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-- Dr. Shiyu Zhou, Professor at Rutgers University

-- Excerpt from a July, 2000 article by CNN's Senior China Analyst, Willy Wo-Lap Lam

Acknowledgements

Background

Summary

Section I: Who is Jiang Zemin?

Section II: Why Jiang Zemin Launched the Persecution Against Falun Gong

Section III: The "6-10" Office and Jiang's Disregard for Rule of Law in China

Section IV: Jiang Mobilizes China's Security Apparatus

Section V: Falun Gong Issue Permeates Jiang's Foreign Relations Agenda

Conclusion

We wish to thank Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Wall Street Journal's Ian Johnson and many others whose work has been instrumental in revealing the true nature of Jiang Zemin's dictatorial regime, and the devastating effects it has on Falun Gong practitioners as well as all Chinese people. We also wish to thank the Falun Dafa Information Center volunteers in Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities for their time, diligence and care in assembling this report.

Most of all, we offer our deepest respects to those in China who -- in the face of imprisonment, torture and even death -- continue to peacefully appeal for the freedoms of speech, assembly and belief in China.

The Information presented in this report was gathered by a team of Falun Dafa Information Center researchers and writers. Some excerpts were taken from reports issued by The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times.

Mr. Tao Wang, Washington DC

Mr. Levi Browde, New York City

Mr. Jason Loftus, Toronto, Canada

Dr. Shiyu Zhou, Philadelphia, PA

Mr. Stephen Gregory, Chicago, IL

FALUN GONG (also called Falun Dafa) is an ancient form of qigong, the practice of refining the body and mind through slow-moving exercises and meditation. Many have come to call qigong, "Chinese Yoga." Like yoga and tai chi, qigong is a vital part of many people's lives in Asia; almost every Chinese park is brimming by the break of dawn with people practicing these arts.

Yet Falun Dafa is different from most other qigong practices in that it goes beyond the pursuit of health and fitness to the goal of wisdom and returning to one's original, altruistic nature. At the heart of the practice are three principles: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Through a combination of studying the books of Falun Dafa and performing the exercises, practitioners strive to become better people by embodying these principles in everything they do.

Falun Dafa was introduced to the public in May of 1992, when Mr. Li Hongzhi gave his first lecture in Changchun City, China. Soon afterwards he traveled with several students to the Oriental Health Expo in Beijing where Falun Dafa earned several awards, prompting organizers to invite Mr. Li to give several impromptu lectures on the principles of Falun Dafa.

During the following two and a half years, Mr. Li lectured on invitation in almost every major Chinese city, giving fifty-four lecture series in all. All instruction at that time was overseen by the Chinese government's top qigong organization, the China Qigong Scientific Research Society.

Although Mr. Li gave his last lecture series at the end of 1994, the practice continued to grow from 1995 to 1999 at an explosive rate. During those years, the practice was passed on by word of mouth and free of charge, and volunteers organized practice sites.

Since 1995, Mr. Li Hongzhi has traveled to countries around the world to lecture on Falun Dafa and discuss the practice with students. All lectures have been free and open to the general public. By the middle of 1999, Falun Dafa was practiced in over 40 countries around the world ^[1] .

Many Chinese leaders, including Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and the Director of China's Sports Commission, Mr. Wu Shaozu, applauded the health benefits the practice brought to the nation. ^[2] Communist Party head, Jiang Zemin, however, grew fearful of such a large number of people and -- believing that the peaceful nature of Falun Gong made for an easy target -- banned the practice in 1999. Failing to "eradicate Falun Gong in three months ^[3] ," as Jiang had proclaimed, Jiang has intensified the propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it.

China experts point to the systematic campaign Jiang has carried out against Falun Gong, saying it also demonstrates an ulterior motive: In a Feb. 9, 2001 article, CNN's Senior China Analyst, Willy Wo-Lap Lam, quotes a senior Chinese Party member as saying, "By unleashing a Mao-style movement [against Falun Gong], Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line...This will boost Jiang's authority:" By painting Falun Gong as an enemy of the state, Jiang hopes to mobilize the nation into a struggle with himself at the helm, and thereby consolidate power.

