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Chapter 7 A Nation Misled
TABLE OF CONTENTS
7.1 A NATION MISLED
7.2 FOREIGN JOURNALISTS AND REPORTERS THREATENED AND HARASSED AS A RESULT OF FALUN GONG COVERAGE
7.3 PRACTITIONERS PUNISHED FOR REVEALING MISTREATMENTS IN DETENTION
7.4 THE INTERNET COMMUNICATION OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS DISRUPTED BY CHINESE GOVERNMENT; FALUN GONG WEB SITES ATTACKED
7.1.1 Guiyang Evening Newspaper reprinted an article that fabricated slanderous news to defame Master
Li
7.1.2 China tried to manipulate news outlets to muzzle criticism in Canada
7.1.3 With no restraint, slandering can often go to extremes
7.1.4 "No apology anymore - Maryland Government did not and will not take back the award to Mr. Li
Hongzhi"
7.1.5 Falun Gong Practitioners detained in the "transformation class" because they were "stubborn"
7.1.6 Health improved through practicing Falun Gong; mother eventually died in hospital, even after taking injection and medicine -- the daughter's clarification
7.1.7 All forces mobilized; various forms adopted to transform Falun Gong
practitioners
7.1.8 Undeniable political duties - "Educating" and transforming Falun Gong Practitioners
7.1.9 Practitioner suffers from slanders, but steps out to expose the truth
7.1.10 Chinese consulate criticizes Boone county, Columbia city, in Missouri USA
7.1.11 National ideological re-education campaign continues
7.1.12 "I prefer to rely on my own government," said Mayor Hindman of Columbia, Missouri
7.1.13 Falun Gong honors rescinded; State, city proclamations for spiritual group irked
Chinese
7.1.14 China steps up harassment overseas with embassies as main forces
7.1.15 China pressures Baltimore into rescinding goodwill gesture toward Falun Gong leader
7.1.16 St. Louis Mayor would not rescind recognition of Falun Gong despite pressure from the Chinese
consulate
7.1.17 Communist Party Secretary works tirelessly to "re-educate" Falun Gong
practitioners
7.1.18 Psychologically transforming "Falun Gong" Practitioners
7.1.19 All forces are mobilized - see from some titles of the articles from People's Daily, the largest official newspaper in China
7.1.20 Professor in UCLA, Wu Yingnian, clarifies the facts about the certificate issued and rescinded by LA city government
7.1.21 People's Daily suggested the very fate of China hangs on the struggle against the spiritual movement
7.1.22 Law enforcement, propaganda machines mobilized to carry out a multi-pronged attack on Falun Gong and its U.S.-based leader, Li Hongzhi
7.1.23 China passed a law expanding legal penalties against Falun Gong
7.1.25 Practitioners are forced to watch TV programs and newspapers full of fabricated slanders against Falun Dafa
7.1.26 The president labels Falun Gong before the People Committee's Meeting
7.1.28 An embarrassing gift from the president
7.1.29 Masses were used for "educating and transforming" Falun Gong practitioner
7.1.30 Communist Party played a key role in transforming work
7.1.31 Nation-wide emergency meeting called to adopt even tougher measures
7.1.32 Story fabricated by an employee from a TV station
7.1.33 Videotape modified; facts denied to incriminate Falun Gong and Mr. Li
Hongzhi
7.1.34 The responsible persons of one's work unit, relatives and good friends are all used to put pressure on Falun Gong practitioners
7.1.35 Everybody should step out to criticize Falun Gong - see from some articles in People's Daily
7.1.36 Bold bookstore owner selling Falun Gong books was punished
7.1.37 Forced to attend "brainwash class"
7.1.38 People urged to "step out to expose and sue Falun Gong"
7.1.39 Re-education and transformation - Key Falun Gong practitioners were forced to watch TV, listen to the radio, and read
newspapers
7.1.40 News and media departments in Beijing were ready to attack
7.2 FOREIGN JOURNALISTS AND REPORTERS THREATENED AND HARASSED AS A RESULT OF FALUN GONG COVERAGE
7.2.1 Chinese authorities warned journalists from international news agencies not to report on Falun Gong spiritual movement
7.2.2 Journalists threatened, detained and working permits taken away for reporting Falun Gong
7.2.3 Foreign journalists protest harassment in China because of the reporting of Falun
Gong
7.3 PRACTITIONERS PUNISHED FOR REVEALING MISTREATMENTS IN DETENTION
7.3.1 Professors sentenced; graduate students expelled for suspicion of drafting a letter of appeal to the General Secretary of UN, Mr. Annan
7.3.2 A major organizer of the Falun Gong news release in Beijing sentenced to 12 years in jail
7.3.3 A Chinese policemen who attended the Falun Gong press conference has been detained and charged
7.3.4 A young teacher attended the Falun Gong news release in Beijing was
arrested
7.3.5 A government official was sentenced to four years in jail
