need to call the 610 Office.

References:

1 Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China: The Public Security Bureau and the High Court of Jilin Province jointly issued a confidential document, “Notice on Intensifying Suppression on Illegal Organization,” http://www.china21.org/simpChinese/docs/0501_document_jilin.htm. Li Shixiong, the president of the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China, wrote the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, to raise his awareness of intensified persecution of religious groups by the Chinese Communist regime by using the name of the Beijing Olympic Games. http://www.china21.org/simpChinese/news/LetterToIOC_030203.htm. Prof. Andrew J, Nathan, Columbia University, expert on China affairs, confirmed the authenticity of the document. http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/3/3/4/n282309.htm.

2. Minghui.net: May 21, 2007, “Ministry of Public Security’s Olympics Scrutiny Notice Reveals CCP’s Desperation, Violation of Human Rights, and Opposition to the Olympic Spirit,” http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/21/155261.html; English: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/5/25/86066.html; Similar information on the website of the China Aid Association in USA, http://chinaaid.org/2007/11/11/china-security-issued-blacklist-of-43-types-of-people-in-11-categories-to-be-barred-fromolympics/; More detailed report in English on the website of Human Rights in China, http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.3.2007/CRF-2007-3_Blacklist.pdf.

3 Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security: “Office for Beijing Comprehensive Management of Public Security held a director-level meeting for local branches of the Office for Comprehensive Management of Public Security and the Office for Control and Management of Migrant Population to relay and study the spirit of the National Symposium on Comprehensive Management of Public Security.” At the meeting it proposed: “Take full advantage of the opportunity under the ‘Safe Olympics’ campaign to increase capability of public control and to solidify basic level infrastructure and foundation. [We must] monitor and investigate critical groups of migrant workers, unemployed teenagers, ex-convicts released from prisons and forced labor camps, foreigners in Beijing, drug addicts, Falun Gong followers, etc.”

4 (Website of Gulou Neighborhood of Miyun County) “Operations Program for Gulou Neighborhood Olympic Security and Social Control”

In order to do a good job on Beijing 2008 Olympic security, assure absolute safety, according to the deployment and requirement of the “Operations Program for Miyun County Olympic Security and Social Control” and the spirit of the County Olympics Security Working Meeting, we formulated the Neighborhood Operations Program for Social Control:

I. Goals and Guidelines
(I)Goals

4. Assure all kinds of key individuals on the domestic security list, die-hard Falun Gong practitioners, serious criminal offenders, heavily complaining individuals, important appealing activists, etc., are put under control, assure no incidents of making trouble in Beijing, of incidents with social effects or mass conflict.

(II) Guideline for controlling influential individual

Important Categories

Falun Gong die-hard individuals, not-completely-transformed or status-uncertain Falun Gong practitioners, and members of other evil cults and harmful Qigong groups. This task is the responsibility of the 610 Office.

5 (BBC CHINESE.com) “China: ‘Bibles would be banned’ is rumor,” director of the Beijing Olympics media center, Li Zhanjun, said. “We do not acknowledge Falun Gong, because it’s an evil cult. All Falun Gong materials including books are prohibited in China.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7080000/newsid_7085800/7085868.stm

AP: Beijing officials deny Bibles will be banned, but 2008 Summer Olympics organizers still will bar Falun Gong followers http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21680421/

6 Big Olympic Podium - Official Website: December 4, 2006, “Big Olympic Podium, lecture 10, live video, by Yin Xingchen”

“Big Olympic Podium” is co-sponsored by China Olympic News Agency Committee, Beijing Sports Bureau, Capital Spirit Civilization Construction Committee Office, Beijing Science and Technology Association, Beijing Sports Consortium, started on July 13, 2006, lasting for two years until the 2008 Olympics. It has a total of 80 chapters.

Yin Xingchen,the director of Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security Institute of Beijing Social Sciences Academy, the Secretary-General of Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security Research Association.

7 Xinhuanet.com: Jan. 7, 2008, Army, Navy and Air Force of PLA joint exercise on Olympic Security

Professor Niu, who works at the Anti Terrorist Research Center of PLA International Relationship College, also said, “China has been very careful on foreign affairs. China keeps friendship with most of the countries, especially the Third World countries. The terrorists are not targeting China at this moment.”

8 Legal Daily: Aug. 11, “Combat Command Agencies for Beijing Olympics security have been set up”

9 Website of China Ministry of Public Security: March 19, 2007, “Zhou Yongkang’s speech at Ministry of Public Security Direct Affiliates Meeting on Studying and Implementing the Spirit of National “Two Congress.”

10 Website of China Ministry of Public Security: Sept. 6, 2007, “Party Committee of Ministry of Public Security Outreach Session Conference to Study and Deploy Security Measures for the 17th Communist Party Congress”

11 International Herald Tribune (belongs to Xinhua News Agency): July 13, 2007, “Beijing Olympics will face a complex security situation.”

12 China Customs: July 23, 2007, “Deputy Director of China Customs inspected the Customs Olympic Security Anti-Terrorist Reaction Exercise and Attended the Related Meeting” To assure 2008 Olympics success, General Administration of Customs (GAC) carried out the Olympic Security Anti-Terrorist exercise at Tianjin Binhai Airport. The deputy director of China Customs, Sun Tieyan, inspected the exercise and attended the China Customs Olympic Security Working Meeting organized by the deputy director of GAC. The airport office sent the staffs to join the exercise in reaction with the discover-explosives-at-the-check-point and “Falun Gong followers’ infiltration and disruption.

13 World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong: Sept. 9, 2003, “Investigation report on ‘610 Office’ ” http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/cn/index2.phpoption=content&task=view&id=64&pop=1&page=0, http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/en/index2.phpoption=content&task=view&id=16&pop=1&page=0 (English).

14 Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security: April 28, 2007, “The Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security (CMPS) Office held a director-level meeting of district and county branches of the CMPS Office and the Office for Control and Management of Migrant Population to Transmit and to Implement the Spirit of the National CMPS Working Conference.

