The Herald-Sun (Durham, NC): China's oppressive ways

January 31, 2005 Monday

By: THAI THON Guest columnist

The Herald-Sun's Web site carried an Associated Press article about the Falun Gong ["Chinese show off repentant Falun Gong"]. As a Falun Gong practitioner, I am disappointed that after four years, the AP is still following the Chinese government's propaganda. The article never questioned the Chinese government's claim that "Falun Gong practitioners" set themselves on fire on Tiananmen Square in January 2001. Our media should be able to independently report the facts, especially in something as serious as the Falun Gong persecution in China.

The so-called Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident is actually old news. The International Education Development (IED) reviewed the videotape of the immolation and called it a staged event by the Chinese government at the United Nations in August 2001. The documentary "False Fire: China's Tragic New Standard in State Deception," which analyzed the incident, won an award at the 51st Columbus International Film & Video Festival in 2003. A video deconstruction of the immolation "footage" is available online at www.faluninfo.net/videosonline.asp showing that it was likely staged.

Every year around this time, the Chinese government brings out this old propaganda to incite hatred against Falun Gong. What's interesting this year is that Zhao Ziyang, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), died recently. Zhao was against the 1989 Tiananmen student massacre and was consequently sacked and put under house arrest for the last 15 years until he died. Zhao's death has brought a great stir in China and evoked memories of the massacre. Does this explain why the immolation propaganda is so intense this year -- to distract the Chinese people?

The CCP's violent persecution against Falun Gong has gone almost six years. Thousands have died, and hundreds of thousands are suffering torture and abuse in labor camps and prisons. The CCP is intolerant of any belief outside its communist ideology. Our country was founded on freedom and human rights, and our media should live by these principles. We should not help an oppressive government commit genocide.

The writer is a biologist who lives in Woodcroft.