By Frank Lee

(Clearwisdom.net) In China in 1989, when tanks ground over the bodies of young students on Tiananmen Square, Jiang earned the trust of the political patriarchs of the Chinese Communist Party by flattery and climbed to the seat of power.

About one month before the suppression [of the students] had begun, Jiang "wisely" shut down the World Economy Guide newspaper, the most open and popular newspaper in China at that time. Jiang also put Wan Li under house arrest. He was the No. 5 Party official and was returning to China from a foreign visit. The arrest took place at Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai. This arrest was necessary to assist the Beijing patriarchs' dismissal of the moderate General Party Secretary Zhao Ziyang, for Zhao was sympathetic to the student movement. Because of this, the patriarchs delegated the ultimate power of the Party and the nation to Jiang in order to uphold the Party's autocracy.

After coming into power, on the one hand, Jiang strengthened his autocracy. First, he made sweeping changes in the area of ideology by taking control of all publications, broadcast, television and newspapers. On the other hand, he deceived Western society by building an image of "political openness" for himself. He used all opportunities to show his mastery of foreign languages and spared no effort in portraying himself as a technocrat.

Jiang's most successful performance took place in 1997 in the US. By this time, the Communist Party patriarchs were all drunk with power and Jiang had an iron grip on China's ruling Party. He held unsurpassed political and military power. Jiang's boastful nature and his efforts to shape an image that was completely different from the villainous proletariat leaders of the past gave Western society a misleading picture. At the same time, because of China's potentially huge markets, Jiang curried the favor of business people and attracted foreign investments in order to alleviate China's financial and social crises.

Jiang appeared publicly in a swimsuit in Hawaii. In Washington, D.C., he ended his speech in English in the Rose Garden of the White House. He recited Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in front of the Declaration of Independence Memorial in Philadelphia. At Wall Street in New York, Jiang received cordial embraces from a group of corporative executives. These performances were meant to serve no other purpose than to shape a carefully crafted political image, which Jiang would then use as his trump card in the political conflicts in China. They were the perfect foil for his brutal, political rule at home.

With nearly 50 million destitute peasant children completely deprived of their right to an education, Jiang bought a US-made US$100 million luxury plane from the Boeing Co. to use as his "Air Force One." The cost of this plane is the equivalent of the annual income of 250,000 Chinese peasants. These examples are only to show how Jiang, the national leader and leader of the Party, indulges himself.

Jiang's political rule is terrifying. He is clearly aware that he rose to the seat of power through the blood shed by students during the "June 4^th Massacre." He put the open-minded politician Zhao Ziyang, who sympathized with the students, under house arrest, and he is still under arrest to this day. By the time Jiang showed up at Harvard University, the students who participated in the Tiananmen Movement were still incarcerated and suffering inhuman treatment. When a foreign news reporter asked Jiang's opinion of the gang rape by several male criminals of a 20-year-old female college student in a Sichuan Province jail, this same character who recited the Gettysburg Address in English answered, "She got what she deserved!" Furthermore, Jiang gave a secret order to execute Wang Weilin, the hero who stopped a tank with his thin, frail body--an act of heroism, the photograph of which the world still recalls to this day. A dictator will forever fear the people. That is one reason why Jiang rarely appears in public. When he feels the need "to put on a show," either the local government officials will "clear the field" with military force one month before his visit, or only his substitute will show up.

With respect to the incident of September 11, 2001, Jiang deceived the Bush administration. In December 1998, Jiang signed an air defense collaboration agreement with the Taliban, and in August of that same year, the Taliban handed over to China an unexploded, guided missile launched by the U.S. In exchange, China helped the Taliban to set up its telecommunications system. In July 2001, the Party signed another economic and technological collaboration agreement with the Taliban regime. According to a US intelligence department report, before the September 11 terrorist attack, China provided training for Afghan Taliban forces and the Al Queda terrorist organization. Even after September 11, China has sent weapons to the Taliban. The US Army discovered thirty Chinese-made HN-5 surface-to-air missiles in southeastern Afghanistan. The US intelligence department has confirmed that China also has other connections with the Taliban and Al Queda terrorist organizations. Not only that, on the home front, the Party media again fanned the fire of nationalism in China in order to distract people's attention from China's grave unemployment and economic crises. On the day of September 11, the Communist Party journalists who were invited to visit the US even cheered when they saw innocent people portrayed on television, struggling between life and death!

At the same time, Internet discussion boards, under complete control of the Communist Party, are filled with evil slogans, "Afghanistan is another Vietnam," "the US' nightmare has just begun," "anti-terrorism alliance shows split," "Bin Laden is the hero of suppressed people." Only one young dissident expressed his humanitarian protest through a foreign channel, and he did not hesitate to criticize his fellow countrymen on their lack of justice and conscience under the Communist Party's rule.