As of October 14, 2002, the Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 493 deaths ^[4] since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. In October 2001, government sources inside China, reported that the actual death toll was well over 1,600. On October 14, 2001, the confirmed death toll was 323. If the actual death toll shows the same increase as the confirmed death toll has, then we would expect the true death toll today to be well over 2,500. Due to extreme difficulty in discovering and verifying information in China related to wrongful deaths, this higher figure also likely understates the true death toll. For instance, in March of this year police from several provinces poured into the city of Changchun and placed a several weeks long siege on the city. Residents reported dozens, if not over one hundred, practitioners were killed. In this chaos, little detailed information about these deaths could be gathered by the Falun Dafa Information Center

Soon after Jiang Zemin began persecuting Falun Gong in China, the international community reacted, condemning Jiang's actions. On November 18, 1999, the United States Congress passed joint resolutions (House and Senate), condemning the persecution. The Wall Street Journal's Ian Johnson began authoring a series of articles exposing the atrocities committed against people who practice Falun Gong in China that would later win him the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. U.S. governors, mayors and state legislators began issuing proclamations of support and encouragement to people who practice and/or support Falun Gong throughout the U.S.

This response by the international community put pressure on Jiang to end his anti-Falun Gong campaign. Jiang, however, responded by issuing a directive: "intensifying the campaign overseas." ^[5] Thus, Chinese Embassies and Consulates around the world began escalating efforts outside China to stamp out support for Falun Gong, to disrupt Falun Gong activities, and to try to get them banned.

For the past three years, Chinese Embassy and Consulate officials have worked to slander and persecute Falun Gong here in the United States, and in other countries around the world.

Jiang wishes to nullify any criticism of his handling of Falun Gong.?He also wishes to maintain absolute control over what Chinese citizens hear and see about Falun Gong. Most mainland Chinese only know what the state-run media report. Nevertheless, the more positive support Falun Gong receives overseas, the more difficult it becomes to hide this support from the people of China.

-- Excerpt from a July, 2000 article by CNN's Senior China Analyst, Willy Wo-Lap Lam

Jiang Zemin came to power in the wake of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Hard-liners within the Communist Party had been impressed with his willingness to toe the Partly line, and so appointed him to the nation's top post on June 24, 1989.

During Jiang's leadership, he implemented a wide-scale system of giving lavish economic benefits to would-be supporters in order to consolidate a power base in the Party. As Jiang continued extending wealth and benefits to his circle of influence, however, many of the nation's problems were left unattended.

Jiang believed that the explosive spread of Falun Gong throughout the country in the later half of the 1990's posed both a threat and an opportunity. Falun Gong was a threat, he felt, because there were so many people practicing, and because Falun Gong was rooted in traditional Chinese culture and values -- something the Communist Party had spent years trying to eradicate from the country.

Yet, for Jiang, Falun Gong also posed an opportunity.

With the endemic problems of corruption, unemployment and poverty, the pressure on Jiang was increasing. Thus, to consume the nation in a political campaign against a "public enemy" would not only divert attention away from Jiang, but also provide the circumstances necessary to force rivals within the Party to toe his line, thereby consolidating his power within the Party.

Thus, on the evening of July 20, 1999, Jiang unleashed a nationwide persecution campaign against the peaceful practice, and has, since that time, continually escalated the campaign both in severity and scope.

To implement the persecution, on June 10, 1999, Jiang established a "6-10 Office" -- an illegal, above-the-law entity reporting directly to the Politburo, and with jurisdiction over the entire country.

Utilizing a top-down, by-any-means-necessary approach, Jiang has whipped the nation's security apparatus into a frenzied system of bribery, extortion and systematic torture. Those who carry out the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners are, themselves, victims who are often forced into a choice between their moral conscience and their job, their sense of duty to the people and their livelihood. It is a system that has transformed regular Chinese cities and towns into "death traps," where "local police regularly torture residents to death," as reported in the Pulitzer-Prize winning series of articles by the Wall Street Journal's Ian Johnson.

Contrary to Jiang's perception that the peaceful nature of Falun Gong made for an easy target, Falun Gong has responded with unwavering peaceful appeal, determined to retain the rights to freedom of speech, assembly and belief enshrined in China's own constitution. Thus, Jiang's campaign to "crush Falun Gong in three months" has failed, and the campaign -- now in its fourth year -- brings an ever-increasing stream of criticism from the international community. Requiring the leverage of good international relations to build up a power base at home, Jiang has gone to great lengths to stifle this criticism, thrusting the Falun Gong issue to the forefront of his agenda when dealing with other nations.

Indeed, coercing other nations to ignore his handling of Falun Gong in China, while at the same time stifling support for the practice overseas, has become a focal point for every trip Jiang has made overseas since 1999.

As head of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese Army, and the Chinese Government in a nation of more than 1.3 billion people, Jiang Zemin is perhaps one of the world's most powerful leaders.?However, most know very little about Jiang, his rise to power and his policies as chief of the Communist regime in China.