15 Beijing Puren hospital: May 18, 2007, (There is no title on the original article) Congwen District recently held a working meeting on Olympic security at the society level. The heads of the district 610 Office, the Appeal Office, Bureau of Justice, the criminal investigation division, law and order division, domestic security division and population division of the public security sub-bureau of Congwen District, as well as the directors of the Neighborhood CMPS offices, attended the meeting.

16 Beijing Community Service Information Network: (no original publish date) “From ‘five priorities,’ Yanqing County Will Do Well on the Olympic Security Prevention and Control at the Society Level.”

17 Website for Gulou Neighborhood Office, Miyun County: “Gulou Neighborhood Operations Program for Olympic Security and Social Control”

Appendix: 1, list of the leading group for Gulou Neighborhood Olympic Security

2, Member List for Command Headquarters of Gulou Neighborhood Olympic Security and Social Control

3, Member List for Command Headquarters Office of Gulou Neighborhood Olympic Security and Social Control

18 AFP: Feb 26, 2008, New book details Chinese spy effort ahead of Olympics. The teams being formed in foreign embassies will work in conjunction with “different Chinese intelligence services under diplomatic cover”.

Those intelligence services will include the secretive 610 Office, set up in 1999 to target the Falun Gong movement and which operates worldwide.

But the intelligence services won’t only be deployed during the Olympics to keep an eye out, Faligot says. They’ll also be recruiting among the two million visitors expected for the event.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26022008/3/new-book-details-chinese-spy-effort-ahead-olympics.html

19 BBC CHINESE.com, “Interview: Liu Jingmin, executive vice chairman of Beijing Olympic Bid Committee”

20 Life Weekly: Volume 342, July 4, 2005, “Paris vs. London: Olympic bid dispute” part two –”A city with a heart and dream for modernization”(paragraphs 12-16) Author: Miao Wei. Beijing’s Olympic bidding strategy is to separate politics and sports, but the Olympic bid delegation brought propaganda materials to expose the cult nature of Falun Gong. At noon of July 12, 2001, the Beijing delegation in Moscow Slavic Hotel Information Centre held a press conference. That morning, the delegation hired Russian interpreter reported to Liu Lingling: Some people found the propaganda materials and took some. On one hand, emphasizing sports has nothing to do with politics, on the other hand distributing printed materials to expose Falun Gong’s nature, this is obviously a small mistake in applying for the Olympics. Liu Lingling tried to retrieve the propaganda brochure against, and at the same time, move the materials to the CCTV studio. She was worried that foreign reporters will make an issue with this accident. Luckily, what she was worried about did not happen.

21 CCTV NEWS NET: July 16, 2001, “Li Lanqing Visited ‘Fighting the Cult and Promoting the Civilization’ Exhibition”

22 AFP: July 17, 2001, “Olympic success a spur for China to suppress Falun Gong”

BEIJING - China has signaled it will not be pressured into improving human rights following its comments that the Olympic win justified its tough crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement, analysts said Tuesday.
Just three days after Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Games, vice premier Li Lanqing vowed to continue the government’s suppression of the group, which is outlawed in mainland China but nowhere else in the world.
“The winning of the 2008 Olympic bid is an example of the international recognition of China’s social stability, economic progress and the healthy life of the Chinese people,” Xinhua news agency quoted Li as saying.
“We should keep fighting against the cult which has stirred insecure elements.”
China analysts said the comments were a statement by China that it would not succumb to pressure to make domestic political reforms over the next seven years despite being in the international spotlight.
“I think it’s back to business, back to the reality of China,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, director of the Hong Kong-based French Center for Research on Contemporary China.
Lau Siu-kai, a Hong Kong political analyst, said the message was aimed at telling Falun Gong members not to expect any let-up in the crackdown.
He said it was also meant to ensure people did not think that Beijing made political deals to win the bid.

http://www.cesnur.org/2001/falun_july04.htm#Anchor-33869

23 houston.china-consulate.org: July 23, 2001, “Enthusiastically Celebrate the Victory of Applying for the Olympics; Intensify the Exposure and Criticism of Falun Gong”

24 Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security, ” ‘Safe Olympics’ A Comprehensive Management and Action Plan (2006-2008)” Jan 11, 2006, Capital Comprehensive Management of Public Security Committee Document No. 2, 2006. Section 3 states: “Reinforce the survey, cleaning and regulations over the rental properties and the investigation strength of the migrated population resident area. Strictly prevent terrorists, Falun Gong die-hards, as well as criminals at large from hiding inside.”

25 Daxing News: February 2, 2008. “Our District Held A Meeting for Political and Legal Works and ‘Safe Olympics Action’ Mobilization and Deployment.” To ensure a safe Olympics is the key focus of this year’s political and legal task. We must focus on three major aspects: … Second, go deeper in the Safe Olympics Action. Strike hard on the infiltration and sabotage activities from Falun Gong organization and other hostile forces….

26 Beijing People’s Congress Website: January 14, 2008, “The Meeting for Beijing Municipal Political and Legal Task and Safe Olympics Action Mobilization and Deployment Was Held”

27 Xiluoyuan Neighborhood Political Affairs Website: March 12, 2007, “Working Plan for 2007 Xiluoyuan Neighborhood Comprehensive Management of Public Security” Part 5. Strengthen control management of key sensitive groups and resolve conflicts, maintain political stableness in our area. (1) Enhance the fight with Falun Gong organization, to achieve the goals of “two zeros.” … (2) In cooperation with Olympics Security Social Control exercise, improve and strengthen the education, management and control of those released from prisons and forced labor camps, key targets in the community for correction, jobless young people, drug addicts, Falun Gong members, psychos, foreigners and all other state security monitored and controlled key groups that are harmful to social stability. Make sure no problems would arise from these issues.

