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A Reporter's Notes from Secret Documents: The Plot Hatched in April and May, 1999 (Part 2) By Chu Tianxing (Clearwisdom) Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/5/29/48668.html In June 1999, the Chinese government's campaign known as
"Dealing with and Solving the Falun Gong Issue" was made public,
although it had been secretly hatched and implemented much earlier. Since the
covert action was launched, it evolved exactly as detailed in a secret document.
During the progression of the "dealing with and solving" the Falun
Gong issue, the number of government documents and their communication to lower
levels were unprecedented in the history of the Party. It is important to note
that all these "secrets" were derived from the letter by Jiang Zemin
to the Politburo entitled, "About the Fundamental Beliefs of a Party
Member." From that time onwards the campaign against Falun Gong gradually
escalated. Its progress had steadily advanced, and its content had become common
knowledge among the local authorities, "No law regulates the treatment of
Falun Gong practitioners," and "death of Falun Gong practitioners from
beatings is nothing and shall be counted as suicide." The following is a summary of the article. Contents The document showed that after April 25 and before July 20, 1999, Shandong
Province was selected as one of the key provinces in persecuting Falun Gong. The
"Notice on Printing and Publishing Two Falun Gong Materials" issued on
May 11, 1999, had been prepared by the General Office of the Shandong Provincial
Party Committee and handed down to "all the leading members of the Party
Committees of the cities and counties, large state run enterprises and
institutions of higher learning, the departments and commissions of the
province, the Party organizations of the provincial government, Party committees
of the people's organizations and the Provincial Military Party Committee."
It required the leading members to conscientiously solve the problem of belief
in the education campaign of "Three Emphasizes" [a political policy
emphasizing politics, study and what was called a "healthy atmosphere"]. The notice declared, "It is the opinion of the Provincial Party
Committee to distribute to you two documents on the issue of Falun Gong
entitled, "On the Issue of Fundamental Belief for the Party Members"
and "On Li Hongzhi" and hope you can tell all the Party members and
cadres about them in your own words so that we will further unify our
thinking... " In 1999, the Provincial Party Secretary of Shandong Province
was Wu Guanzheng, who later became Jiang Zemin's follower to maintain his
administrative system. Since July 20, 1999, Wu Guanzheng bore direct
responsibility for at least 104 Falun Gong practitioners' deaths by torture
occurring in Shandong Province, thus ranking No. 3 among all provinces for the
deaths of Falun Gong practitioners as a result of torture. Jiang Zemin brought
Wu Guanzheng into the Politburo and rewarded him for his efforts in persecuting
Falun Gong, and made him the secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline
Inspection of the Chinese Party. On June 18, 1999, the second document, "Circular on Further Safeguarding
Social Stability," was faxed to me from China. The notification disclosed,
"After the incident on April 25, 1999, when some Falun Gong practitioners
gathered outside Zhongnanhai, the Party Committees and governments at all levels
earnestly carried out the "important instructions" distributed by
Comrade Jiang Zemin. Additionally, the related instructions from the Party
Central Committee "had done a lot of ideological preparation." That
should put all the secret preparations in perspective! The appeal of Falun Gong
practitioners on April 25 was resolved peacefully with Premier Zhu Rongji and
the Appeal Office leaders of the State Council. However, this appeal was another
motivation for Jiang Zemin, who toured the appeal area on April 25 in a
bulletproof limousine, to initiate the persecution. He did not attempt any
positive action to resolve the issue. For Jiang Zemin, it became the focal point
for further "important instructions" and marked the beginning of
"a lot of ideological work." The aforementioned circular was drafted after the gathering to celebrate the
birthday of Li Hongzhi, and the May 22nd Seventh Anniversary of the
establishment of Falun Gong by practitioners in more than ten cities. It was
alleged that the core practitioners of Falun Gong "intentionally wanted to
extend political influence and endanger social stability. Therefore, the leading
members at all levels of the Party and government must be involved in the
educational campaign of "Three Emphasizes," currently carried out
among them. It was imperative to continue to hone their political insight and
improve upon their political discrimination. The aforementioned should put everything into further perspective. In recent
years the following thought became well known among many Party members from
Mainland China, "Falun Gong was banned because it was accused as 'playing
politics'." I could not understand such a statement in the past. If one's
friend or a family member had been beaten to death or illegally detained without
cause, one would try to clarify the truth and urge the authorities to solve the
issue under to existing laws to obtain justice. How can this kind of action be
labeled playing politics? In the recent past, I practiced Falun Gong in order to
obtain good health and was praised by the government for reducing medical costs.
However, today, if I practiced Falun Gong, I would be accused of belonging to a
cult and deemed a mental patient. How can it be called "playing
politics," if I come forward with good intent and speak justly for myself
and Falun Gong? Let's thus consider April 25th again! If the appeal
by ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners in front of the Appeals Office of the
State Council, which was carried out under the existing Constitution and law, is
considered playing politics, then wouldn't the person who created the appeal
office at Fuyou Street next to the State Council be named the number one
political criminal? The documents I reviewed repeatedly stressed that the "Three
Emphasizes" policy's intent is to "emphasize politics",
"politics" and "politics." It suddenly became clear to me
why Jiang Zemin's "Three Emphasizes" put politics above all else. In
essence it was intended to utilize politics or political power to explain
everything. Thus, the real intent was to make people terrified over the word
"politics" and recognize the political terror. I still remember a story from my childhood about a monkey trainer. The
trainer heated an iron rod until it was red hot and then asked a monkey to pick
it up with the rest of monkeys as onlookers. The monkey that was ordered to pick
up the rod gave a horrible shriek from being burnt, and all the other monkeys
witnessed the entire scenario. The enforcement of this particular action made
all the monkeys terrified at the sight of an iron rod for a long time. They
would become very hostile or protective, even when seeing a toy stick carried by
a child. This is because the stick and the punishment have become an inseparable
concept. The monkeys would think that all sticks would have a detrimental effect
on their well being. Please bear with my digression at this time. Our ancestors said, "A
teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime." This shows the importance
and the lasting relationship between a master and his students. The relationship
between a master and disciples in cultivation circles is even more serious and
precious. Therefore, Falun Gong practitioners want to celebrate their Teacher's
birthday. This is perfectly reasonable. But, for Jiang Zemin, who wants nothing
more than to eliminate Falun Gong, activities such as the celebration of the
Falun Gong founder's birthday by Falun Gong practitioners was labeled as
"playing politics." This became another excuse for the persecution.
