Jiang's Personal Campaign
One Man's Decision to "Eradicate" the Traditional Chinese Belief of 100 Million People
BY DR. MICHAEL PEARSON-SMITH
When the nationwide persecution campaign against Falun Gong
began in China in July 1999, many believed the campaign to be another mass
movement orchestrated and backed by the Communist Party leadership as a whole.
Over the last four years, however, facts have emerged to
cast light on the maneuvers of then-Communist Party head Jiang Zemin. An
abundance of evidence has emerged showing Jiang not only formulated the policy
of eradicating Falun Gong himself, but also overrode the will of the Premier
and the rest of the Politburo Standing Committee--who initially disagreed with
Jiang's stance on Falun Gong--to enact the campaign. Additionally, since 1999
Jiang has been the driving force behind the campaign and its rising intensity.
From its introduction to the public in May 1992 to the
beginning of the persecution in July 1999, the number of practitioners grew
into the tens of millions. In 1999, Chinese Government officials told the Associated
Press and the New York Times their estimate was "at least 70
million." (AP: "Growing group poses a dilemma for China,"
4/26/1999; NYT: "In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protestors," 4/27/1999)
Many attributed the rapid growth of Falun Gong to its
effectiveness in improving the physical health of millions of Chinese citizens,
while also uplifting mental and spiritual well-being. By early 1999, one could
see Falun Gong practitioners everywhere among the morning exercisers in all the
major cities of China. In a strictly controlled society such as China it would
have been impossible for such a large mass organization and social phenomenon to
exist, let alone thrive for seven years, without consent and
support from all levels of government.
At the time, not only were the masses learning Falun Gong,
but also all seven of the Politburo Standing Committee members had read Zhuan
Falun, the main text Falun Gong. Many of their relatives and friends were
also practicing Falun Gong. Many high-ranking officials in the Communist Party,
government and military had taken up the practice themselves after attending
Mr. Li Hongzhi's lectures personally or hearing about it by word-of-mouth.
In the latter half of 1996 Falun Gong practitioners first
began to report incidents of harassment by police. Luo Gan was already a
high-ranking official. As the Chair of the Communist Party's Political Legal
Committee, Luo was in charge of the Public Security Bureau, the national
intelligence agencies, and the judiciary. But Luo Gan saw in Falun Gong an
opportunity for further political gain and put in motion a plan to put Falun
Gong and the government at odds with each other.
As part of this plan, Luo, looking for a pretext to ban the
practice, ordered the police in China to conduct a secret investigation of
Falun Gong across the country. In July 1998, through the Chinese Ministry of
Public Security Bureau #1 (a.k.a. Political Security Bureau), Luo Gan issued
Public Authority [1998] #555 "Notification about conducting investigation
of Falun Gong." This document first labeled Falun Gong a "cult,"
then asked the police departments across the country to systematically plant
agents to investigate and collect "evidence."
The investigation by the police, however, found no evidence
of crimes related to Falun Gong.
At the end of the summer a letter was written in response
to Luo's police investigation by 135 very highly respected members of society,
including famous professors, actors, and high level government officials. The chief
author of the letter was a famous law professor at Beijing University. In it he
explained that the basis of Luo Gan's investigation of Falun Gong in July, the
above-mentioned "notification" from the Chinese Ministry of Public
Security Bureau #1, violated the Chinese Constitution and was against the law.
Premier Zhu Rongji quickly responded, saying that the
Public Security Bureau should not harass Falun Gong practitioners, but should
concentrate on security issues. Zhu's response also mentioned that Falun Gong
had helped to save large amounts of medical costs for the country.
The response from Premier Zhu, however, was intercepted by
Luo, and never forwarded to Falun Gong practitioners. It was not until April
25, 1999, that Premier Zhu learned his response had been withheld by someone.
It was also not until that time that Falun Gong practitioners first learned
there had been such a positive response from Premier Zhu.
Following the police investigation in July, a few retired
Communist Party members of the National People's Congress led by Qiao Shi, who
had been in his own time been a very high-ranking official, conducted their own
investigation of Falun Gong. They received a great deal of feedback from the
population, and concluded that Falun Gong brought much benefit to China with no
negative impact. They ended their report by saying "Winning the hearts of
the people you gain the world. Losing the hearts of the people, you lose
everything." The report was submitted in October to the Permanent Standing
Committee (the group of seven Communist Party members who run the country) ,
which Jiang Zemin headed.
Insiders at Zhongnanhai (the government compound in
Beijing) reported that Jiang was very displeased with this report, and wrote a
note to Luo Gan expressing his displeasure, a note that excited Luo's desire to
advance himself by opposing Falun Gong.
The acts of harassment against Falun Gong came to a head in
the city of Tianjin, not far from Beijing. Luo Gan's brother-in-law, a man with
a Ph. D. in physics named He Zuoxiu, who has regularly written propaganda
articles for the Communist Party, had written a magazine article attacking
Falun Gong. That article included a previously discredited story about an individual
said to have committed suicide due to practicing Falun Gong (in fact that young
man had neither practiced Falun Gong nor committed suicide). When the magazine
refused to retract the article, practitioners held a peaceful appeal outside
its office.