28 chinapeace.org: March 17, 2008, “Secretary of Beijing CCP Political and Judiciary Committee, Wang Anshun: ‘Safe Olympics’ Entering the Stage of Real Combat”

29 Xiluoyuan Neighborhood Political Affairs Website: March 10, 2008, “Xiluoyuan Neighborhood Held Commencement Ceremony for the Olympic Security.” The mock exercise is composed of three parts: … 2. Mock the emergency practice of dealing with Falun Gong personnel hanging banners.

30 Mapo Community Public Service Information Net: (no original publish date) “Mapo Town Enhance the Safeguard Capability of the Area Centered Around ‘Safe Olympics’”

31 Anzhen Neighborhood in Chaoyang District of Beijing: Jan 18, 2007, “Anzhen Neighborhood’s 2006 Annual Work Report”

32 The Window of Capital: March 14, 2008, “The Xiangheyuan Neighborhood of Chaoyang District Ensure “Safe Olympics Action”

33 Liulitun Neighborhood Office: March 15, 2008, “No Relax on 610 Office Work in the Year of Olympics” On January 7, The neighborhood 610 Office held a ten-communities “610 conference” at Tianshuiyuan community. The Party secretaries and directors of the communities attended the meeting.

34 Minghui Net: “Mass Arrests - The CCP Intensifies the Persecution of Falun Gong in the Name of Protecting the Olympics”

According to the news from provinces in mainland China on Minghui Net, up to March 11, 2008, based on incomplete statistics, 1,878 cases of illegal arrests of Falun Gong practitioners since the end of 2007 were collected, and it spreads to 29 provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in mainland China. The detailed breakdown is as below:

Hebei province 252, Shandong province 221, Liaoning province 218, Heilongjiang 194, Beijing city 156, Jilin province 125, Henan province 99, Sichuan province 92, Guangdong province 85, Tianjin city 58, Hubei province 51, Shanghai city 45, Anhui province 34, Jiangxi province 30, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 30, Zhejiang 27, Shanxi 23, Chongqin city 21, Gansu province 20, Guizhou province 17, Hunan province 16, Jiangsu 15, Shanxi 13, Ningxia Autonomous Region 10, Yunnan 10, Xinjiang Autonomous Region 6, Fujian 5, Guangxi Autonomous Region 4, Qinhai 1.

http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/3/11/174152.html, English: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/3/12/95286.html

35 Minghui.net: Jan. 18, 2008, “Communist Party Members in Shunyi district, Beijing Used Olympics as an Opportunity to Persecute People. http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/1/18/170586.html

36 Epochtimes: “In memory of Yu Zhou, a musician killed by the Chinese Communist Party in the name of the Olympics.” (in Chinese) http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/8/3/21/n2053889.htm

Chinese Version

Urgent Announcement:

The Investigations of the Unlawful Mass Arrests

Of Falun Gong Practitioners in China

In the Run up to the Olympics

(March 12, 2008)

(Clearwisdom.net) Since July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist regime has been engaging in a genocidal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The unlawful arrest, detention, and brutal torture; as a result, they were severely disabled as well as death occurred.

In 2001, China was awarded the honor of hosting the Olympics in Beijing. The persecution has worsened since then. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) posted ” An Urgent Announcement of Investigation in the Mass Arrests of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing, Which Is Using the Olympics as an Excuse,” on March 1, 2008. The facts now show that the arrests are reaching far beyond Beijing in a new round of escalation of the persecution all over China, including 29 provinces, cities (four at the provincial level), and autonomous regions.

From the year-end of 2007 to March 11, 2008, there were 1,878 arrests that have been documented. The real numbers might far exceed those we have collected based on the records from the CCP human rights violations. We conducted a full investigation of the involved work units and the primary responsible individuals to further verify the facts of the crimes.

The Involved Primary Work Units and Responsible Individuals:

Zhou Yongkang, Chair, CCP Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security; Secretary, CCP Central Political and Judiciary Committee; Member, CCP Central Politburo Committee;

Qiang Wei, Group Leader, Beijing Olympics Security Task Coordination; Secretary, former Beijing CCP Committee; Secretary, CCP Qinghai Province Committee.

Ma Zhenchuan, Group Deputy, Olympics Security Task Coordination;

Ji Lin，Secretary，Beijing CCP Political and Judiciary Committee; Deputy Leader, Olympics Security Task Coordination Group; Deputy Mayor，Beijing;

Ke Liangdon，Chair, Public Safety Ministry，Legal System Department;

Wu Mingshan，Chair, the Public Safety Ministry，the Public Security Management Department;

Li Yujun, Member, CCP Standing Committee of Tongzhou District, Beijing;

Li Weiju, won “Civil Merit-Award,” Security Guard under Jianwai Neighborhood Administration of Beijing;

Each district of the CCP committee, neighborhood administration, police station, domestic security division in each level of police department, Yayuncun (The Asian Athletic Competition Village) Administration, etc., are all the involved work units.

Our rule is that whoever committed the crimes will be held accountable. For group crimes, each individual participant will be counted, and planners and directors will be held responsible the same as well as those who directly committed the crimes. Based on this rule, all crimes committed under the auspices of various organizations and government bodies will eventually be traced to the responsible partakers.

The WOIPFG will carefully scrutinize all the work units, the responsible individuals and further check the facts of the crimes. We welcome anyone who collects and stores related evidence to these crimes, including written documents, photos, audio-visual recordings, etc., as well as documentation of their corruption, illegal properties, overseas properties (transferred by any method). Please pass this information on to the WOIPFG through safe channels.

The WOIPFG was established on January 20, 2003. Its mission is to help the entities that administer international justice and legal punishment to thoroughly investigate all crimes related to the persecution of Falun Gong, including the governments, organizations, and individuals involved. No matter how far away or how long it takes; we will investigate this until it is resolved. Join us, speak out, bring the killers to justice, and awaken the whole world!