Jiang can be said to be the biggest beneficiary of the June 4^th student massacre in Tiananmen Square.?Following the massacre, Secretary General Zhao Ziyang was ousted and Jiang was appointed to the top position.

During the first four decades after the Chinese Communist Party came to power, Jiang Zemin had risen steadily from his beginning as a lowly technical staff member. Acquaintances of Jiang in his early days comment that he did not possess a driving philosophy or ideology, as had his predecessors Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Instead, Jiang had an instinct for deftly landing on the advantageous side of the tumultuous political campaigns that swept through the Communist Party over several decades.

During the Cultural Revolution in China, most officials who held "traditional" values were demoted or stripped of their posts. Jiang managed to escape unscathed.?By the 1980's, Jiang was Mayor of Shanghai, China's largest City.

In 1989, after a decade of economic reform and opening up, many in China had begun to appreciate western ideals of freedom and democracy. A Shanghai newspaper, World Economic Daily, became highly popular for its willingness to publish content considered too controversial for most of the state-run press.?In the spring of 1989, Jiang publicly expressed his support of the paper and told the editor, Qin Benli, that the Shanghai municipal committee would work to reduce pressure on the World Economic Daily.

One month later, the World Economic Daily held a memorial service for a deceased party member who had sought political reform. The gathering drew a lot of students. Chinese leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, although not opposed to the idea of economic reform, still believed in the absolute power of the Party.?On April 26, therefore, the front-page headline in the state-run People's Daily labeled the large student presence a "riot."

Jiang acted quickly.

Almost immediately, he convened a meeting with thousands of government officials. He announced that Qin Benli would be stripped of his post and the World Economic Daily shut down. The decision drew large protests but impressed Communist Party hard-liners in Beijing. Less then two weeks later, hundreds of students were massacred in Tiananmen Square. Zhao Ziyang, who seemed sympathetic to the students, was ousted from his post as Secretary General and Jiang was thrust into his place.

Although Jiang Zemin assumed the post of Secretary General in the wake of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who had appointed Jiang, continued to hold the reins of power. When Deng Xiaoping passed away in 1997, however, Jiang Zemin found himself not only the head of the Chinese Communist Party, but President as well; he was at the absolute top of the political ladder. But Unlike Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic of China, or Deng Xiaoping, who led China to prosperity and strength, Jiang Zemin was widely regarded as someone who had accomplished little as the nation's leader. Jiang knew his position was far from secure and immediately took action to consolidate his power.

The Chinese people, after enduring 30 years of poverty and isolation from the world under Mao, and then having enjoyed a taste of economic reform and improved living standards under Deng, were terrified of being poor again. Jiang Zemin took advantage of this fear.

If Jiang could not gain the respect of the Party elite, he could refashion the elite, making it dependent on him for wealth and privilege. On October 24, 1997, six months after Deng died, Jiang Zemin appointed 152 new generals. In the previous 10 years, Deng Xiaoping had only appointed 16 new generals. Jiang also allowed certain favored groups of people such as veterans of the Party, army, local government officials, intellectuals, and some businessmen to gain great material benefits through their connections with the state. This deliberate indulgence of corruption caused chaos in the social and economic systems by seriously eroding the morality of the ruling class.

Editorials in the state-run media raised Jiang's campaign of self-promotion to a national virtue, "We should always rally around Chairman Jiang, and adopt his views." The recent campaign that urges the Chinese people to "learn Jiang's Three Represent's deeply and apply them everywhere" is simply another version of this same theme.

Those not eager to adopt the view that Jiang's welfare should be the principle of China's politics have faced consequences.?Hong Kong's Zheng Ming magazine reported that 157 veteran generals were forced into early retirement in 2001 because they were not enthusiastic about Jiang's self-promotion campaign.?50 of these generals were forced to leave the army entirely.

-- Dr. Yingnian Wu, UCLA

Having significant health benefits and being something rooted in traditional Chinese culture, the practice of Falun Dafa flourished in China after its public introduction in 1992. Between 1995 -- 1999, the practice grew at an explosive rate. A 1998 survey by the Chinese government determined that 70 million people were practicing Falun Dafa. ^[6]

In China's tightly controlled Communist society, no groups have been allowed to be independent of government authorization and oversight, let alone such a huge group. Many China watchers believe the size alone of Falun Gong put Chinese officials on guard. But the government did not reflexively try to smash Falun Gong. It twice investigated Falun Gong thoroughly. According to sources familiar with the investigation, included in the findings from the second investigation was the conclusion that Falun Gong is beneficial to health, benign in nature and non-threatening to the government. Thus, while the explosive growth of Falun Gong throughout the country clearly made some officials concerned, this factor alone did not act as a catalyst for the persecution that began in July 1999.

