Shanghai National Security Bureau Uses Deceptive Ploys and Psychological Warfare -- Taiwanese Practitioner Mr. Lin Hsiao-kai Exposes How the Shanghai National Security Bureau Illegally Entrapped Him, Extracted a Confession and Attempted to Persuade Him to Become a Spy

By Lin Hsiao-kai

(Clearwisdom.net) "In fact, Jiang knows very clearly that the forces and organizations persecuting Dafa would break up when all policemen in National Security and Public Security see the truth and realize that it is futile to persecute Falun Gong practitioners through the use of lies. However, in order to maintain personal fortunes and power, and to maintain the persecution, Jiang's core political clique never hesitates to deceive and betray all of the National Security personnel, Public Security police and those people who have accepted the brainwashing under pressure. Thus, these people become the hatchet men and criminals that are utilized by the persecution movement to deceive the world. Within this system of state-terrorism, espionage is built upon links within links; each link entraps others, until finally, each one is driven to become one of the minions of Jiang's regime and their criminal partners" -- author I. Entrapped and Arrested

After my arrest, I learned that Yang Jialan is the same "Lao Yang" who had betrayed many practitioners. She was a collaborator employed by the Shanghai National Security Bureau who had first contacted me and left me her cell phone number, expressing a desire to exchange ideas with me about helping other practitioners to progress in their practice. From the time I arrived in Shanghai until my arrest, my room and board had been arranged by "Lao Yang." In the first few days after meeting her, she was always asking me questions about financial matters, and asked me to handle them for her. She also told me that I could confide in her about anything. During this time, my only contacts were with Yang and Mr. Luo, to whom Yang had introduced me, and whom I later learned was the spy "Xiao Luo." The hotel where I stayed had almost no other guests. The service staff never gave me the key to my room. They knew when I came in and when I left my hotel room because I needed to ask them to open my room door.

At about 7:30 p.m. on October 7, 2003, Shanghai National Security searched and videotaped my room and took me away, refusing my request to talk to a lawyer. They told me they had been watching me for eight days and warned me of "leniency to those who confess their crimes and severity to those who refuse." They asked me to supply them with the names of practitioners that I knew and other information about Falun Gong in Taiwan and overseas.

II. Fabricating Charges

Among the tactics of National Security in China, one is to create a general atmosphere of terror. For example, one would be arrested after being monitored for a period of time, which included the tapping of telephone lines, Internet access and mobile phones, and being monitoring in the workplace. During interrogations, they would now and then mention something that you had once done, attempting to instill terror into the inexperienced person who had no idea about how they could have obtained such detailed personal information. However, these deceptive tactics hold no sway over Falun Dafa practitioners with strong righteous thoughts and who are also familiar with the usual tricks of spies.

After I was brought to the National Security Bureau, they interrogated me for twenty-four hours straight. In the beginning, they avoided questions related to Falun Dafa, trying to create a false impression that they were acting according to the law. They asked me, "Why did you come to Shanghai? What did you bring with you? To whom did you give these things? Who have you contacted?" They had been trying to get me to acknowledge that Falun Dafa was highly organized. They believed that if I would accept the notion that Falun Dafa was highly organized, they would then be able to interrogate and brainwash me. If they could break down my psychological defenses, they would be able to reveal what they knew about me according to their concept of organization, and make me have doubts about Falun Dafa, thus enabling them to attack me with lies that slandered Falun Dafa.

They continually threatened that I would be unable to bear the consequences and that I might be sentenced to anywhere from three to seven years unless I provided the correct "testimony." Already sleep deprived at that time, I was also in a room full of cigarette smoke. I was afraid and close to a mental breakdown. After I had been forced to sign my name and affix my name stamp, I learned that they wanted to fabricate charges against me, such as accusing me of coming to Shanghai on orders from the Falun Gong organization of Taiwan on a mission of sabotage. They produced an arrest warrant and asked me to sign it. After I signed my name, they explained to me that they couldn't detain me if they could not find any evidence against me within twenty-four hours, but the duration of their detention of me at that time had already exceeded twenty-four hours.

They calmly told me to be prepared for a lengthy detention. Originally, they had told me that if I cooperated, they would release me within one or two days. Then they told me that I might be detained for two weeks, or even up to two or three months! From the very beginning, they had tried to create a non-threatening detention environment. For example, each suite was equipped with its own bathroom and living room. They were trying to get me to drop my mental guard by fostering a false impression that there was no persecution, when actually, every room had been equipped with hidden pinhole cameras!