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
Telephone: 347-448-5790; fax: 347-402-1444
E-mail address: P.O. Box 84, New York, NY 10116, USA
Website: http://upholdjustice.org/, http://zhuichaguoji.org

Chinese version available at 追查国际发布紧急通告

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America, Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong & officials of the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in the United States:

Chinese New Year, the most important traditional holiday for Chinese around the globe, is approaching. As members of the Chinese community, we hope that our 5,000 year old civilization will be welcomed by the international community, and that traditional Chinese culture and heritage will be passed on to future generations.

The 2008 Holiday Wonders and Chinese New Year Spectacular, hosted by the Falun Dafa Association and New Tang Dynasty Television, is an annual American production of Chinese dance and music that tours more than 60 cities across four continents. This annual Chinese cultural extravaganza features the Divine Performing Arts Dance Company.

One audience member from mainland China remarked, “with such an impact on mainstream society in the United States, Divine Performing Arts should come to mainland China and bring traditional culture and values back to Shenzhou (the Divine Land, China). This show can help uplift the moral standard and spirituality of society.”

An American-Chinese attendee remarked, “Divine Performing Arts represents the highest artistry of global Chinese…The principles and values expressed in the show are unforgettable.”

Western audience members have said, “The message of truth and kindness portrayed in the show is valued in both the East and the West.”

However, this production is not permitted in the birthplace of Chinese culture. And it is beyond understanding that Chinese diplomats stationed in the Unites States, with an important mission to spread Chinese culture, are playing the opposite role. Chinese embassy and consulate officials have spread defamatory and slanderous letters in the American and Chinese communities to interfere with this show.

Incidents listed below:

–On January 8, 2004, Zhou Xiaomei, an official with the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles sent a letter to a professor in New Mexico to defame NTDTV and the Chinese New Year Global Gala;

–On December 12, 2006, Zhou Xiaomei, the same official from the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, sent letters to local government officials in an effort to discourage them from participating in the Chinese New Year Global Gala;

–In December of 2007, Baltimore’s Lyric Opera House, the venue for the 2007 Holiday Wonders Baltimore show, received a phone call from the Chinese embassy harassing them to cancel the show;

–Before the Holiday Wonders show in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 19, the Chinese Embassy called the Owens Auditorium and claimed the show was related to Falun Gong in an attempt to get the show canceled.

–New York State Assemblyman Michael Benjamin of the Bronx received a letter from the Chinese Consulate General in New York City one week before the Holiday Wonders show opened. The letter told Benjamin “not to support in any way Holiday Wonders and the Chinese New Year Spectacular.”

–The Chinese Consulate General in Houston, Texas wrote to Mayor Jim Naugle of Fort Lauderdale, reminding him not to attend the show or send a holiday greeting, or he risked damaging his reputation.

–A few elected officials in California, including Congresswoman Susan Davis, Orange County chairman of Orange County’s Board of Supervisors, Chris Norby, and San Diego councilwoman Donna Frye, received similar letters, warning them not to support the shows in any form.

–A few local officials in the mid-West invited to attend the Spectacular also received faxed letters from the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago. The letter, entitled “Talking Points,” has neither signature nor date. The contents include anti-Falun Gong propaganda, and advises against participating in the Chinese New Year Spectacular shows in Chicago, Detroit, or Minneapolis from January 23 to January 26, 2008.

–Chinese embassy and consulates have also sent private notices to Chinese-American communities, discouraging them from “supporting the performance of Divine Performing Arts in any format,” or “attend the Chinese New Year Spectacular.”

–The board of a Chinese language schools in New Jersey was notified by the Chinese Consulate General in New York in 2007 “not allow NTDTV to sell tickets in the school.”

–From 11 pm of January 21, 2008, NTDTV’s San Francisco office started to receive repeated phone calls that played a recorded message slandering the performance.

– The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) of Tokyo University sent an email to their internal email list. The email slandered the Chinese New Year Spectacular as “having ulterior motives” and asked the Chinese students “not to participate or promote” the show.

– On January 3 and 15, 2008, Kyung Hee University and KBS Business in Korea unilaterally canceled their contracts with NTDTV respectively, under pressure from Chinese embassy in Korea.

Holiday Wonders and the Chinese New Year Spectacular presented by Divine Performing Arts should be a point of pride for Chinese around the globe. The performances are working to give new life to a fading Chinese culture. The Chinese consular official’s work to defame and interfere with the show only brings shame to the Chinese people. By attempting to block this effort to bring about a rebirth of ancient Chinese culture, the Chinese regime is pursuing an anti-China agenda. The regime’s disregard for basic human freedoms threatens not only every Chinese, but the entire world.

We have reported the activities of these Chinese diplomats such as Qiao Hong and Zhou Xiaomei to the United States Congress, the Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If the harassment and interference continues in the future, we reserve the right to launch a media campaign to inform the American public and have these unscrupulous diplomats expelled from the United States.

While solemnly protesting the interference by consular officials from the People’s Republic of China, we call on all Chinese embassy and consular officials to live dignified lives guided by their conscience, courage and the laws of the United States of America.

Washington DC Falun Dafa Practitioners Association

January 29, 2008

Posting date: 1/30/2008
Original article date: 1/30/2008
Category: News & Media Reports
Chinese version available

24 November 2007

Dear Friend:

Below is a self-explanatory letter to the International Olympic Committee listing major concerns affecting the international community and arising out of appalling policies of the Beijing government, which are only now garnering international attention. Please consider co-signing this letter to indicate your solidarity with those who are determined “never again” to stand idly by and turn its eyes away from genocide as the world did from 1931 to 1945. Your support in advancing the cause of human dignity is invaluable at this crucial time and it is greatly appreciated.

Clive Ansley
US-CANADA Chair, Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
China Country Monitor for Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada

———————————–

Mr. Jacques Rogge, President
Members of the International Olympic Committee
Chateau De Vidy, Case Postale 356
1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
Fax: +41-21-621-6216
jacques.rogge@ioc.olympic.org

Dear Mr. Rogge and members of the IOC:

On November 8, 2007, Li Zhanjun, News Director of the Beijing Olympics media center, responded to western criticism of religious restrictions previously announced by Beijing, saying that the Chinese Communist government would now allow athletes and tourists to bring religious objects for personal use during the Olympics. However, this policy will not apply to Falun Gong practitioners: “Falun Gong texts, Falun Gong activities in China are forbidden,” and “Foreigners who come to China must respect and abide by the laws of China.” (AP)

We are distressed at this policy which is in direct violation of article 5 of the Olympic Charter, which states that: “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.” As well, Article 36 of China’s own constitution declares that citizens “enjoy freedom of religious belief,” and that, “No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion.”

