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Commentary on the Chinese Communist Regime's Interference with the NTDTV Global Chinese New Year Spectacular By Guo Feng
(Clearwisdom.net) New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) held its first
touring Global Chinese New Year Spectacular in Vancouver, Canada, on January 3,
2007. The next three shows at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco
between January 5 and January 7 were sold out. Close to 10,000 people witnessed
a live performance based on songs and elaborate group dances. Each program
reveals traditional Chinese culture's sanctity and inner meaning. The Chinese
Communist regime, however, pressured the Korea National Theater in Seoul through
the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Culture to cancel NTDTV's
performance on January 6, 2007, by threatening to cancel a National Theater
performance slated for China this coming June. Falun Gong practitioners around the world held press conferences when they
discovered this disconcerting information and called on foreign governments, the
media, and other people to expose the Chinese Communist regime's villainous
tactics in suppressing free media. Falun Gong practitioners inside and outside
China resorted to radio broadcasts, television, newspapers, magazines, the
telephone, faxes, letters, emails, Internet forums, banners, flyers,
advertisements, and other channels to help people recognize the truth of the
persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The World Organization to
Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) issued a public announcement
on January 11, 2007, to investigate Zeng Qinghong, a member of the Standing
Committee of the Politburo, and other officials at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs regarding their role in interfering with the NTDTV Global Chinese New
Year Spectacular. The truth prevails nonetheless. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent a
letter, conveying best wishes for a Happy Year of the Boar and praised NTDTV's
contribution to cultural diversity before the show on January 12th at
the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Canada. Other government officials and
Chinese community leaders attended the performance. Environment Minister and MP
John Baird attended the performance and sent a letter on behalf of the Canadian
government in which he described the NTDTV Spectacular as a "unique,
world-renowned celebration...a brilliant example of the beauty and elegance of
Chinese culture." Exposing the Communist regime's interference with NTDTV
New Tang Dynasty Television, founded five years ago, has the mission of
providing viewers with accurate information and fostering understanding between
Chinese and Western societies. The NTDTV staff does not fear any totalitarian
regime when they speak the truth. NTDTV reports in detail sensitive topics of
great interest to the Chinese communities that are blocked by the Communist
regime. These topics have included the SARS epidemic, Article 23 of the Basic
Law of Hong Kong, and civil right protests in China. NTDTV has also devoted
their efforts to reporting on the brutal persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners, particularly the Communist regime's harvesting of organs from
living Falun Gong practitioners, without interruption. NTDTV's fourth annual Chinese New Year's performance received wide praise for
telling marvelous stories of magical lands, enchanted dreams, and the classic
battle between good and evil, as well as for high-level artistic skills. Some
people in Mainland China also watched the performance via satellite TV. Billboard
Magazine, an entertainment industry trendsetter, named last year's show in
New York City one of the top ten shows. The Communist regime sees NTDTV--an outspoken media that does not cave in to
financial incentives or political pressure--as its biggest threat. The Communist
Party's interference in South Korea did not begin with NTDTV's operation of the
show. It began much earlier! On December 16, 2003, China's State Administration
of Radio, Film and Television issued an urgent, top-secret, encrypted telegraph
to provincial, district, municipal, and autonomous regions' radio and TV
bureaus. In this message "officials at the central government" gave
instructions for suppressing NTDTV's Chinese New Year show. During Christmas
2003, Australian singer Christian Bischoff had flown to New York at the
invitation of NTDTV to perform in the New Year's show, but three hours before
his flight from Australia to New York he received a phone call from the Chinese
consulate trying to dissuade him from giving the performance. Then, in January 2004, Zhou Xiaomei, Consul for Political & Press Affairs
of the Chinese Consulate General of Los Angeles, wrote letters to some prominent
US figures, asking them not to accept interviews from NTDTV regarding its global
Chinese New Year performance. On February 9, 2004, Wang Lili, head of the Discipline Inspection Group, part
of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Discipline Inspection Committee
stationed at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, spoke at a
Task Force Meeting reviewing the Bureau's 2003 performance. She specifically
mentioned the "Inaugural Global Chinese New Year Gala" held by NTDTV
in New York City, as well as in other cities around the world. She called the
NTDTV Gala a "direct rival to the CCTV's own Chinese Spring Festival
Gala." In June 2005, the Communist regime coerced Eutelsat, the European
telecommunications satellite company, into reneging on its contract with NTDTV
by threatening to refuse the company rights to Olympic Two Australian ballet dancers, Lucinda Dunn and Robert Curran, pulled out of
the 2006 NTDTV gala after the Chinese Communist regime threatened to cancel
their show that was touring in China. The Epoch Times' Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party makes the CCP
uneasy NTDTV is not the only courageous media the Communist regime suppresses. The
Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist
Party, which exposed the evil nature of the Communist Party. The
series triggered a wave of withdrawals from the Communist Party and its
affiliated organizations. Up until now, more than 17 million people have
publicly renounced their membership in the Party and its affiliated
organizations. The Communist regime anxiously tries to stop the transmission of
the Nine Commentaries in foreign countries and has extended its claws of
persecution abroad. Four hammer-wielding men broke into The Epoch Times Hong Kong
office in May 2005. They destroyed some printing facilities in an attempt to
paralyze the office and prevent it from producing copies of the Nine
Commentaries. The Epoch Times marketing company, DZY Marketing,
received correspondence from the Malaysia Internal Security Ministry on July 7,
2005, stating that the tone of The Epoch Times reports did not fit their
criteria and policies to maintain "friendly Malaysia-China relations,"
and that The Epoch Times was not "neutral." The decision was
therefore made to suppress the 147th and 148th editions of The Epoch Times.