Police arrested and beat them. When local practitioners
appealed to the police in Tianjin for the release of those arrested, they were
told all appeals on this issue must go to Beijing. In all previous incidents in
which practitioners had been harassed, this had never been said before. The
stakes had risen.
In Mainland China, Appeal Bureaus are set up by the
government to receive grievances from the people. All levels of the Party and
administrative departments have Appeal Offices. For example, the Appeal Bureau
for the State Council is located about two to three hundred meters down Fuyou
Street from Zhongnanhai, the central government's compound in Beijing.
On the morning of April 25, 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong
practitioners--following the instructions they were given by officials in
Tianjin--came to the Appeal Bureau for the State Council from different areas.
They had heard of the situation through word of mouth, and came to appeal of
their own individual will, hoping to appeal directly to the officials in the
central government. Police were waiting for them in force. Rather than
directing them away from the sensitive government compound of Zhongnanhai
toward the Appeals Office, police did the opposite. They refused to let
practitioners approach the Appeals Office, and instead directed them opposite
Zhongnanhai until the group wound entirely around the complex in neat, orderly
rows.
On that day, then-Premier Zhu Rongji came out of the
Zhongnanhai government compound and talked to the Falun Gong practitioners. According
to witnesses, Premier Zhu asked why the practitioners had come, saying
"Didn't I already issue comments on your practice ?" The Falun Gong
practitioners responded that they never received Zhu's correspondence. They
proceeded to explain that police in Tianjin had beaten and illegally arrested
over 30 Falun Gong practitioners. "We were told this could not be resolved
locally, and that we should appeal to the central government," the
practitioners told Premier Zhu.
After listening to the report of the situation, Zhu issued
an order to release the arrested practitioners that same day. After confirming
that the practitioners in Tianjin would be released, the 10,000 then quietly
dispersed.
Not knowing practitioners were instructed to go to Beijing
and then arranged around Zhongnanhai by the police awaiting them, many
observers understood the appearance of practitioners there to be a direct
challenge to the Communist Party's authority, and, when the persecution began,
assumed the events of April 25th to be the cause.
Eyewitnesses report that when the news of the Falun Gong
appeal was brought to Jiang during the day, he responded with a vehemence that
shocked all present, "Crush Falun Gong! Crush it! Crush it
completely!"
That evening, Jiang wrote a letter to the other members of
the Permanent Standing Committee and other top Party officials, calling for an
emergency meeting regarding this incident. "The Communist Party must
vanquish Falun Gong," Jiang stated in the letter. "How could it be
possible that the Marxist theory we endorse and the materialism and atheism
that we believe in can't vanquish what Falun Gong propagates? If it were true, wouldn't
we become laughing stocks?"
During the meeting, Jiang openly reprimanded Zhu calling
him "Muddle-headed! Muddle-headed!" He repudiated the Premier's
decision that was in the process of being implemented, and forced the Party to
accept his personal goal to "eradicate" Falun Gong.
At the end of the meeting, Zhu Rongji, who had been accused
under Mao of being a "rightist," stopped and shook hands with every
staff member present, saying his goodbyes. He is not known to have uttered a
word about Falun Gong since.
Acting on Jiang's instructions the General Office of the
CCP Central Committee and the State Council then issued a circular to the Party
Committees of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. This
demanded that all departments ascertain whether any of their personnel were
Falun Gong practitioners and whether they had been to Zhongnanhai on April
25th. Jiang also ensured that the General Political Department of the People's
Liberation Army issue a directive demanding that all military personnel,
including support workers and even retirees, cease participation in Falun Gong
exercises. The order stated: "The people's armed forces must never allow
any qigong organizations of a religious nature; and must firmly and decisively
dismiss those servicemen and dependents who are Falun Gong exercisers. Whoever
disobeys this shall be strictly disciplined."
Yet, Jiang still faced considerable opposition within the
Communist Party. His policy was viewed by most of the top Party members as
irrational, unnecessary, and one that violated China's own Constitution. Jiang,
however, was the head of the Communist Party, the government, and the military.
Thus, in the face of Jiang's intimidation, over the next few months all high-ranking
officials of the Chinese government gradually grew silent on the Falun Gong
issue.
Between April 25 and July 20, 1999, Jiang and Luo began to
make use of all meetings and public occasions to force everyone to express
their attitudes and pledge their allegiance. Chinese government sources say the
situation during this time was also very chaotic as Jiang's followers attempted
to find incriminating details that they could use to justify the persecution
and silence any objections.
The State Appeals offices still held policies that
announced a "freedom to practice" qigong, and "no ban on
spiritual practices." These announcements were on the walls of the Appeals
offices directly alongside the new policies posted by Jiang, making the discord
about Falun Gong at the highest levels of the Party visible for all to see.
At a Politburo meeting on June 7 Jiang announced the
decision to form a leadership team "to deal with the Falun Gong problem."
The Director of that team would be former vice-premier Li Lanqing, and his
assistant directors would be Luo Gan and the Propaganda Minister Ding Guangen.