The persecution of Chinese citizens who practise Falun Gong constitutes a violation of China’s constitution by the Beijing government. That persecution of Chinese citizens is well known. However, the host country for the 2008 Olympic Games has now extended its discriminatory religious policies to the entire international community through these recent declarations. Beijing, as host country is saying that while participating foreign athletes who are Christians will be allowed to bring bibles into the Olympic Village and to practise their faith while residing there, foreign athletes who are Falun Gong practitioners will not be allowed to bring Falun Gong materials or to practise their Falun Gong exercises. In fact, foreign athletes who are adherents of Falun Gong may not be allowed to participate in the Games at all. This is eerily reminiscent of the situation which obtained before and during the Nazi Olympics of 1936 in Berlin. Within Germany, Hitler barred Jewish citizens from competing for places on the German Olympic team. Unlike his contemporary counterparts in Beijing with respect to Falun Gong, Hitler did not go so far as to impose restrictions on Jewish competitors from other countries. Nevertheless, his discriminatory racial and religious policies within Germany itself provoked a widespread call in the United States for a boycott of the Nazi Olympics and many Jewish athletes refused to participate.

Not only does this latest order further demonstrate the Chinese regime’s unwillingness to fulfil its 2001 promise to the IOC to improve human rights in China, but also it is clear proof that any hope of improving Chinese human rights through the Olympics is futile because of Beijing’s total and demonstrable insincerity. You may recall that in April 2007, Beijing’s Ministry of Public Service issued a black list barring ‘antagonistic elements’ from attending the Games including adherents of Falun Gong, “religious infiltrators” and others. Although this was a clear violation of the Olympic Charter, we are unaware of any declaration by the International Olympic Committee that it will enforce that Charter or that the IOC is at all concerned about the fact that Beijing has trampled upon the Charter.

Li Zhanjun’s response clearly demonstrates that the Chinese government’s policy of persecuting Falun Gong and its practitioners continues unabated. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has overtly extended the regime’s persecution of Falun Gong to the Olympics - a most noble institution that is respected worldwide. Such abuse and discrimination against the followers of a peaceful spiritual teaching not only trash the Olympic Spirit, but also constitute a spurning of fundamental morality and ethics in the international society. Having called upon the world not to politicize the Olympics, Beijing’s leaders have persistently, continuously and consistently turned their hosting of the Games into a totally political propaganda extravaganza designed to glorify, whitewash, and strengthen their single party dictatorship. They have from the outset exploited the opportunity afforded them by the IOC in precisely the same way as Goebbels and Hitler before them.

Therefore, we call on the IOC:

* to require Beijing to rescind its policy of barring Falun Gong from the Olympics which constitutes a severe breach of the Olympic Charter;
* to re-consider the eligibility of the Communist regime to stage the Olympic Games, given the steadily worsening human rights situation in China today;
* to discuss the possibility of holding the Olympics in another nation.

We also urge the international community and athletes from around the world to condemn Beijing’s trashing of the Olympic spirit and its scorn for the Olympic Charter.

The whole world is about to learn what religious repression “made in China” means. Beijing’s characterization of Falun Gong as “illegal” is a clumsy attempt to justify a pogrom of government sanc-tioned violence and persecution. There is no basis in the Chinese Constitution or in any other Chinese law for Beijing’s claim that Falun Gong is illegal in China. It is “illegal” only because the top leadership declared it to be “illegal”, and no Chinese court has the authority to interpret the Constitution and overturn the fiats of the top leaders. No judicial process was ever involved in rendering Falun Gong “illegal”.

It is clear that the Chinese regime must stop using the Olympics as a cover for launching a crackdown on peaceful people of faith both in China and abroad and to halt the persecution of Falun Gong and all Chinese citizens.

Hence, we, the undersigned, believe that the IOC has the moral obligation to bring the true Olympic spirit to the Chinese people as set forth in the Olympic Charter. It’s not too late for the IOC to renegotiate the location of the Olympics and bring some well-deserved sobriety and human dignity into this situation for the sake of the Chinese people and our proud athletes.

Previous Olympics devolved into propaganda bonanzas for dictatorial hosts, such as the Nazis in 1936 and the Soviets in 1980, rather than promoting the universal celebration of peaceful competition and sport for people of all colours and creeds in accordance with the Olympic ideal. Beijing cannot possibly expect to freely continue with rampant political oppression, mass executions, forced abortions, illicit organ harvesting, religious persecution and a slew of other human rights abuses, while attempting to present a civilized face to the world as host of the Summer Games in 2008.

Sincerely,
Clive Ansley
US-CANADA Chair, Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
China Country Monitor for Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada

Crimes against humanity and the Olympics cannot coexist in China
http://humanrightstorch.org http://cipfg.org

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
David Matas and David Kilgour
Citizen Special

The argument by Glen McGregor in Saturday’s Citizen (”Inside China’s ‘crematorium’”) is that the government of China must not be found guilty by world opinion to be pillaging organs from Falun Gong practitioners on the basis of circumstantial evidence, no matter how overwhelming. He wants to see a smoking scalpel, a confessing surgeon or a surviving organ “donor.”

Unfortunately, none of this kind of evidence is available. The medical professionals involved are complicit in murder and are not going to talk about it. There are no surviving organ donors from the Falun Gong community across China.

The world is not a criminal courtroom, but our report, “Bloody Harvest,” (which we prepared on a volunteer basis) concludes, based on evidence which is independently verifiable and available on our website (www.organharvestinvestigation.net), that the party-state in China and its agencies have over six years put to death a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience and sold their vital organs for high prices, sometimes to “organ tourists” from abroad.