III. Intimidation and Enticement

At about 9 o'clock the following morning, several officers from the National Security Bureau came to talk to me. At first, they displayed a false amiability to get me to drop my mental guard. They would always tell me that they were not like the evil policemen that were typically described on Clearwisdom, and even suggested that those Clearwisdom reports were fabricated.

Actually, they had already begun to brainwash me. They said that because of my cooperation on the previous day, I could stay in this comfortable room rather than be sent to the detention center. They suggested that if I were wise, I would think things over; that the Party offers people a way out, that I should report on other Falun Dafa practitioners. They claimed that the room in which I was staying had detained many people before me, including Falun Gong practitioners and spies from Taiwan and overseas, many of whom had been released, while some Falun Gong practitioners were still detained. Using a combination of intimidation and enticement, they suggested that they would let me go, only in exchange for my full cooperation.

They made a great show of asking me to provide them with names and contact information of the mainland Falun Dafa practitioners that I knew, and asked me how I communicated with Clearwisdom. They continually asked whether I knew any practitioners through the Internet, and if so, what were their telephone numbers or how could they be contacted. They informed me that they were able to monitor any telephone, mobile phone, email or Instant Message placed from within China. They asked me to bear full responsibility for whatever I told them, and refused to accept "I don't know," "I'm not sure," "maybe" or anything similar. They also told me that if I were to go on a hunger strike, they would force-feed me through an inserted tube or send me to prison because they simply didn't want to handle such things. They later told me that Falun Gong practitioners from China were not treated as well as I had been treated because as soon as they were arrested they would be sent to brainwashing centers or sentenced to prison, and would not be released until after they had been successfully brainwashed.

This stage lasted for about three days and three people were involved in this process. One of them interrogated me while the two others closely observed my expressions, body language and my tone of voice. They were assessing if I was telling the truth and were analyzing my state of mind. They frequently talked to each other in Shanghai dialect or had private discussions outside the room. Furthermore, they kept conversing with people who monitored me while at the same time trying to verify what I had said. They even threatened me by saying that I was now facing a national security agency, and that they could easily tell if I was hiding something from them. They said if I dare give them wrong information they could still track me down, even after I got back to Taiwan, and other threats.

This process of putting me under duress for an answer lasted about ten days! They repeatedly tried to barrage my mind with slanderous terms, such as "Dafa is a such and such [slanderous term omitted]." They also came up with ideas of using me during these days to entrap fellow practitioners in China, but I resisted their attempts. Later they told me that they were testing me, to see if I would cooperate. In other words, they wanted to see if I had been successfully brainwashed.

When they were not interrogating me, there were always two people by my side. At first I didn't really care, but later I learned that that is what they called "the siege." While restricting my actions they were also studying me. In fact, all these public security agents have been in training for a long time and are quite experienced. They were observing my every move, behavior and emotions. They closely monitored and studied my mannerisms and habits; two people even accompanied me while I slept at night! I was under 24-hour surveillance. When they chatted with me, they often pretended to be caring and kept reminding me to inform them of all that I knew!

Judging from the agents' computers and their conversations, I understood that there were a total of ten people participating in the interrogation and monitoring. They had all gone through much special training; however, their way of doing things does not go beyond gathering evidence, interrogation, psychological affronts and observing behavior. They tried to discourage me from practicing the exercises in the detention center by threatening to tie me up. One time I was caught practicing the exercises and they were furious. They threatened to sentence me from between three to seven years of prison.

Pinhole cameras monitored any and all of the rooms I was in - the interrogation room, the bedroom and the washroom. These public security agents believed that my actions would be most genuine when I was alone. These people have been trained as sensitive as eagles and dogs, and have the habit of doubting other people unless they personally verified the information several times. This shows that not only are they using methods of secret agents to intimidate others, they themselves are actually the victims of a bigger fraud.