In 1998, some Chinese officials estimated that 10% of the Gross National product was embezzled by corrupt government officials. Premier Zhu Rongji is reported to have once said in a government meeting, "Every year, 80% of the military-owned enterprises' capital and income are embezzled by the senior and mid-level military cadres."

While the social and economic wealth of the country was bestowed upon a privileged few, the common people suffered tremendous loss. According to the book China by the Yellow River, within the first five years of Jiang Zemin's rule, China developed the highest unemployment rate, the largest scale of ecological damage, and the widest gap between the rich and poor in the world. Robbery rates are the highest in the world. The violent murder rate in Chinese cities is ranked No. 5. The rate of drug smuggling cases is No. 3, and illegal gambling is No. 1.

Thus, with corruption and domestic problems in China exploding, many began placing the blame on Jiang Zemin.

With a 5,000-year history, the Chinese civilization and culture is arguably the oldest in the world.

Since the Communist Party came to power in 1949, political movements aimed at eradicating traditional culture have devastated the country. These political campaigns attempt to cut all ties with the traditions and culture of China, so as to leave only the Communist ideology in the hearts and minds of the people. Chairman Mao's disastrous Great Cultural Revolution in the late 1960's and early 1970's was the most extreme expression of this tendency. Traditional temples and monasteries were destroyed. Great teachers of the past, such as Confucius and Lao Tzu were condemned and ridiculed. Scholars and historians were persecuted.

Throughout China's history, the art of 'qigong,' sometimes referred to as Chinese Yoga, has been a centerpiece of Chinese culture. As an advanced form of 'qigong,' Falun Gong grows out of this rich tradition, bearing the wisdom and spirit of traditional Chinese culture. Thus, with the rise in popularity of Falun Gong in the early 1990's, China was not just witnessing the growth of a qigong practice, but a resurgence of traditional Chinese culture.

Unlike the great majority of the qigong practices that emerged in the early 1970s, Falun Gong goes beyond the pursuit of physical health and fitness to the goal of wisdom and returning to one's original, altruistic nature. At the heart of the practice are three principles: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. To practice Falun Gong does not simply mean to perform the exercises and do the meditation. It involves truly taking the principles to heart, striving to improve oneself by embodying these principles in everything one does.

As the practice flourished throughout the country, the people of China could see how people who practice Falun Gong handled difficulty and conflict with balance and calm, looking out for the welfare of others in all situations.

In the principles of Falun Gong and the degree to which people stood by them Jiang saw a threat to his manner of rule. He could see that those who practice Falun Gong represented a group of people virtually untouchable by his methods of bribery, corruption, and lavish benefits.

Still, Jiang also saw in the Party's long-standing opposition to traditional Chinese culture something he could utilize for political gain.

As a highly visible event and one that was unprecedented in post-Tiananmen Square Massacre Beijing, the gathering of 10,000 practitioners of Falun Gong around the central government compound in China's capitol on April 25, 1999 was viewed by many as the key turning point in Jiang's stance on Falun Gong.

Actually, the events of April 25 proved to be a major turning point in how Jiang proceeded with the persecution of Falun Gong, but they were not a turning point in his stance on Falun Gong itself. From the first written attacks that began to appear in state-run newspapers in June 1996 to the mobilization of police and use of violence in Tianjin in April 1999, the persecution of Falun Gong had steadily developed and escalated over a period of three or four years.

The "Zhongnanhai Incident" provided Jiang with an opportunity to escalate the persecution of Falun Gong into a systematic, highly public, nation-wide effort, but judging from the attacks on the practice dating back to 1996, Jiang had decided years before to eradicate the spiritual practice.

In July 1999, with the excuse of the Zhongnanhai Incident, Jiang took aim at Falun Gong, unleashing a "Mao-era mass movement" against the spiritual practice. ^[7]

In seeking to "eradicate Falun Gong," Jiang hoped to erase a perceived threat, and in doing so to divert the people's anger over the state of the nation away from himself. He hoped to build up Falun Gong as a "public enemy" and a "menace to society."?Then, by mobilizing a political campaign with himself at the helm, Jiang could present himself as the nation's "defender." If the people rallied behind Jiang, even Jiang's rivals in the Party would be forced to step in line behind him.

Thus, Jiang sought to kill two birds with one stone -- he would eradicate a group he perceived to be a threat, and in doing so consolidate his political power.