Consider some of the avenues of proof and disproof available:

China’s government is a systematic and extensively documented human rights violator; the government has reduced financing to the health system substantially since 1980; organ transplants are a major source of new funds.

The government has given the military the green light to raise money privately. The military is heavily involved in organ transplants.

Corruption across China is a major problem, with the latest Transparency International ranking (2007) placing China behind 71 other countries in its corruption perception index. There is huge money to be made from transplants and the lack of effective controls over corruption.

There is no self-governing disciplinary body for Chinese transplant ethics. Between 1999 and 2005, for example, China’s minister of health (Zhang Wenkang) was president of the Chinese Medical Association (the sponsor of Mr. McGregor’s trip to China). There has been no independence for the CMA from the party-state since Mao Zedong took power in 1949.

The government has long taken the organs of criminals sentenced to death without their consent. The Falun Gong constitutes an additional prison population which the authorities vilify and dehumanize even more than executed prisoners sentenced to death for criminal offences.

There is no organized system of organ donations in China. There is a strong cultural aversion to organ donation, which explains why there is such a shortage of organs for transplantation among the largest national population on earth.

Hospital websites post self-incriminating information, boasting a matter of days and weeks for waiting times for all organs for large payments, ranging from $30,000 U.S. for corneas to $180,000 for liver-kidney combinations. In other countries, waits are months and years.

Organ recipients we interviewed told us about the secrecy with which transplant surgery is undertaken and the heavy involvement of the military.

The practice of selling organs in China was legal until July 1, 2006. The new law banning the selling of organs appears to be unenforced.

The Communist Party of China sees Falun Gong as an ideological threat to its existence. Objectively, Falun Gong is a set of exercises with a spiritual component. Persecution of the Falun Gong since mid-1999 is a party-state decided and decreed policy.

Falun Gong practitioners are victims of systematic torture and ill treatment in forced labour camps. Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested in huge numbers. They are often detained without trial or charge until they renounce their beliefs. There are thousands of named, identified Falun Gong practitioners who died as a result of torture.

Many practitioners, in attempts to protect their families and communities, have not identified themselves once arrested. These unidentified individuals are a particularly vulnerable population.
Falun Gong practitioners in custody are regularly blood tested and physically examined. Because they are also systematically tortured, this cannot be motivated by concerns over their health.

Traditional sources of transplants — executed prisoners, donors and the brain dead — come nowhere near to explaining the total number of transplants across China. The only other identified source which can explain the skyrocketing transplant numbers is Falun Gong practitioners.

In a few cases, between death and cremation, family members of Falun Gong practitioners were able to see the mutilated corpses of their loved ones. Organs had been removed.

We had callers phoning hospitals across China posing as family members of persons who needed organ transplants. In a variety of locations, those who were called asserted that Falun Gong practitioners (reputedly healthy because of their exercise regime) were the source of the organs. We have recordings and telephone bills for these calls.

We interviewed the ex-wife of a surgeon, who said her husband personally removed the corneas from approximately 2,000 anaesthetized Falun Gong prisoners in Sujiatun hospital in Shenyang City during the two-year period before October, 2003. Her testimony was credible to us.

There have been two investigations independent from our own which have addressed the same question we have addressed, that is, whether there is organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China. One is by Dr. Kirk Allison of the University of Minnesota, another by a European Parliament vice-president, Edward McMillan-Scott. Both came to the same conclusion that we did.

It is easy to take each element in isolation, and say that this element or that does not prove the claim. It is their combination which led us to the chilling conclusion to which we came.

Our report has 25 recommendations for precautions which should be introduced to prevent the pillaging of organs from Falun Gong practitioners. Organ seizures from Falun Gong practitioners across China are happening. And they must stop.

David Kilgour represented southeast Edmonton in Parliament for 27 years and was Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), 2002-2003. David Matas is a Winnipeg-based international human rights lawyer.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=7cd6b2fa-2f14-4b5d-a2cf-b4e452545c0c

Posting date: 11/29/2007
Original article date: 11/29/2007
Category: News & Media Reports

November 10, 2007

On November 8, 2007, Li Zhanjun, Director of Beijing Olympic Media Center, announced that the Chinese authorities would allow those athletes and tourists of major religions to carry religious-related items with them during the Beijing Olympic Games and that the Beijing Olympic Village would provide facilities to accommodate Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Hindus and Buddhists. But Li Zhanjun added that this policy would not be applied to Falun Gong, a religious group banned by the Chinese authorities.

“We do not acknowledge Falun Gong because it is a cult. So Falun Gong texts, Falun Gong activities are forbidden in China. Foreigners who come to China must respect and abide by the laws of China.” Li Zhanjun added.

Lately, China has been condemned for its worsening human rights abuses in China ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games and accused of supporting Sudan government on its genocide crime. In response, China announced to open doors for foreign media before the Olympics, but it has escalated its domestic control and repression. In April 2007, China’s Ministry of Public Security secretly issued an order to require strict nation-wide background checks on all the people in China and from overseas that will be participating in the Olympic Games. The notice targets and will possibly ban 43 types of people during the 2008 Olympics. The secret notice went to security officials and agencies throughout China. On the other hand, China made a public announcement to open for foreign media during the Olympic Games to mitigate public criticisms from international society. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities retaliated by denouncing that the public criticisms on its worsening human rights condition turns the Olympics into political games.

China’s official media and the Olympic Games official website try to avoid public discussions on China’s ban on specific group or people from participating in the Olympic Games, but Li Zhanjun has made a public announcement to comply with the Chinese Communist Party’s policy on the suppression of Falun Gong by banning Falun Gong from the Olympic Games. Li Zhanjun’s announcement has fully illustrated that no one except the Chinese Communist Party is turning the Olympics into a political game. More specifically, Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games is politicizing the Olympic games.