For Jiang, the teaching of "never taking part in politics," discussed
explicitly in Falun Gong books, and the fact that in this world not everyone is
interested in money and power, was something beyond his comprehension. It is
well known that Jiang Zemin is reluctant to give up his power and his position.
To curry favor, every year people will hold "political activities" for
him to "expand his political influence." Isn't it logical that given
Jiang's own theory, there is enough to sentence him to imprisonment in Qincheng
(1) ten times over? It is very important that the celebration of "The World
Falun Dafa Day" and Teacher's birthday are arranged by Falun Gong
practitioners outside China. This is an effective tool to let the world know
about the many innocent people languishing in prison or being tortured. This circular received in June includes a note, which is written in larger
font, saying to destroy the note after reading. Since it involves large numbers
of Falun Gong practitioners, it is a state policy document and should be filed
properly. Why was it not filed? Doesn't this send a disturbing message? Is there
something they want to hide? Isn't this detrimental to the stability of society? An article in Clearwisdom published in October 2000 talked about this very
well. "In the 'system' of Jiang's 'emphasizing politics' there are a lot
of labels, among which the most often used are 'subverting the government' and
'anti-China forces'. It seems that as long as you are labeled with the charge
of 'subverting the government', they can do whatever they want to you.
However, if a group of honest common people can 'subvert the government' by
practicing the exercises to keep fit, then the government is simply too weak. As
for the 'anti-China forces', it is like Hitler justifying his killing of Jews
by stirring up German nationalist sentiments. This is because those who have
been persecuted by Jiang Zemin are the most kind-hearted people. The Chinese people have gone through many political movements. Each time
there would be some people presenting themselves as awe-inspiring righteous
figures, while they persecute innocent people in the name of the government and
people. This kind of political movement is still going on in China. This is a
tragedy of the Chinese people. In fact, the one who started the persecution is the one who is really 'subverting
the government' and the one who is really an 'anti-China force'. The following expression says it clearly, "The setting sun in the sky
above no longer provided warmth, and before I noticed, the cold air chilled me
by penetrating the window screen." Because of these secret documents, the
happy lives of tens of millions of people were turned upside down.
Unfortunately, this has come to light only recently. This recollection during
this quiet evening makes me miss the Falun Gong practitioners on the other side
of the Pacific Ocean even more. My thoughts returned to 1999, when numerous Falun Gong practitioners,
trusting their government and holding no fear of being arrested or beaten,
exercised their Constitutional rights and went to the appeals offices at all
government levels to inform them of the unprovoked beatings by the Chinese
authorities and let the government know the facts about Falun Gong. I remember
an elderly man who traveled to Beijing on foot, during which he wore out nine
pairs of shoes. He went there for only one purpose, and that was to speak justly
for Falun Dafa. When describing her experience in appealing for Falun Dafa, one female
practitioner who suffered from infantile paralysis wrote: "I used to have
infantile paralysis and was dependent on a wheelchair and crutches. Because of
my poor legs, my life was full of hardships that normal people could not
imagine. Though I was still quite young, I had already experienced so many
hardships of this world. In August of 1995, I was fortunate to attain the
precious Falun Dafa and my new life began at that time. Through studying the
principles of Falun Dafa and practicing the exercises, miraculously, I no longer
needed the crutches and the wheelchair that I had used for twenty-one years. I
could even ride a bicycle and take part in the activities at our local site to
promote Falun Dafa. Falun Dafa has brought happiness to my life, and my
character has been improved as well." "In November of 2000, I traveled to Beijing to appeal...one could see
murderous looks everywhere. Uniformed and plain-clothes police were seen almost
everywhere. They arrested every Falun Gong practitioner they met or saw. I tried
to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to the people and tell them not to believe
the news on TV, which was deliberately deceiving people. Just then, a police car drove up to me and several people got out. They
pushed me to the ground and then dragged me over to the car. Then they dragged
another female practitioner over my body to the car door. They brutally beat me,
since I had tried to stop them from beating other practitioners. My face turned
black and blue, and was swollen and unrecognizable. My lips were swollen and
lost color. Blows rained down on me! It was rumored that all these police were
really just local thugs the government had hired. I could not believe that now
the government and the outlaws had actually become one family." Despite all this, these Falun Gong practitioners, besides suffering untold
misery and anguish, still persistently, honestly and compassionately clarify the
truth, hoping the people would not be deceived by the lies. Because they know
many people in this world once were searching tirelessly for something they had
waited and hoped for, something they could not explain with mere words. Falun
Dafa practitioners on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, you have suffered so
much! You are the conscience, the backbone of the Chinese people and the hope
for social stability! The seeds of compassion you sowed today will certainly
bear the greatest fruit tomorrow. The conspirators and persecutors that dare not
be exposed to the sunlight cannot escape their responsibility for the crimes
they have committed. (To be continued) (1) Refers to Qincheng Prison, which is the place the Chinese government
uses to imprison and torture "important political prisoners". Posting date: 5/30/2004 |