How can such a politician who verbally promises President Bush he will fight terrorism while actually supporting and encouraging terrorist activities, in addition to actively spreading domestic terrorism, be invited to the US president's home to enjoy a barbecue? Since the 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party has never ceased to export military weapons to Iraq and Iran. By doing this, the Party is able to force the Western countries, especially the US, to compromise on issues involving Taiwan, Tibet and human rights at critical times. More importantly, the Party can solidify its political power. For example, from a Western perspective, Mr. Bush's invitation (requested by Jiang) for Jiang to visit his ranch might seem like only a common, friendly gesture, but it's a lot more complicated in China.

Since he has reached the age of 76, Jiang is facing the issue of retirement from his positions in September. Jiang, though, uses the rationale of visiting the ranch and attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Mexico to delay the shift of power within the Party. These are merely Jiang's excuses. He wants to "fix" military and local political powers within this period of time and force his opponents to yield so he can be reappointed. This visit to the US became his trump card. Since the Jiang-controlled media in China painted Jiang as the first Party leader who is regarded as a "personal friend" of a great Western power, his reappointment in office will bring lasting prosperity to China. They claim the fact that Jiang enjoys the friendship of the president of the greatest country in the world is proof of his irreplaceable position in the international community. This is ridiculous logic. Maybe we will never be able to understand the political tricks used in this government's internal power struggles, but will the citizens of the United States be willing to be responsible for welcoming a butcher whose hands are stained with the blood of his own people? What will this say to future generations?

Externally, Jiang has attempted to divert the attention of the western countries from his human rights records by appearing to be stylish and open-minded. Year after year, Jiang has used large sums of Chinese taxpayers' money to win over Middle Eastern states and small and poor countries in order to avoid condemnation for his human rights abuses, and to control people with even harsher means to consolidate his power. This is no different from previous communist autocratic systems. Moreover, Jiang learned how to use economic interests as leverage to be even more unscrupulous, testing the moral fortitude of democratic countries.

Such tactics have compelled some heads of states to submit. For example, during Jiang's recent visit to Germany, the Berlin Government, in order to please Jiang and to obtain trade orders for the Chinese market to ease their high unemployment rates at home, allowed the police to abuse Falun Gong practitioners who appealed peacefully. In order to satisfy Jiang's demands, the authorities drove all Asian-looking guests from the Adlon Hotel where he stayed, and did not permit anyone to wear yellow or blue colored garments within the vicinity of Jiang's view, simply because Falun Gong practitioners like wearing these two colors. What did they gain in return for currying favor with Jiang? Germany encountered one disaster after another after Jiang's visit.

There is an old saying, "Heaven has eyes." What happened might be a warning to those who appease dictators. To make matters worse, two months later, when Jiang visited Iceland, Icelandic Airlines, with a blacklist provided by the Chinese Embassy, refused to allow citizens from more than ten countries to board their planes, simply because they practice Falun Gong and therefore might peacefully protest against Jiang. Such a blacklist is in complete violation of international covenants, and is reminiscent of the dark spirit of McCarthyism that once plagued the US. This time, however, the main player is the Chinese Communist Party. We can only ask the Chinese Embassies overseas what means they are adopting in monitoring and tracking down these law-abiding citizens?

Will overseas Chinatowns turn into regions influenced and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party? The reason we ask is that Chinese Embassies and Consulates aggressively buy out and control overseas Chinese newspapers in order to exert long-term control of overseas public opinion. Meanwhile, in order to have access to Chinese markets, Internet companies such as Yahoo are required to censor themselves and sign agreements with the Jiang regime to allow Internet filtering. This means that the only information that gets into China will be that which is approved by the Jiang government. I suspect that all e-mails will be subject to scrutiny if Jiang deems it necessary, because the citizenry in China never has a right to privacy.

The Jiang regime goes to extremes in controlling public opinion because it knows very well that once people have freedom of belief and freedom of expression, its dictatorial and autocratic rule will crumble. Precisely because of this, they were willing to send tanks to ruthlessly run over students who were trying to express their ideas to the government. Their guns can be pointed at the people, and Jiang has played this ruthlessness to the highest degree.

In the past twenty years, China has seen the wide dissemination of many ancient ways of keeping fit. One method, known as qigong, is a very common aspect of traditional Chinese culture that has been passed down from generation to generation. Only after 1949, when the Communist Party took power, was all such traditional culture destroyed, and people no longer dared to practice in public. However, the strong vitality of traditional Chinese culture enabled qigong to become widely popular again decades later.

One such practice, called Falun Gong, won immediate popularity among the masses of people, due to its greatness and profundity in addition to its miraculous healing powers. What is especially noteworthy is that this practice advocated the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," which provided the long suppressed and controlled Chinese people with a brand-new spiritual resource. Once again, people were able to re-discover the profound inner meanings of culture rooted in two schools of Chinese tradition, namely the "Buddha School" and the "Tao School," and truly experience the benefits of these teachings in body and mind.