The Chinese Communist regime has been using the security of the Olympics as an excuse to arrest Falun Gong practitioners at will and throw them into forced labor camps. Officials from Beijing 2008 Olympics Games Bidding Committee and Organizing Committee are incorporating the Chinese Communist Party’s political policy on the suppression of Falun Gong into its agenda. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) will now release part of its investigation and will continue to keep a close watch on further developments on the issue.

Those Chinese officials that have openly attacked Falun Gong in the name of Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee are:

Liu Jingmin (male), Vice Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games

He Zhenliang (male), Advisor to and Executive Member of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games

Li Zhanjun (male), Director of Beijing Olympic Media Center

Tian Yixiang (male), the head of the Military Department under the 2008 Olympic Game Security Command Center

In addition, Liu Qi (male), Chairman of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organizing Committee and Mayor of Beijing was sued in the U.S. and Chen Zhili (female), First Vice-President of the Beijing Organizing Committee and former Minister of Education, faced a lawsuit in Tanzania because they both have been actively suppressing Falun Gong. In Liu Qi’s case, the court entered a default judgment in favor of the plaintiff.

In addition, WOIPFG has listed Jiang Xiaoyu (male), Executive Vice-President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games and former Department of Propaganda of the municipal CCP committee, and Zhang Mao (male), former Vice Mayor of Beijing, on it’s investigative report for their roles in the persecution of Falun Gong.

WOIPFG hereby emphasizes that anyone who uses the Olympic Games as a mandate to slander, attack or suppress Falun Gong shall face his/her personal legal consequences ultimately. WOIPFG will continue to assist and cooperate with the criminal investigation agencies and all the righteous individuals around the world to thoroughly investigate all the individuals and organizations involved in the persecution of Falun Gong, hold them accountable for their legal responsibilities no matter how long it will take. We shall assist the victims of the persecution of Falun Gong to bring all the criminals to justice as a lesson to the world’s people.

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG)

Tel: 347-448-5839; : 347-402-1444
: P.O. Box: 84�CNew York, NY, USA 10116

Website: , http://zhuichaguoji.org

Studying Abroad Under the Communist Party—How China’s Diplomatic Missions Control and Use Overseas Chinese students

(July 25, 2007)

“It is said that each CSSA chapter is a non-political organization, but each is in fact very much politically oriented, and necessarily so. The Consulate provides funding and resources to each CSSA, which amounts to tremendous assistance, for this resolves all financial worries the student organization might otherwise have. However, our sense is that the Consulate exercises influence in still other, more significant, manners.”

– Blog by Chinese student in Canada [1]

1.      Introduction

Chinese Student and Scholar Associations (CSSA) comprise students and scholars from mainland China, who study and work in universities around the world. The groups often portray themselves as independent organizations committed to the welfare of Chinese students and promotion of Chinese culture. There is much evidence to suggest, however, that they are in fact closely controlled and funded by Chinese diplomatic missions. Chinese embassies and consulates use the CSSA to extend the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence abroad, including for the purposes of manipulating U.S. foreign policy, inciting hate against other students, and violating the rights of people outside China.

Drawing on Chinese media articles, investigative interviews, as well as CSSA documents and websites, this report analyzes the Chinese government’s control of overseas Chinese student associations. Following a brief introduction to the CSSA network, this report will present evidence of how Chinese embassies and consulates exercise this control, including through membership on advisory boards. The report with then consider four case studies illustrating the tasks the missions have assigned in the past to CSSAs to complete on their behalf and in order to promote CCP interests regarding Taiwan, Jiang Zemin’s visit, Falun Gong and New Tang Dynasty TV’s Chinese Classical Dance Competition. The final section will illustrate the way in which the Chinese government uses funding to exercise control over the CSSAs.

2. Background on CSSA network

The CSSA network outside of China is extensive, with associations existing in at least 12 countries as early as the year 2000. In the United States, there are at least 109 such associations, of which 60 are listed by name on China Scholars Abroad, an official website created by the Chinese government. [2] Such lists do not appear to be complete, however, suggesting that the number of associations is in fact much larger. For example, only CSSA-UK is listed under Great Britain on the China Scholars Abroad page [3], but a look at the CSSA-UK site reveals a list of over 70 CSSAs across the United Kingdom [4]. Our research also found organizations in Ireland, Germany, France and Canada.

 3. Formal relationship between CSSA and Chinese embassies and consulates

The CSSA’s close relationship with Chinese diplomatic missions abroad is common knowledge among Chinese students and manifests in several ways, ranging from vague references in the association’s bylaws to consular representation on the group’s advisory board.

Our research found that many CSSAs directly state in their constitutions or on their websites that the organization is under the leadership of the local Chinese embassy or consulate. Thus, the CSSA at England’s Sunderland University states that “our association is under the leadership and guidance of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom and CSSA-UK.” [5] Similarly, CSSA-France’s Art Troupe states in its bylaw that the group is under the guidance and supervision of the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy in France. [6]

In other instances, consular officials not only offer general “guidance” and “supervision” but hold formal positions within the organization, facilitating their intimate involvement in its activities. For example, on the CSSA-Republic of Ireland’s website, Tang Jiwei, First Secretary of the Education and Culture Department of the Chinese Embassy in Ireland, is listed as an official contact of the organization. [7] Moreover, the embassy is listed as the CSSA’s primary contact address on its website. [8] In the United States, two of the three CSSA Advisory Board members of Columbia University are officials of the Chinese Consulate General in New York City. They are education consul Fanglin Ai and Da Yao, who is in charge of New York City and Long Island. [9] The CUCSSA webpage also boasts that its constitution was reviewed by the Consulate General of the PRC in New York.[10]  In addition to serving as advisor for Columbia University’s CSSA, Da Yao is also listed as an advisor of the CSSA at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College. [11]

