(Clearwisdom.net)

[Editor's note: Although it is unclear who tapped into a SINOSAT satellite TV broadcast, this third-party article shows that even if it were Falun Gong practitioners, this was a great, righteous act.]

Despite the brutal crackdown by the Chinese Government, Falun Gong practitioners, aside from their peaceful appeals around the world, were recently able to tap into cable TV signals and televise truthful information about Falun Gong to the Chinese people. In doing so they were able to significantly break through China's information blockade and propaganda against Falun Gong. Since the beginning of this year, there have been many similar incidents where practitioners were able to televise truth-clarifying programs including, the interception of Changchun Cable TV on March 5^th, the biggest of all these efforts. As a consequence more than 5000 people were arrested. The interception of a TV station in Chongqing City happened twice, once on January 1^st and again on June 1^st. After the January 1^st incident several practitioners were tried. One of the defendants, according to police, purportedly died of a disease while in prison. The other 4 defendants were sentenced to 16, 15, 9, and 7 years in jail. You can imagine how brutal the persecution is.

On July 8^th, the Chinese Communist Government's official news agency, the Xinhua News Agency, extensively reported on the SINOSAT [note: a telecommunications satellite that covers the all of China] incident - which is a rare phenomenon. From June 23^rd to June 30^th, 9 programs on CCTV and 10 provincial TV programs transmitting through "Cun Cun Tong Project" [note: meaning "radio and TV programming in every village project"] via SINOSAT were interrupted to play Falun Gong truth-clarifying programming. The agency further reported that the Radio Bureau under the Ministry of the Information Industry stated that this interception was conducted by an overseas Falun Gong organization and thus supposedly broke international treaties and regulations on civil telecommunications. According to the government it compromised national security and infringed upon the general public's basic rights, etc.

[...] The Constitution of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates, "The citizens of the PRC have the rights to freedom of speech, publication, assembly, association, parade, and protest." It also states "The citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right to freedom of religion and belief." Jiang Zemin's regime, however has deprived Falun Gong practitioners of their right to the freedoms of speech and belief by using the government controlled media to slander and accuse Falun Gong while denying Falun Gong practitioners all channels and means to defend themselves. Therefore, Falun Gong practitioners' have resorted to tapping into broadcast signals as a way to reclaim their constitutional human rights. Even so, the government has still not granted practitioners their due rights.

As for breaching international treaties, this accusation is even more ridiculous. In "The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" to which China is a signatory, many articles point to how the Chinese Communist regime in fact, breaches and violates these laws. For example, Article 18 stipulates, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion." In Article 19, Sub-article 1 it states that, "Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference." Sub-article 2 further says, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of subject matter, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice." Under the Chinese Communist regime's "One Voice" policy, Falun Gong practitioners' interception of satellite signals to speak up and defend themselves is completely understandable.

The Chinese Communist regime has not only violated the UN human rights covenant, but has also disregarded the terms of the open market it promised when it entered the WTO. This regime instituted many regulations denying foreign interests in media market, maintaining their monopoly and exclusive right to disseminate state propaganda. The government also tightly controls the Internet. The Hong Kong China Human Rights Information Center reported that more than 500,000 foreign websites were blocked from Chinese users. What is more, this regime will tear up any contract in order to "clean up" sensitive information. On June 15^th "The Economist" magazine was shut down because it published an article commenting on Beijing's political reform; BBC and China Radio and Television Broadcasting Bureau signed an agreement to set up shop in hotels and areas for foreigners. These BBC channels were also shut down for merely reporting on the fact that between July 1^st and July 5^th during the anniversary celebrations of Hong Kong's transfer back to China, there were Falun Gong practitioners protesting on the streets.

In contrast to the Chinese Communist regime's violation of its own constitution and international covenants, fabrication of lies, attempts to cause confusion and incite hatred, and its support of state terrorism, Falun Gong practitioners' ability to intercept satellite signals to promote "truthfulness, compassion and tolerance" is a hopeful effort to break through the Chinese Communist regime's monopoly of the media.

(This is a commentary from Lin Baohua, a Special Commentator with Radio Free Asia. Excerpted version.)