-- U.S. House Resolution No. 188 passed unanimously by a 420-0 vote on July 24, 2002

Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong has not only taken place outside of China's law, it has given birth to an extra-constitutional, extra-judicial office that has no meaningful restraint beyond Jiang's will -- the "6-10 Office."

The term "6-10 Office" is an alias for the "Supervising team in charge of the dealing with Falun Gong." It is described by human rights advocates as the central control structure for the state terror employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China today.

On June 7, 1999, Jiang Zemin gave a speech at a Politburo meeting, where he fully laid out his policy of oppression against Falun Gong calling for the "Handling and Resolving of the 'Falun Gong' Issue Without Delay." He ordered his subordinates to establish a "leadership group that will specialize in handling the 'Falun Gong' issue," On June 10, 1999, under Jiang's direct orders, the Chinese Party Central Committee officially set up an office for the "leadership group" and named it the "6-10 Office."

In this meeting Jiang further specified that "the Central Committee and government units in all ministries and commissions, and all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government need to act in close coordination" with the '6-10 Office.'" The "6-10" became a well-organized and independent system reaching from the Central Government to the local governments, having power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches. It is the highest authority deployed by Jiang Zemin and his accomplices to specifically persecute Falun Gong.

The "6-10" office is the embodiment of arbitrary power.?It has been employed by Jiang on the basis of a legal foundation no less arbitrary. In July 1999 Jiang Zemin, through the Bureau of Civil Affairs (an Administrative branch), declared Falun Gong to be an illegal organization. According to Articles 2, 80, and 81 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, only the National People's Congress has the ability to declare an organization illegal. The President does not possess such power. Yet, this executive order initiated the widespread crackdown against Falun Gong.

In October 1999, the National People's Congress passed a series of laws targeting "evil cults." Regarding these laws, a November 2, 1999, article from the Washington Post stated: "When [China's Communist leaders] found themselves without the laws they need to rigorously persecute a peaceful meditation society, the Party simply ordered up some new laws. Now these will be applied -- retroactively." These laws were dictated by Jiang Zemin, using the National People's Congress merely as a rubber stamp. Doing so oversteps the authority granted to the President by the Chinese constitution.?Applying these laws retroactively to prosecute Falun Gong practitioners and sentence them to prison terms was also an illegal action.

In the past three years, the "6-10 Office" has orchestrated the persecution of Falun Gong and its practitioners. It has coerced every Political and Judiciary branch and all levels of government into implementing secret orders issued by Jiang Zemin--"Discredit Falun Gong. Cut off any financial resources to Falun Gong. Physically destroy Falun Gong practitioners."

Labor camps, detention centers under the local civil administration and the public security bureau, administrative lockup houses, drug rehabilitation centers, and prostitute reeducation facilities have all become tools for the "6-10" to illegally detain and torture and kill Falun Gong practitioners.

The "610 Office" is responsible for hundreds of thousands of cases of defamation, extortion, expulsion (from school and jobs), beatings, torture (medieval and modern), rape, mutilation, sodomy, forced abortions, electrocution, arbitrary detention, false imprisonment, torture, sexual and psychiatric abuse, disappearance, and murder.

As of October 22, 2002, more than 500 practitioners have been illegally sentenced to prison terms. Thousands have been sent to mental hospitals. Hundreds of thousands have been forcefully arrested, detained or sent to labor camps without any legal proceedings. The practitioners are forcefully separated from their spouses and children, and their friends and relatives are also punished.

-- The Wall Street Journal, December 26, 2000

His name cannot be disclosed as it would bring him certain imprisonment and torture at the hands of his fellow policemen, nor his rank and badge number verified, but his story -- corroborated by an article written by The Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ian Johnson in December, 2000 -- reveals a shocking system of bribery and extortion at work among the police officers and security personnel in Beijing that offers financial incentives to torture Falun Gong practitioners detained in the capitol city.

Since 1999, leading human rights agencies have reported the systematic torture and killing of Falun Gong practitioners in virtually every region of China. What is less understood, however, is how Jiang Zemin has been able to enlist on a wide-scale the police and security forces throughout the country in such an endeavor.

In order to implement the persecution from the top down, Jiang and his supporters have used pressure to recruit the support of policemen and officials at every level. As a result, many officers comply to avoid being persecuted themselves, which could take the form of being fired from their jobs, harassed or even thrown into labor camps.