An additional avenue of Chinese government control is through CSSA Presidents’ Committees, established since 2000. The committees operate on a regional level, under the direction of the local Chinese consulate. For example, on February 9, 2003, the official CCP mouthpiece Xinhuanet reported that the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles had founded the US Southwest CSSA Presidents Committee. The report announced that “the Committee enrolled the CSSA of 18 colleges and universities, as well as national laboratories in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Hawaii as members, including 12 president’s units.”[12] More recently, on May 26, 2007, the Education Section of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston hosted a meeting for 30 CSSA presidents from Texas and Louisiana. [13] During the meeting the presidents reported on the achievements of their groups, including in “suppressing the moving space of enemy force.”[14]

4. The Nature of the relationship: “Carrying out orders.”

While it is not unusual for diplomatic missions to maintain a relationship with students from their countries studying abroad, in the Chinese case, it is the nature and purpose of the relationship that is disconcerting. As one CSSA in Germany states on its website, the duties its membership is to fulfill include “passing on and discussing how to carry out the orders from the Chinese Embassy and the Ministry of Education of China.” [15] What kinds of orders? As the following case studies indicate, these often involve coordinated action to support and implement CCP policies—including by taking advantage of democratic processes—all the while presenting the image of an independent student organization representing Chinese student views.

a. Writing to Representatives Regarding U.S. Police towards Taiwan

In 2004, Zhang Zhigang, Education Secretary at the PRC Consulate General in Chicago circulated a letter to CSSA chairs in the area informing them of an “important task” assigned by the Consulate General. The task was for them to “call for as many Chinese students and scholars as possible to write e-mails to their respective Congressmen and Senators,” urging them not to support Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan’s president. Zhang then attached sample letters and contact information of the representatives for the students’ reference. Lastly, he set a deadline for the task—that it be completed by March 20 and that a status report be submitted by March 16 (the full text of the letter is attached in Appendix A to this report). [16]

The irony and insidiousness of Zhang’s request is striking. Chinese students who could not elect their own officials or freely express their opinions in China are being ordered by their Communist government to write to democratically-elected officials in the United States and urge them to support CCP policy on Taiwan. At the same time, U.S. officials receiving such requests are likely to believe these are genuine reflections of Chinese students’ opinions, rather than a coordinated effort by the Chinese government to manipulate U.S. foreign policy from the inside.

b. Organizing Teams to Welcome High-Ranking Chinese Communist Leaders

Another common task assigned to CSSA presidents is to organize their members to join groups welcoming CCP leaders during their state visits overseas. Besides waving flags, such “welcome teams” regularly seek to interfere with other demonstrators, often groups protesting against human rights violations in China, such as the suppression of Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners. The “welcome teams” block the other protestors’ paths, play loud Chinese drums to drown out their calls, and have even tried to rip down their banners.

The connection between the “welcome teams” and the CSSA is evident from the example of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin’s visit to the United States in 2002. On October 16, 2002, the Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars (FACSS) circulated a contract to its member CSSAs, requiring that overseas students who wish to welcome Jiang sign it [17] The contract essentially required the students to waive their right to share the views of the other protest groups, thereby ensuring the appropriate level of “patriotism” among the “welcome teams.” The action was not without its own element of coercion. The contract stated that if anyone caused a disturbance, he or she agreed to pay $5,000. Moreover, the FACSS warned in its e-mail that if anyone violated the contract after signing, he or she would immediately be sued (the full text of the contract is attached in Appendix B). [18]

c. Persecuting and Slandering Falun Gong

Since the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, CSSAs abroad have also carried out anti-Falun Gong activities under the direction of Chinese consulates and embassies. This is despite the fact that before 1999, overseas Chinese students practicing Falun Gong had been active CSSA members. Thus, in February 2001, CSSA members in the Houston area attended an anti-Falun Gong forum held at the Chinese Consulate General in Houston. [19] The following month, Zhang Hongzi, Consul General of the PRC in New York, held an anti-Falun Gong forum at Columbia University. Approximately sixty CSSA members from various institutions in the New York area attended the forum. [20] During the meeting, Zhang Kuan, CSSA Chairman of greater New York, and several others initiated a proposal to suppress Falun Gong. [21] Such activities have not been limited to the United States. The constitution of CSSA-Sunderland in England explicitly states that the group would “co-operate with our Chinese embassies and consulates in Great Britain to … fight against Falun Gong.” [22]

More recently, CSSA groups have been actively interfering in events on university campuses regarding recent reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience in China. One of the most prominent of such incidents occurred at Columbia University, surrounding a forum entitled “China’s New Genocide,” on April 20, 2007. Speaking at the event was David Matas, a Canadian human rights lawyer and co-author of an independent report on organ harvesting from Falun Gong. Prior to the forum, Columbia University’s CSSA (CUCSSA) circulated an e-mail urging Chinese students to stage an on-site protest to disrupt the event, even if this would entail “inevitable physical contact” with campus security. The e-mail stated: “We will use the see of [Chinese Communist] flags, dyed with blood, to strike hard against [Falun Gong’s] arrogant fervor, and to resolutely defend the honor and dignity of the Motherland!” [23]. According to the Epoch Times, during the forum, CUCSSA students “held signs bearing communist slogans and hate speech typically used by state-controlled media in Mainland China” and two students were forced to leave after they had disruptively waved the offensive signs and interrupted forum speakers.[24] After the event, CSSAs from 25 universities in the greater New York area published open letters to support CUCSSA’s action.[25] The letters was immediately reprinted by the CCP’s mouthpiece Xinhua Net as proof that the crackdown on Falun Gong has received overseas support. [26] Meanwhile, CUCSSA posted nine articles attacking and defaming Falun Gong, all linking to the Chinese embassy’s website. [27] Similar CSSA interference in Falun Gong-related events has also occurred recently at Princeton University and the University of Pittsburgh.

d. Interfering with NTDTV’s Dance Competition

New York-based New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) recently hosted an International Chinese Classical Dance Competition at New York University from July 6 to 8 in 2007 [28]. Because of NTDTV’s independent and outspoken reporting, as well as its long term coverage of human rights violations in China such as the persecution of Falun Gong, the Chinese Co