On June 10, the Central Committee obediently formed the "Leadership
Team to Deal with the Falun Gong Problem," headed by Li, with Luo and Ding
as assistants. This team in turn formed an office they called the "6-10 Office,"
named after the date of its institution. The 6-10 Office would carry out the
policies of Jiang and his "Leadership Team" in eradicating Falun
Gong.
In the early morning hours of July 20, 1999, Falun Gong
practice site volunteers around the country were pulled from their beds and
detained by police. On the same day, Jiang ordered the Central Civil Affairs
Department, which is responsible for the registration of groups and organizations,
to issue a notice banning Falun Gong.
An estimated 35,000 practitioners were detained over the
next several weeks. Within a few months, the first reports of severe abuse,
torture and killings began to emerge from inside China.
According to sources in China and thousands of testimonies
from victims over the last four years, Jiang implemented the persecution
through a three-pronged directive to all levels of government: Destroy [Falun
Gong] practitioners physically; destroy their reputations; destroy them
financially.
Numerous edicts handed down by Jiang, which the security
and propaganda machines had no choice but to obey, were illegal and
unconstitutional. In July 1999, Jiang, through the Bureau of Civil Affairs (an
Administrative branch), declared Falun Gong to be an "illegal
organization." According to Articles 2, 80, and 81 of the Constitution of
the People's Republic of China, only the National People's Congress has the
ability to declare an organization illegal. The President does not possess such
power. Yet, this executive order initiated the persecution campaign.
In October 1999, the National People's Congress passed a
series of laws basically targeting Falun Gong. Regarding these laws, a November
2, 1999, article from the Washington Post stated: "When [China's Communist
leaders] found themselves without the laws they need to rigorously persecute a
peaceful meditation society, the Party simply ordered up some new laws. Now these
will be applied--retroactively." These laws were dictated by Jiang, using
the National People's Congress merely as a rubber stamp. Doing so oversteps the
authority granted to the President by the Chinese constitution. Applying these
laws retroactively to prosecute Falun Gong practitioners and sentence them to
prison terms was likewise an illegal action.
Although many provinces were quick to enact Jiang's policy
on Falun Gong, some southern provinces, such as Guandong, were not pursuing the
persecution with the vigor Jiang demanded. Thus, in February 2000, Jiang went
on a tour of those southern provinces to spur them on and ensure that they toed
the line. In particular, he criticized Guandong for not "doing its best in
the persecution of Falun Gong," and for being "too soft" on
Falun Gong. He also asked Guandong Province Governor, Li Changchun, to make a
statement at the conference of the Political Bureau to "express
regret" with respect to his lack of efforts in this area.
Under pressure from Jiang, Guandong Province as well as
other southern provinces eventually began to incarcerate Falun Gong
practitioners and send them to labor camps en masse . Among the first from
Guandong to be sent to a labor camp was a university classmate of Hu Jintao,
the vice-president of China (and the man who would succeed Jiang as President
and Chair of the Communist Party). Hu had been very passive in carrying out Jiang's
campaign against Falun Gong. In forcing Hu to accept this, Jiang
sent a powerful double message: no one may be granted exception from the persecution,
and none of China's leadership may try to avoid the responsibility for enforcing
it.
By the end of 2003, details of 852 deaths have been verified
by the Falun Dafa InfoCenter (FDI), with informed sources putting the true
death toll well in the thousands. Hundreds of thousands have been detained,
with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps, typically without
trial, according to the InfoCenter.
CNN's China expert Willy Wo-Lap Lam has reported that the
persecution of Falun Gong was in fact an attempt by Jiang to secure his own
power. Lam quoted a Party insider on February 6, 2001 as saying "by
unleashing a Mao-style movement, Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge
allegiance to his line. This will boost Jiang's authority--and may give him
enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist
Party Congress next year."
Others who have been investigating the human rights abuses
against Falun Gong in China, however, put forth a more mundane cause: Jealousy.
Consider events in the spring of 1998. The Yangtze River was flooding. Jiang visited
the city of Wuhan on an inspection tour of the endangered areas. According to
eyewitnesses, a particular group working on the dikes caught his eye. They
worked very well together and with great enthusiasm. Their section of the dike
had stayed ahead of the flood. Jiang was very pleased. He asked who these
workers were. When told they were local Falun Gong practitioners who had
volunteered for this duty, he flew into a rage, turned on his heel, and stalked
off.
"Jiang was jealous of Falun Gong's wide-spread
popularity among the people," says Dr. Shiyu Zhou, a Falun Dafa InfoCenter
(FDI) spokesman. "Falun Gong had captured the nation's attention and
seemed to truly bring about changes in the communities. After so many years of
turmoil, people in China were returning to a more traditional Chinese way of
life, working together, thinking of others before themselves and putting an
emphasis on kindness. It may sound petty at first, but the admiration people
held for Falun Gong made him furious. That's the main reason he did this."
Dr. Michael Pearson-Smith lives in Melbourne,
Australia, and works in educational publishing and sales
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