Worse yet, several men violently attacked Epoch Times' chief technical
officer Peter Li in his home. They bound him, covered him with a blanket. and
beat him. They also took his computers and some documents. After his neighbor
called the police, Peter Li was taken to a hospital where his facial injuries
required 15 stitches. All of the Communist regime's violations of freedom of the press and human
rights in the past few years are closely linked to its persecution of Falun
Gong. The regime has spared no effort in slandering and harassing Falun Gong
practitioners abroad. Chinese consulates violated international pacts and sent
slanderous propaganda to foreign government officials, the media, and NGOs,
libeling Falun Gong. The Chinese consulates have also prevented local
governments from voicing their support and issuing proclamations for Falun Gong
by using trade or diplomatic relations as political chips. The regime has
disseminated lies through public libraries, the media, the Internet, and
schools. It has used blacklists and incited hatred against Falun Gong within
Chinese communities abroad and prevented overseas Falun Gong practitioners'
participation in legitimate protest activities. After decades of rule by terror, the CCP is an extreme example of a regime
that does not shy away from utilizing every possible means, legal or criminal,
to maintain power. It not only persecutes Chinese people inside China without
restraint but also exports the persecution abroad, to Western countries that
respect human rights and freedoms. National security agents and spies have
repeatedly threatened overseas Falun Gong practitioners, harassed them, burned
their cars, beaten and robbed them, broken into their homes, and injured them.
The attack on Peter Li in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US is just another example of
incidents that have occurred after Zeng Qinghong hired an assassin to open fire
on Falun Gong practitioner David Liang during his visit to South Africa on June
28, 2004. In December 2005 Chinese consulates also incited Thai police and
pro-Communist thugs in Argentina to violently assault Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong has been embraced in more than 80 countries during the Communist
regime's seven-year-plus persecution and received more than 1,400 proclamations.
Falun Gong practitioners all over the world have used banners and participated
in parades, gatherings, candlelight vigils, torture exhibitions, press
conferences, and art performances to clarify the truth again and again about the
brutal nature of the persecution and to inspire people's kindness and sense of
conscience. Righteous support and feedback from the international community is
heard on a regular basis. Many federal and local government officials in foreign
countries have asked the CCP to stop persecuting Falun Gong. The incidents above reveal that the Chinese Communist regime not only
persecutes Falun Gong on Chinese soil. It also severely violates the laws of
other countries by exporting the persecution. The CCP has become the largest
terrorist group in the world. Today, freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
and freedom of belief are universally recognized, unalienable rights. Nevertheless, the Communist regime again prevented NTDTV's Chinese New Year's
performance in Seoul, South Korea. By threatening South Korea, the CCP again
proves itself to be a most flagrant villain, creating evil and sowing terror.
Anyone who is indifferent or clings to illusions regarding the Communist Party
is indulging and appeasing its evilness. The Eutelsat incident two years ago enabled NTDTV to become more widely
known. Through truth clarification efforts by Falun Gong practitioners all over
the world, NTDTV received wide support and tremendous help from members of the
European Parliament, US government officials, senators, the media, human rights
organizations, and many other people. In the end, NTDTV signed a six-year
contract with Eutelsat. Six days after the Seoul incident this year, the
Canadian prime minister wrote a letter to celebrate the Chinese New Year and
acknowledge NTDTV's contribution to cultural diversity. The prime minister's
letter was a sound answer to the Chinese regime's conspiracy and its attempt to
block free speech. Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the phrase, "The pen is mightier than the
sword." The CCP's rogue nature and hypocrisy is clearly exposed through the
courageous outspokenness of NTDTV and The Epoch Times. The NTDTV
global Chinese New Year Spectacular makes the CCP tremble with fear, and the
wave of withdrawals from the CCP is nerve-racking for the CCP. The purpose of
exposing the CCP's nature and the truth about the persecution is to awaken
people's conscience and sense of justice so that the whole world will condemn
the Communist regime for its crimes. Evil can never win. The day when everyone
refuses to go along with this persecution is the day when the CCP takes its last
breath.
Posting date: 1/20/2007 |