Soon after these teachings were once again popularized, Jiang became panic-stricken that Communist ideology could no longer control people's minds. At the same time, one third of the Party members had also started the practice. Fierce jealousy drove Jiang completely insane and made him test the limits of his powers. In his words, "We must draw a lesson from what happened in the Soviet Union and recapture the position of proletarian ideology, and carry out a comprehensive cleansing. Falun Gong advocates 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance' so this gives us an opportunity to give people a free hand to attack. If we suppress others, we might encounter reprisals, which might lead to social instability."

Jiang wanted to use this approach to divert people's attention from various explosive domestic crises so that the autocratic Communist system could continue on its last legs. Jiang, and his cohorts who profit from vested interests would then squeeze even more money from the people to guarantee that after they, the ruling elite, die, their sons and grandsons will continue to possess huge financial empires. That was one reason Jiang started his rampant, brutal political persecution against millions of kind-hearted people, with the false assumption that with his fierce media campaign and police force actions, it would take only three months to destroy Falun Gong.

But he reckoned wrong!

When a 58-year-old woman, after being savagely beaten for three days and nights was forced to run barefoot in the snow with a broken vertebra, she still didn't give in to her tormentors. She said to the police with her last breath, "I have the right to choose to practice Falun Gong." This is a scene described in a report published in the Wall Street Journal in 2000. The reporter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this story.

A 30-year-old pregnant woman went to Beijing eight times to appeal for Falun Gong, both while pregnant and after giving birth to her son. She told the government in a kind manner that Falun Gong is good and the persecution was wrong! The police arrested her and threw her into a forced labor camp designated for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The authorities there tortured to death both the mother and her eight-month-old baby. After her death, the body of the mother revealed a broken vertebra and the ankles of the baby boy were black and purple, leading to the conclusion that the baby was hung upside down and tortured to death. This shows what Jiang Zemin really does and what he represents! It paints a vivid picture of a butcher whose feet are bathed in students' blood and whose hands are stained with the blood of Falun Gong practitioners! He never expected that unarmed people would refuse to stop their peaceful and rational resistance during this brutal persecution; thus, the spiritual battle that has lasted for over three years continues even today.

Seeing his persecution failing, Jiang's jealous rage grew. In order to incite people's hatred toward Falun Gong, on January 23, 2001, the eve of the Chinese New Year, Jiang staged the Tiananmen Square "self-immolation" incident that shocked the whole world. During this horrible staged event, a mother and her daughter were burned to death, all in an attempt to frame Falun Gong. But, because the performance was so poorly carried out, there were many visual and verbal discrepancies in the TV broadcast. People everywhere quickly realized the truth.

A 20-year-old Falun Gong practitioner, Tan Yongjie, distributed Falun Dafa flyers in Shenzhen City, China. Police officers arrested him and burned his legs with red-hot irons. Tan Yongjie fainted many times from the pain, but he escaped from jail with a determined mind. He eventually made his way on a cargo ship leaving for the US. During the 13-day trip at sea, Tan Yongjie endured extreme pain, thirst and hunger. He had hidden in a cargo hold. At docking in the US, he was eventually able to leave this nightmarish jail. People in the US saved the life of Tan Yongjie and sent him to the best hospital in Houston. A burn specialist who did skin grafts for Tan Yongjie couldn't believe his eyes when he saw 13 deeply burned, ulcerated wounds on Tan's legs.

In 2000 and 2001, Amnesty International twice named Jiang a "human right scoundrel." In China, Jiang's banks and government-owned corporations do not repay their capital debts. Bureaucratic embezzlement is widespread; corrupt officials greedily divide state-owned property among themselves, which results in a risky status for the Chinese Communist Party's rule. With an unemployment rate as high as 20%, in addition to financial crises and peasant problems, social upheaval may take place at any time. Under these dire circumstances, Jiang uses the so-called profitable market potential as bait and attracts a great amount of foreign investment. This tactic is the only thing he has left to rely on to breath life into this dying, autocratic system, since 80% of all banks and enterprises in China are on the verge of insolvency.

This demon who creates hell on earth is now going to make a show on the free soil of the United States. He attempts to deceive many Americans who are profoundly interested in ancient Chinese culture, to use as leverage to maintain his dictatorship. Such a tyrant who brings terror upon the world has been testing our baseline of morality again and again.

I can't help but recall the beast mentioned in Revelations, one of the books in the Bible, where it says, and I paraphrase, "this beast wants to leave the imprint of its mark on every country and their king." Not every king is willing to sacrifice morality and dignity for so-called self-interest. The Foreign Minister of the Netherlands publicly announced that he had cancelled his trip to Hong Kong because the Chinese government blocked his meeting with Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong. Holland, which produces tulips that are so beautiful and tender, has a noble leader. Let us salute him! Perhaps I may suggest that people who extend their helping hand to Falun Gong have a fortunate future to look forward to.

Our world needs "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." As for Jiang, who treats Falun Gong as his deadly enemy, even when "the sun is about to set," how shall we welcome him on American soil?

Let's not forget the historical shame Norway suffered after welcoming Hitler during World War II.

Posting date: 9/27/2002
Original article date: 9/13/2002
Category: Open Forum
Translated on 9/22/2002
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/9/14/36566.html

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