Since Jiang Zemin made the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners a top priority in 1999, the Central Government has held every region directly responsible for stifling public appeals for Falun Gong from their respective provinces. According to Officer Zhao, if a specified threshold is surpassed, the local officials will be criticized by their superiors and forced to write "self-criticism" statements, and often face financial penalties or other punishments.

Local officials, in turn, implement the same method to further shift the responsibility down to the cities and towns, and finally to the police stations, police chiefs and policemen who administer the torture. According to Officer Zhao, this system of local suppression, known as the "first hand project," is usually headed by the chair of the Political and Legal Committee in each locality.

In his article from December 12, 2000, Ian Johnson of The Wall Street Journal states that this system "puts huge pressure on local officials to comply with central edicts - but gives them absolute discretion over implementation," which often means brutal torture. Johnson reported that in Weifang, like many other cities, this policy led to "tragic decisions," and that the cruelty of the police "only increased after higher-level officials started fining their subordinates for each protester who arrived in the capital."

When a practitioner is indeed arrested in Beijing, the first task that faces the Beijing police is discerning which region that person is from. The policemen then need to report to the "610 Office" how many practitioners have been arrested from each region.

"In order to have the practitioners' appeals not be recorded so as to not tarnish the image of the local people in charge of suppressing Falun Gong," Officer Zhao reveals, "the Tiananmen police station [personnel] who persecute Falun Gong practitioners, from the patrolling police to the department chief, are the target of bribing by the regional or local governments. The prices for obtaining the record of one practitioner range from 200 to 500 RMB or even higher."

According to Officer Zhao, perhaps as few as one in ten practitioners arrested at Tiananmen Square is reported. This reason may account for some of the numerous cases of missing people, as well as for the discrepancy between the accounts of Tiananmen vendors, who testify that appeals for Falun Gong take place everyday, and those of the policemen, who claim they hardly occur.

According to the policeman, the Tiananmen police station is not the only office receiving such a bonus. Various departments in Beijing that compile name based lists of Falun Gong practitioners- such as the Public Security Bureau, National Security Bureau, Railway Branch Bureau, Appeals offices, different detention centers, and the "610 Office" itself - are taking part in the subornment as well.

Indeed, persecuting Falun Gong practitioners has become a profitable enterprise for many departments. In order to receive these bribes officers must quickly obtain the addresses of those who appeal in Beijing. To get them to disclose this information, the policemen will either trick or beat the practitioners. If neither of these methods works, they send the practitioners to other stations and detention centers for further torture in order to obtain the information.

The opportunity to receive bribes along combined with the threat of punishment from their supervisors if they cannot successfully obtain the practitioners' addresses has resulted in the application of systematic, ruthless torture. Simply put, some policemen stop at no means to obtain the desired information, not because they agree with the government's policy but in order to make a few Yuan.

Officer Zhao concludes: "Thus the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has become an effective way for related departments in Beijing to make money. That's why they try best to find out a practitioner's identity. A police in Fuyou Police Station disclosed that their office equipment and air conditioners are obtained from a province's bribery."

However, as more policemen have become familiar with Falun Gong, many are growing reluctant to go along with the persecution's corruption. Scott Chinn from New York testifies that while detained in Beijing after appealing for Falun Gong, a policeman showed him a message he had typed on his cell phone; it read: "I know Falun Gong is good. I am terribly sorry." A practitioner from Toronto, who often calls Chinese police stations, shares a conversation she had with the chief director of a police department: "At the end of our discussion he told me sincerely that he would no longer torture Falun Gong practitioners".

Indeed, many policemen, such as the one who provided the information about the "torture for profit" system, have decided they do not wish to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Jiang's persecution has thus put these policemen and officials in a position in which they have to choose between profit and freedom from punishment on the one hand, or living according to their moral principles on the other. As such, they too are victims of this persecution.

-- Dr. Shiyu Zhou, Professor at Rutgers University

John Kamm is a former President of Hong Kong's American Chamber of Commerce. In 1991, Kamm left the business world and founded Dui Hua, or "dialogue," a non-profit organization based in San Francisco that works for the release of unlawfully jailed prisoners in China. According to the New York Times, "No other person or organization in the world, including the [U.S.] State Department, has helped more Chinese prisoners." ^[8]

During a talk with NYU law students in the fall of 2000 regarding his unprecedented success in negotiating the freedom of prisoners with Chinese officials, Kamm revealed three things the Chinese regime wants more than anything:

1)    ?Entry into the WTO

2)    ?To host the 2008 Olympics

3)    ?To stop being censured for its Human Rights record, in particular by the U.S. and UN

China has won the bid for the 2008 Olympics and has gained entrance into the WTO. Stopping censure of human rights violations, however, remains an elusive goal. The human rights record in China has dramatically worsened in recent years. ^[9]

For Jiang Zemin, stifling criticism of China's human rights record remains a top priority in relations and negotiations with the international community. Indeed, it is the focal point for Jiang's foreign relations, and for the past three years, Falun Gong has been the most prominent human rights issue in China. To understand Jiang's deals and maneuvers on the international stage, one must first understand the shadow Jiang's handling of Falun Gong extends over the negotiating table with other nations.