IV. "Not even afraid of the U.S.! Why be afraid of Falun Gong"

After being interrogated on the current issues in China, the person in charge then ordered me to talk about why I practice Falun Gong and to share my cultivation state. Originally I thought all they wanted to hear was my cultivation experience. I discovered later that was not their intent at all. They wanted to know about what activities I had participated in, who I had met with, and other information. Those agents were trying to get answers to their questions and at the same time verifying the information they were aware of. They continuously used psychological intimidation in their interrogation methods while at the same time perusing my biography and trying to figure out how to entrap me. They wanted me to provide them the names of the people I had met since practicing Falun Gong, those people's occupations, what I know about them and what activities they usually participated in. The security agent asked me about how to get into experience sharing conferences, who the contact persons are, how to get in touch with them, how to get there and who the leader is. They repeatedly stressed that they wouldn't arrest those Taiwanese practitioners.

They even said to me, "We are not even afraid of the U.S.! Why should we be afraid of Falun Gong? Taiwan is just this little speck," and so on. They were trying to install in me the idea that they were invincible and that "they were calling the shots." At the same time they clearly revealed their anti-American attitude, their hatred toward Taiwan, and the inveterate influence that brainwashing has on these people!

They also hinted that I could provide information to them when I go back to Taiwan, trying to make me a double agent. This was the most painful phase.

On the one hand I had to resist their brainwashing attempts, while on the other hand I had to prevent them from getting information from me. They even copied the dates and times of my departure and arrival in other countries from my passport, and asked me why I needed to go abroad, who I met and how did we contact each other. Because [telling them] the information they demanded is against Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, it pained me immensely. I often struggled with my mindset during this phase. Sometimes when my mind was not focused and alert I would tell them unimportant things or conceal some things by telling them only half. When they noticed what I was doing, they would remind me that, I was not the first Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner captured and I wouldn't be the last, either. So they said if I didn't tell them what they wanted to know, other people would. They then repeatedly reminded me of my sentence to prison, adding to my stress level.

In fact, they really did find someone to inspect my home, because they told me how the first floor is decorated and that I had held "Nine Day Seminars" in my home [referring to people gathering to listen to Master's series of nine lectures].

I discovered that they had taken interior photographs of my house. Different interrogators, using different approaches, asked me about my house, including the cost, the size and its decorations. This means that they had made a thorough investigation to prevent me from deceiving them. They implemented ways of questioning that I could never have imagined. They kept trying to get information out of me regarding my family members, in order to evaluate and plan how to stop them from exposing their evildoings. Furthermore, they called my previous work place to ask for my address and telephone number. They also inquired about my wife and my family members' finances.

On the surface it looked like they just wanted to have an idle talk with me about my family activities, but actually they were collecting as much useful information as possible. This showed me that they had sent people to frighten my wife, saying that if she revealed anything she would not be able to see me again. They also attempted to extort money from my wife. They wanted to use money to trade for my freedom. They also told me what they knew about a U.S. experience sharing conference, and it was exactly like what they had gathered. You can see that the Jiang regime has really exported the persecution of Dafa to Taiwan and overseas.

They retrieved emails that I had deleted four months to a year ago. If they did not retrieve this information by monitoring my computer, then they must have used many different ways to retrieve it. Other than that, they used my cell phone records to look for phone numbers and names. One by one they asked me about those people, hoping that I would give them some basic information. I also discovered that they could easily get access to Taiwan's communication material and network.

V. Attempt to Intimidate Me to Report on Falun Gong Practitioners I Know In Exchange for My Freedom

When my own affair came to a conclusion, my interrogator asked me if I had anything else to add; he repeatedly asked me if I wanted to give him the names of people inside or outside of China who practice Falun Gong. Fortunately, I only knew a few overseas practitioners by their nicknames, and nothing more. For a period of time, they kept a close watch over me, but didn't question or interrogate me further. They thought that they could not be successful with their interrogations unless I had been brainwashed into renouncing my faith in Falun Gong. They wanted to prolong my detention until I could no longer to bear the pressure, hoping that I would then voluntarily provide them with information. They lied to me by saying that high-level officials were hearing my case and I still had a chance before the result came out since the head of the Bureau and the court would take a while to make a decision. They also mentioned that some spies from Taiwan were sentenced to more than 20 years in prison and that I shouldn't count on my luck. In fact, they were crosschecking my testimony and observing my reactions when I was being lied to. That was part of the preparation for a more detailed interrogation later.

They bombarded me with lies, contradictory statements, and endless questioning. Sometimes they pretended to be my friends and showed me a lot of care. A short time later, however, they interrogated me in fury. These were their methods to break my concentration so that I would drop my guard and give them more information.