7.3.6 Zhang Chunqing, Zhu Hang, and other practitioners suffer further persecutions for exposing tortures in
detention
7.3.7 An assistant professor sentenced to four years in prison for posting an article on the Internet in favor of the health benefits of Falun Gong
7.3.8 Four practitioners arrested for leaking the news about the death of a detained Falun Gong practitioner caused by police brutality
7.3.9 China has charged a student who posted information about Falun Gong on the Internet
7.4.1 A student was arrested and expected to be sentenced because of putting Falun Gong information on the Internet
7.4.2 Falun Gong web sites in North America and Europe are attacked by hackers from China
7.4.3 Falun Gong web sites are blocked in China
7.4.4 Falun Gong web sites in China shut down; anti-Falun Gong web sites built up; Falun Gong overseas web sites attacked
7.1.1 Guiyang Evening Newspaper reprinted an article that fabricated some slanderous news to defame Master Li
Message received: February 18, 2000
Victims: Falun Gong Practitioners in Guizhou Province
Location of incident: Guizhou Province
Description:
The recent situation in Guizhou Province:
On January 20, Guiyang Evening Newspaper reprinted an article that fabricated some slanderous news to defame Teacher Li. Many practitioners stood out to defend Teacher Li. In the end, about a hundred practitioners got detained. Later, the communist authorities had to admit that the news was a 100% fabrication.
7.1.2 China tried to manipulate news outlets to muzzle criticism in Canada
News received: February 9, 2000
Source of news: Globe and Mail
Description:
CSIS warned Ottawa of Beijing media plot: China tried to manipulate news outlets to muzzle criticism in Canada, agents say.
Federal counter intelligence officers say they uncovered a well-financed Chinese government plot to muzzle criticism of Beijing’s human rights record in Canada’s Chinese-language news media in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Nevertheless, the officers said wiretaps and informants revealed a detailed and worrisome picture of a foreign power trying secretly to manipulate political debate among Canadians of Chinese heritage.
Chinese-language media are well founded, according to several prominent members of the Canadian Chinese community. Michael To, the Canadian representative of the World Council of Chinese Pro-democracy Organizations, points to the case of two senior journalists at a Chinese community newspaper in Ottawa who were forced to resign after the Chinese embassy complained about articles that criticized Beijing’s human-rights record.
The report included “irrefutable evidence, including banking records, that they [Beijing’s agents] were heavily involved in buying up [Chinese-language] media in Canada,” one veteran of the investigation said. One counterintelligence officer said Beijing often employs proxies to secure control of Chinese-language media in foreign countries. Agents working on behalf of the Chinese government would approach wealthy Chinese businessmen, who were sympathetic to the regime, to buy media outlets, a veteran CSIS officer explained
7.1.3 With no restraint, slandering can often go to extremes
News received: February 7, 2000
Source of news: www.minghui.ca
Description:
Chinese Communist authorities admitted that report on Falun Gong was totally fabricated
The slandering has gone to such an extent that, recently, the communist authorities had to admit that a special report claiming “Zhang Zhi-wen committed suicide by burning herself and her daughter, in protest of the government’s crackdown on Falun Gong” (reprinted by many Chinese newspapers), was a 100% fabrication.
Hai Tao, of Voice of America, reported from Los Angeles: On November 28, a special report authored by Li Xingang was published in the newspaper “the Xian Workers”. The article “reported” that “Zhang Zhiwen”, who was a lady living in Weinan region of Shanxi Province, burned her six month-old daughter and then committed suicide by setting herself on fire, in protest of the government’s crackdown on Falun Gong. This report made a stir in the country. It has been reprinted by many newspapers in Shenzhen, Harbin, Shanghai and other places. Recently, the Hong Kong Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movements conducted an investigation and found that the report was a total fabrication. The center said, by quoting Chinese officials, that the people, location, time and the story in that report were all fabricated. An official in the Weinan Communist Political and Law Committee of Shanxi Province named Wu testified that there was absolutely no fire-suicide event and moreover there did not exist a lady named Zhang Zhiwen at all. In addition, many news agencies in China called them for verification and got the same answer.