At the 16th Party Congress later this year, Jiang Zemin is slated to step down from his post as Party boss, handing the reigns to China's "fourth generation" of leaders.

Much like Deng Xiaoping before him, however, Jiang has made no secret about his aspiration to maintain hold on the reins of power from behind the scenes after he officially steps down. To do so, he will need a consolidated base of political power in China.

Under Jiang's leadership, however, human rights have dramatically worsened. On May 30, 2001, Amnesty International listed Jiang Zemin as one of five human rights "scoundrels." Also in 2001, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Jiang one of the top ten "enemies of the press" for the fifth year in a row.?To bolster an image abroad, Jiang has resorted to the same methods and tactics he used to build his power-base domestically -- inundate would-be supporters with financial rewards, while employing dictatorial means to suffocate voices of dissent. Jiang has extended financial and political favors to countries willing to accept rewards that come with strings attached.

The fundamental reason why the world media and governments have not been more outspoken about the greatest human rights crisis in China since Tiananmen Square is Jiang Zemin utilizes all financial assets at his disposal to keep the Falun Gong issue -- and the human rights issue more broadly -- under lock and key.

Just how important is the Falun Gong issue to Jiang's foreign relations agenda? Here are a few illustrations.

At an hour-long summit with then U.S. President Bill Clinton during APEC's 1999 meeting in New Zealand, Jiang Zemin made clear his concern that the U.S. show the "correct" attitude on the Falun Gong issue. Among the range of important issues discussed, only the Falun Gong issue was both raised directly by Jiang Zemin as well as documented in a book that Jiang gave to the President. The Associated Press reported: "As China and the United States sought to mend recently damaged ties, President Jiang Zemin gave President Clinton an unusual gift: a book defending China's ban on a popular meditation sect [Falun Gong]. During their hour-long summit Saturday, Jiang handed Clinton a book purporting to expose the crimes committed by Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Gong ...the book's 150 pages in English is a relentless barrage of propaganda from China's entirely state-run media."

The report pointed out that "Far from an academic exercise, Jiang's gift seemed intended to head off a new human rights dispute." ^[10]

Chinese Communist Party head, Jiang Zemin, visited Germany in early April 2002. Included among the demonstrators during his visit were practitioners of Falun Gong, whose presence was described by the German news service Deutsche Welle: "Some 400 Falun Gong followers, all with apparently peaceful intentions, came to Berlin and staged silent protests at locations visited by Jiang...Most sat cross-legged on the pavement, meditating, and others walked with placards opposing Beijing's policies." ^[11]

Despite the peaceful nature of Falun Gong's presence, however, on the second day of his visit, Jiang made a bizarre series of requests, threatening to leave Germany if the requests were not made, leaving an important contact between automakers in their two countries unsigned as well as other important business unfinished. Jiang's requests included:

1)    ?Hotel Evictions: All Asians staying at Jiang's hotel -- the Aldon -- during his visit were forcibly evicted from the hotel, including citizens of the U.S., Germany, Canada, and other countries. Asian hotel employees were also told not to report to work during Jiang's visit.

2)    ?Banning the Color Yellow: Practitioners of Falun Gong have come to commonly use the color yellow on T-shirts and banners used during peaceful, public appeals. Jiang ordered that all those bearing yellow clothing be removed from his line of sight. Some native Germans complained of being stopped and questioned by police because of their clothing.

3)    ?Tiananmen Square-Style Force: Practitioners of Falun Gong that did manage to display a sign or call out "Falun Dafa is good" to Jiang's passing motorcade were violently apprehended by Chinese security guards and some German police under the supervision of the Chinese delegation.

Under pressure from Jiang Zemin to not allow any Falun Gong appeals to take place in the country during his visit, the "world's oldest democracy" -- Iceland -- built what is probably its first-ever makeshift detention center used for holding people based on their beliefs.

On June 7, 2002, the Danish Embassy in Washington DC began notifying visa applicants to Iceland that their visas to travel to Iceland could not be granted because the head office of Iceland's Immigration Services had just passed down an order barring all Chinese and Taiwanese passport holders from traveling to Iceland before June 18.