There were people dedicated to videotaping parts of the interrogation. But that was part of the deceptive scheme as well, since they held me in a place that was under 24-hour video surveillance. In this terrible ordeal, I understood that these people doing the videotaping had let down their guard. They did not realize that they were in fact victims of this game too; they were fooled by the larger deception directed by the Jiang's regime. For example, amid the chaos of the staged Tiananmen self-immolation tragedy, the police officer who struck down and killed Liu Chunling had spared no effort to do his job. But, he will not have a good ending. That is because, from his boss's point of view, he knew too much. On the other hand, from the point of view of karmic retribution, he did a terrible deed and created tremendous karma for himself.

VI. Contents of Brainwashing Sessions

I was continuously fed with the distorted political views of the interrogators. They tried to convince me that I'd been used by political powers in the United States and the Taiwan government. They attempted to lead me to believe that the Taiwanese government was against me. They also tried to persuade practitioners to turn against Falun Dafa. By leading a person to talk more and more, they tried to change the person's mind imperceptibly.

While they were trying to brainwash me, they pretended to be very open-minded and sincere. But this was a false show of empathy and understanding. Actually, they had studied and observed different religions. But the information they gathered was only to give them an understanding of how to persecute those religions. They have no faith.

They openly declared that there are people who are above the human law, but there can be no other law that is above the human law. They also said the persecution of Falun Gong is a political measure. One day, they pretended to be very kind and invited me to go out and relax with them. In fact, their goal was to shoot video footage of me. There were groups of people pretending to be tourists while they shot videos, took pictures, and made audio recordings. By accident, I found out what was going on. In this environment where it seemed that nothing was real, I had the illusion that there was no future for me.

VII. To Force A Person To Change Their Belief Is Extremely Malicious And Terrifying

Brainwashing a person to change his or her belief is very malicious and terrifying. The supervisor believed that a practitioner would willingly tell everything only after he/she had been completely brainwashed to give up his/her belief in Falun Dafa. Thus, they continuously lied to me and tried to confuse me by saying that Falun Gong was a [slanderous terms deleted] and that all the articles on the Clearwisdom website were fabricated. They also told me that I should not worry about being a traitor to my country, and that the more information I disclosed, the more good I would be doing. Alas, they really live in a world where black and white are reversed, and they want to drag others into their world.

When I met special agent Luo, he repeatedly asked me not to mention him to anyone else. In an effort to cause me even more mental pressure, they wanted me to form this notion inside my head that I should not betray him. If I had told the people in the National Security Bureau about him, it would mean that I had crossed the line and would be willing to cooperate with them (and betray other practitioners.) If I had exposed his true identity and his offer to help me, then it would show that I had been completely brainwashed, since it would demonstrate that I didn't care about hurting others who were trying to help me. I could not imagine their scheme could be so despicable.

Throughout the entire time, they tried to fabricate the illusion that the Communist Party was magnanimous and lenient. Not only had they tortured me psychologically, they also wanted to control me using the lure of material gains. They attempted to have me willingly working for them in gratitude after being deceived. That is a trick that the Communist Party has always used in their political struggles.

My interrogators also asked me if I would like to move to Shanghai for career advancement and offered to find me a job. They indicated that they knew many business people from Taiwan. I refused their offer.

They suggested to me that Taiwanese business people could have mistresses in China. At the time, I told them it is wrong to keep a mistress. Different people kept mentioning this to me. I believe they wanted to see if my moral standard was weak in any way that they could use against me. They also wanted to know if they could manipulate my feelings toward my wife. If my answers were not clear enough on this issue, they would have used women to tempt me so that they could use me to apply pressure on my wife to stop the press conference in Taiwan demanding my release. They might even ask me to become a spy for them once I returned to Taiwan.

VIII. The Plot To Lure Me To Write Guarantees In Exchange For My Freedom

Throughout my illegal detention, the officials there had been asking me to document in writing what I was thinking. To study me and to exploit the documents for their promotions and bonuses and for further persecution of Falun Gong, they instructed me to write down my understanding against the Fa. Since the Fa is not (slanderous words omitted) but a righteous practice, I could not write anything against it. As a result, they started cursing the Fa and me madly.

One of their brainwashing strategies is to quote Dafa teachings out of context to attack Dafa. For example, they compare Master's teachings at different periods of time with different contexts, find out what they believe are "conflicts" from their atheist viewpoints, and use them to brainwash practitioners.