7.1.4 “No apology anymore - Maryland Government did not and will not take back the award to Mr. Li Hongzhi”
News received: February 4, 2000
Source of news: Wang Pei, a Falun Gong practitioner in Maryland
Description:
Conversation with a Maryland Government Officer
Maryland State Governor Parris N. Glendening awarded Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Gong, a certificate of “Honorary Citizenship” of Maryland on August 14, 1999. Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke named August 13, 1999 as “Mr. Li Hong Zhi Day” in Baltimore, Maryland.
On December 7, 1999, the Baltimore Sun published an article reporting that Maryland Government have rescinded the awards and apologized to the Chinese Government. So we made an appointment with Ms. Elizabeth Pike who is the director of the state’s federal relations office.
Ms. Elizabeth Pike was the person who deals with Chinese Embassy about this issue. She said a Chinese officer called her office angrily and requested her to take back the award. After meeting with the Governor, she wrote a letter, which emphasized on explaining the award doesn’t mean to hurt Chinese people’s feelings. The Maryland Government didn’t intend to take the award back. But later, Ms. Pike knew that this issue was on Chinese CCTV and her name was mentioned. She pointed out that what the news said was not quite the same as what she wrote down onto the letter. Also, she felt that the Chinese leader Mr. Jiang Zemin took this Falun Gong issue very personally, which she could not understand. According to Ms. Pike, the Maryland Government has decided that this is the end of the issue. They will not issue any apology anymore and the original letter was just trying to be polite. Maryland Government did not and will not take back the award to Mr. Li Hongzhi. The Chinese government used the letter to put on a big show; this really damaged the image of the Chinese government in the State of Maryland.
7.1.5 Falun Gong Practitioners detained in the “transformation class” because they were “stubborn”
Victims:
1. Zhang Weihua, female
2. Chen Hexiu
3. Zhu Xia, female. Zhu Xia has been pregnant
for 8 months
and other 16 practitioners
Location of incident: Jinniu district police station in Chengdu, Sichuan
Description:
On February 1, the Jinniu district police station sentenced Zhang Weihua, Chen Hexiu and 16 other practitioners except a pregnant woman in the “transformation class” held in the Chadianzhi to 15 days of administrative detention because the authorities felt they were “stubborn”.
Zhu Xia has been pregnant for 8 months. Her husband, Wang Shilin, was sentenced to one and a half year in prison for having gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Her mother was detained for refusing to give up Falun Gong. Her father, who was not a practitioner, has mental problem. She does not work and has no income, so she was exempt from detention. However, the police station required her to come to the police station every morning at 9:00am and stay until 4:00pm in the afternoon. Ms. Zhu Xia is determined about Falun Dafa and handles the pressures easily. Her kindness and noble deeds has touched many police officers.
The “transformation class” held in the Chazhidian has lasted for more than three months. The practitioners in the class only expressed their determination about Falun Gong; as a result, however, they have been detained in the “class” or in jail for such a long time. They have been deprived of personal freedom. They would not be released from the “class” until they promise that they would not practice Falun Gong, not go to appeal, and not communicate with other practitioners.
7.1.6 Health improved through practicing Falun Gong; mother eventually died in hospital, even after taking injection and medicine -- the daughter’s clarification
News received: January 26, 2000
Source of news: www.minghui.ca
Description:
Daughter of one of the 1400 Cases of Death speaks out The truth behind one of the “1400 Cases of Death” (by Jin Youming) [“1400 Cases of Death” was a story publicized on the Chinese state-run media]
My mother is called Ma Jinxiu. She lived in Guanganmen, Shangyi East #4-041, Xuangwu District of Beijing. She was counted by the Chinese government as one of the “1,400 cases of deaths caused by Falun Gong”. Her death “due to Falun Gong” has also been publicized on TV controlled by the Chinese government. Now I will talk about the true story about her death.
In 1981 when I went to the middle school, my mother got diabetes. She got four ‘+’s in every medical examination. She often felt palpitated (a type of heart disease). Feeling that she might die very soon, she entrusted me to aunt Hua, asking her to take care of my brother, my sister and especially me, as I was so young after she died.