On June 10, The Associated Press reported that a school building has been set aside to serve as a makeshift detention center for any Falun Gong practitioners who arrive in Iceland and seek entry during president Jiang's visit. According to phone calls from Falun Gong practitioners seeking entry into Iceland, 20 Taiwanese passport holders were stopped at the Iceland border on Monday, June 10, and moved to the school building-turned detention center. U.S. and Canadian citizens who arrived at Iceland's airport on June 10 called from cell phones saying they had been detained and were being loaded onto a bus and driven to the makeshift detention center

On June 14, 2002, dozens of individuals around the world were surprised to find that their travel plans to Iceland to take part in a peaceful appeal had been cancelled -- by the Chinese communist regime. Arriving at the gate to board flights on IcelandAir in cities throughout Europe and North America, many were told that their names were on "the black list" because they practice Falun Gong. According to a June 8 report in Iceland's The Visir, this list -- which has not been made public -- was compiled by the Chinese government and supplied to Icelandic officials long before President Jiang Zemin's scheduled arrival. The list is known to identify both Chinese nationals as well as citizens of several Western democratic countries.

In the spring of 1998, the Yangtze River was flooding. Jiang visited the city of Wuhan on an inspection tour of the endangered areas. According to eyewitnesses, a particular group working on the dikes caught his eye. They worked very well together and with great enthusiasm. Their section of the dike had stayed ahead of the flood. Jiang was very pleased. He asked who these workers were. When told they were local Falun Gong practitioners who had volunteered for this duty, he flew into a rage, turned on his heel, and stalked off.

This report has illustrated two motives for Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong: ambition and fear. As illustrated by the Yangtze River story, however, there is a third component that underlies and fuels these motives: jealousy.

Jiang stands in the history of Communist China as the third of three all-powerful leaders, but he is acutely aware that his stature has never approached that his countrymen have granted Mao and Deng.?Whatever their flaws, they were perceived by the people as men of principle, visionaries who inspired the nation.

Jiang succeeded in Communist China's tortured politics precisely because he did not stake himself to any particular belief.?He learned how to look out for the main chance, to pick the winning side, and to protect himself. Opportunism may be a strategy for survival, but it could never satisfy the demands of Jiang's ever-growing ambitions.

Thus, Jiang has ruled China in the same way in the same spirit in which he advanced himself. He has corrupted others in order to buy their loyalty.

In Falun Gong, Jiang sees a belief that can inspire the Chinese people where he cannot. He sees a group that does not need the only means by which he knows how to wield power. In persecuting Falun Gong Jiang has sought to consolidate his power, and has sought to destroy a group that he perceives as a threat.?But he has also sought to vindicate himself.

The means he has had to use, a propaganda campaign that relies on inculcating a big lie about Falun Gong, can only satisfy his desire to dominate. A campaign of lies cannot provide him with the stature he seems to yearn for. The means available to Jiang all reflect back to him the truth he seeks to avoid, that he can dominate others so long as he holds power, but he does not know how to rest within esteem that has been earned. And in this failure lies the drive to persecute.

Jiang's lies, and payoffs, and bullying cannot change nature.?No matter what he does, the rivers will still rise.?And those whose character allow them to keep the floodwaters at bay will always stand before their countrymen as an inspiration and the answer to their deepest needs.

China watchers have long discussed the problem of corruption among Chinese officials as well as the fragility of the rule of law under Communist rule.

Jiang, however, is something new in Communist China -- one who utilizes corruption as the primary means to consolidate and maintain power.

(Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

^[1] According to a count of the number of countries listing volunteer Falun Dafa practice sites on the main website of Falun Dafa, www.falundafa.org as of August, 1999.

^[2] U.S. News & World Report report "An opiate of the masses?"; February 22, 1999

^[3] See Appendix C

^[4] See www.faluninfo.net for current statistics

^[5] See Appendix D

^[6] The New York Times "Notoriety Now for Exiled Leader of Chinese Movement"; April 27, 1999

^[7] See Appendix F: CNN,"China's Suppression Carries a High Price"

^[8] "John Kamm's Third Way," The New York Times; March 3, 2002

^[9] Amnesty International 2001 Annual Report

^[10] The Associated Press, September 12, 1999

^[11] Deutsche Well: "Berlin Tastes Tiananmen" April 11, 2002

http://www.faluninfo.net/specialreports/jiangspersonalcrusade/

Posting date: 12/25/2002
Original article date: 12/24/2002
Category: News & Media Reports

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