Indeed, the evil policemen were made by Jiang Zemin and his regime, who ordered them to "ruin their (the practitioners') reputations, bankrupt them financially and destroy them physically." Any police officer who does not follow this policy will be surely removed from his post.

Soon the occasions in which the chief officer personally interrogated me became more and more frequent. That coincided with my wife holding a press conference for my illegal abduction. The way they dealt with me became more relaxed. To prevent me from knowing the truth, they created the illusion that my chances of being released had improved. In the meantime, to create conflict between me and my fellow practitioners in Taiwan, they told me that some practitioners in Taiwan did not want me to survive because they wanted to make the incident (my abduction) more widely known.

Their plot was calculated. They asked me what would happen if I was released and could return to Taiwan. In fact, this was the way they used to collect information about Dafa in Taiwan.

They tried very hard to cover up their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and to prevent it from being exposed. To this end, they exploited various strategies. For instance, they told me how to deal with different situations: what if there was a press release at the airport on my way home; what if my wife forced me to hold a press conference; what if practitioners would talk to me to exchange experiences; and what if I came across other practitioners who had also been detained in China before. By discussing these issues with me, they wanted to find out if I was indeed "transformed." If I was not transformed, they would continue the brainwashing procedures and force me to follow their instructions. It was particularly terrifying that they made it appear that I was released because of my attitude change towards Dafa and of the "clemency" of the Communist Party of China. The actual reason was that they were afraid their crimes of persecuting practitioners would be exposed after my family held a press conference! Yet they were still deceiving me by covering up their crimes.

When my family members held a second press conference, they told me that they intended to release me but failed to do so because the case had now become more widely known. They aimed at destroying my relationship with my wife and other Falun Gong practitioners. Meanwhile, they wanted me to call my wife to suppress the publicizing of the case because that would make the persecution known to more and more people. They were actually scared! Nevertheless, they were playacting to deceive me.

They forced me to call my wife until three o'clock in the morning when they finally gave up because there was no answer. They recorded all phone calls to collect information about my wife. Even after the phone calls, they did not stop setting me against my wife.

In addition, they claimed that I would be released if I stopped practicing Falun Gong or face jail sentences. It would be very helpful to their promotions if they could get my pledge to not practice Falun Gong. I clearly indicated to them that I would continue to practice. They believed that getting such pledges from practitioners would prove they were right and they could also use the pledges to deceive other practitioners. On the contrary, the pledges are the very evidence of their mental and physical persecution of Falun Gong practitioners!

The whole interrogation process was consistently plotted, first fabricating accusations, then threatening and luring, finally either obtaining information automatically if the practitioner was "transformed," or pretending to be friendly while plotting more attacks otherwise. Everything seems so "natural" that the victim is exploited without realizing it. On the contrary, they make the victim believe that they care about him and he is helping the country and the people by denouncing his practice.

One night when I was asleep, two people came to me angrily. They questioned me about the incident of the Sino Satellite signal being attacked. They accused me of being involved in that incident. During the attack, they purposely asked me how much it cost to attack that satellite, how large the equipment required is, how many transmission stations are required, what the principle of tapping into satellite signals is, and whether it is similar to tapping into cable TV signals etc. They even explained to me the theory behind satellite transmission.

They designed various traps for me to fall into. Every other day, the chief asked me if I was able to find out who was involved in the incident. I said I could not. In a few days, that person again asked me if I knew how to tap into television signals. I suddenly realized that it was actually an attempt to put pressure on me. Their purpose was to force me to speak out what I had not said and to observe my reaction. Even before I went to bed, they chatted with me as if they were my friends. After the questioning, the accomplices even deceitfully comforted me and persuaded me not to blame them and to tell them everything.

They brainwashed me while pretending that they wanted to release me. They told me that my wife was deeply "poisoned" by the Falun Gong teachings and that she must not be too active. They threatened that I would be punished after I returned to Taiwan even if it was my wife, not myself, who was telling the truth of the persecution! They also questioned how I would react to practitioners who wanted to exchange experiences with me. All of these are part of the plot.

I was deeply sorry that after I was released, Li Qian was illegally arrested by Shanghai Public Security Bureau. Dafa is majestic and solemn. We will not tolerate the beings who persecute Dafa and all sentient beings. Every Dafa disciple must step forward to expose the evil and stop the persecution.

Please see Part 1 on
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/1/1/43692.html
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/18/62576.html

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