Why Jiang Zemin Created the "610 Office"

By Clearwisdom.net reporter Ouyang Fei

(Clearwisdom.net)

For years the Chinese government has been trying to scale down its huge bureaucratic system and to improve its judicial system, so people expected that the government would resort to legal channels rather than any mass movement to resolve any further conflicts in their country. However, on the issue of cracking down on Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin has set up a special organization called the "610 Office," which has branches in the local and central government. The question is: why would he want to add an extra organization in a government that is already burdened with so many bureaucratic departments already?

The "610 Office" formally started to function on June 10, 1999, at Jiang's request. During a political bureau meeting, a decision was made to set up a "special leading team to deal with the Falun Gong issue." According to the conventions of Chinese authorities, the organization was named after the date it was established. From the central committee of the ruling party to its local committees at different levels, it has branches in their political and law sectors. Sometimes it is directly under the control of the ruling party committee office. To avoid suspicion of the party's interference in governmental administration, the state department then set up "the office for preventing and solving evil cult issues." It was combined with Jiang's original "610 Office" to be one organization collaborating with the administrative array of the ruling party. To non-governmental parties they are just called the "610 Office."

Is the "610 Office" necessary?

By 1999 China's legal system had been complete and competent enough to deal with basic social "conflicts" like the Falun Gong event in which 10,000 practitioners peacefully appealed at the central government building on April 25, 1999. No matter how Jiang claimed that Falun Gong had led to many people's deaths, the validity of his accusations should be judged by law, with the plaintiffs, defendants, the lawyers of both sides publicly debating in court and having the court make the judgment. This is the proper procedure under a judicial system.

If Jiang really wanted to rule by law and set up an organization to deal with the Falun Gong issue, this organization's duty should be to resolve any illegal matters pertaining to Falun Gong according to the laws of the country. That is what a rational government should do based on the following reasons:

  1. A further advancement of the country's judicial system:

    2. It would indicate the Chinese government's great improvement in the openness of administration and the progress toward "governing by law" any issues involving a large group in society through a legal channel instead of a mass movement.

  2. Protection for those who claimed to be victimized by Falun Gong:

    3. It is the victims' legal right to sue Falun Gong if such people ever really existed. However, Jiang merely wanted to use these "victims" as a tool to attack Falun Gong. As a result, these "victims" indeed have their basic human rights harmed by Jiang.

  3. Protection of all Falun Gong practitioners' basic rights:

An open, legal procedure would safeguard millions of Falun Gong practitioners' rights and demonstrate to the world China's human rights protection.

As for all of Jiang's charges against Falun Gong, a court should determine whether the so-called victim really behaved according to the teachings of Falun Gong; whether the victim's death was actually caused by Falun Gong; whether a mentally disabled person's act has any direct connection with Falun Gong and whether the Falun Gong's principle "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" has any connection with Jiang's charges.

Only through an open and impartial court debate and presenting the evidence and facts by representatives of both sides, can people be convinced of the charges.

However, Jiang' regime didn't seek any legal channel. What his "610 Office" did was to put aside the present legal system of the country and spend a large portion of its revenue to build up its own system to eliminate Falun Gong. What does it mean? It means the following:

  1. The suppression of Falun Gong is without just cause, and the present legal system of the country cannot implement it.

    2. As it has been seen by all, Jiang's major reason to eliminate Falun Gong [1] is that Falun Gong's theory is "ridiculous." But this excuse itself can hardly be the reason to persecute Falun Gong or any other group. To the atheists, as is the communist party, any religious theory is ridiculous. In the realm of science, the scholars of different schools of learning might deem others' theories "ridiculous." Jiang's logic is that whatever he doesn't favor must be banned. Obviously this logic is ridiculous and far from the law.

  2. The "evidence" Jiang used to attack Falun Gong cannot stand any open debate in court:

    3. All the homicide cases involving Falun Gong reported by the state-run media never went through substantial legal procedures, but were used to attack Falun Gong through the media. From the "self immolation on Tiananmen Square" incident to "Fu Yibin's bloody homicide case" in Beijing, from "Dong Li's homicide case" in Chaoyang, to "Throwing poison by Chen Fuzhao" in Wenzhou, the scenes people remember is not a trial by judges but the exaggerated performances of the China Central TV reporters, whose jobs are to produce anti-Falun Gong programs.

    Facing the wide spread suspicion from overseas, Jiang dares not invite Falun Gong or any other third party to investigate these cases, and did his best to blockade the news about these suspicions instead. Moreover, any individual or any activity that spreads the truth about Falun Gong will be instantly given a guilty verdict and sentencing under Jiang's orders.

  3. The judicial departments don't accept Falun Gong practitioners' appeals against persecution but put them on trial instead:

The Chinese court, under Jiang's control, seldom accepted Falun Gong practitioners' lawsuits against people who were involved in persecuting them. Even if they occasionally accept such cases, they would add huge pressure on the lawyers representing Falun Gong practitioners, and all these cases ended without result. In contrast, if the Falun Gong practitioners who clarify the truth of Falun Gong are arrested and sent to court, they will announce piles of charges and never allow any plea of not guilty, and then sentence the practitioners severely. Some Falun Gong practitioners were even beaten in court for pleading innocent. Many practitioners have been illegally detained over extended periods, tortured and forced to confess to having committed a crime before they were secretly tried in court.

The maintenance of the persecution of Falun Gong in China relies on this "610 Office" overriding the whole judicial system. The function of "the special leading team to deal with the Falun Gong issue," which oversees the "610 Office", is similar to that of "the central leading team of cultural revolution" during the Cultural Revolution. Both of the dictators made use of such a strategy to bypass the normal judicial procedures and to forcibly implement their policies that violate the will of the majority and harm the interests of the country.

The building-up of the country's judicial system will be only an empty concept as long as Jiang's persecution continues and the "610 Office" is not outlawed. No matter how perfect the judicial system is, the leaders of the country will follow Jiang's pattern to set up their "leading teams" and their corresponding "offices" from the central to local government in order to do whatever they want. Under such circumstances, even the best judicial system, which has subordinated to something like the "610 Office," will lose its function and become a tool to persecute the innocent.

In summary, the "610 Office" [2] is persecuting not only Falun Gong practitioners but also the entire population of Chinese citizens.

Notes:

[1] During the initial phase of the suppression, Jiang claimed he was going "to eliminate Falun Gong in three months."

[2] Due to the endeavors of Falun Gong practitioners to expose the facts of the persecution to the world, Jiang's clique changed the "610 Office" to "evil cult problem solving office." But the function of the organization never changed. The experts of legal circles widely hold that no matter how the title of this organization changed, its judgments on their concerned targets and the corresponding means are without the fundamental legal basis and, most of all, severely violate the constitution of the country. Observers also noticed that a lot of practices of the organization, such as transmission of instructions from superior offices or personnel, who arrest and detain people, were evaded from the public. They even dare not leave any written evidence.


Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/8/19/82109.html