My mother had been aged by her disease for more than ten years. Despite taking more than 30 pills of medicine everyday, her health got worse and worse. In 1994 and 1995, she had two strokes, which made her face partially paralyzed. Her two eyebrows looked extremely uneven. Her eyes were dimmed and her face looked dark. Her mouth corners were skewed too. After the second stroke, the doctor said that first of all, it would be very unlikely for her face to recover; second, if she had another stroke, she might lose her life. My mother struggled on the border of death.
My mother’s health did not improved until she learned Falun Dafa in 1996. After she watched Master Li’s teaching videotapes, she thought that Falun Dafa is so good that she would like to practice cultivation of Falun Dafa. Very soon, my mother’s health improved miraculously. She stopped taking medicines. She kept practicing Falun Dafa exercises, studying the books and improving her Xinxing (heart quality, mind nature, moral values etc.) Her face recovered quickly. In only two to three months, her two eyebrows became almost even. Her two eyes became bright for the first time after years. Her mouth became normal. She got back a healthy color on her face. She could walk much faster than before. She would feel tired after a tiny bit of work before. After she practiced Falun Dafa, she felt at ease even after working for half a day.
My mother had not had any bad symptoms until in the middle of 1997. My sister and I lived across the door. My mother looked very well when she stayed in my room. One minute later, she went to my sister’s room, and my sister started to cry that my mother’s arms could not move. We sent her to the hospital very quickly. After she was in the hospital, the hospital issued a notice that my mother might die soon. My mother stayed at hospital for treatments for a few months before she died.
She was sent to the hospital soon after she felt ill without delay and hence received adequate medical treatments. She took medicine. She was given injections. There does not exist the problem of refusing medical treatments. What about the outcome? She still died. We all know that the hospital could treat one’s illnesses but could not save one’s life if one is to die.
If a patient dies in the hospital, can we attribute one’s death to the hospital? Then, how could we attribute a Falun Dafa practitioner’s death to Falun Dafa if he/she dies? If nobody will die after practicing Falun Dafa, then all the people in the world will practice Falun Dafa in order to avoid death. There are a lot of people who die because of illness every day in China. Of the 1,400 cases of death that were said to be caused by Falun Dafa, how many actually died from their terminal illness? And what is the percentage of these cases among the more than 100 million practitioners? There are so many practitioners whose illnesses were cured because of practicing Falun Dafa, and save a lot of money for the country, and what’s the percentage of that? The Chinese Government would not listen to the true stories of health improvement by many practitioners . Instead they tried so hard to find people who have had terminal illness and would have died naturally anyway. It is not fair to blame Falun Gong for their death.
7.1.7 All forces mobilized; various forms adopted to transform Falun Gong practitioners
Date: January 25, 2000
Newspaper: People’s Daily, International News, Page 3
Title of the article: Mobilize All Forces, Adopt Various Forms: Xianyang Is Doing a Good Job of Re-educating Falun Gong Practitioners (Expose and Criticize Falun Gong Further)
There are totally 2219 people who have practiced Falun Gong, including 157 Party members, in Xianyang.
In the process of “re-educating” [re-educating is the term used for forcing/convincing Falun Gong pracitioners to abandon their faith] Falun Gong practitioners, all municipalities, districts, towns in Xianyang have adopted a system of helpers, “one helping one”, “two helping one”, and “many helping one”, etc. There has been as many as seven people “helping” one practitioner. The people who are responsible for these practitioners persistently meet them everyday to do ideological work, and have touched the majority of Falun Gong key members and diehard ones greatly. Especially since a doctoral student at Tsinghua University, Li Yixiang’s account of his own words was published, all townships and municipalities have run training classes. Weicheng district has even printed Li Yixiang’s story into booklets and make each previous Falun Gong practitioner have one in hand to speed up the “re-education.” In order to speed up the process, Xianyang has arranged for relatives and friends to be responsible for the re-education of practitioners.
7.1.8 Undeniable political duties - “Educating” and transforming Falun Gong Practitioners
Date: January 16, 2000
Newspaper: People’s Daily, International News, Page 2,
Title of the article: Spring Breeze Brings Rain, Dripping Water Pierces Stone, It is the Undeniable Political Duties - Jilin Province Has Made Significant Achievement in Educating and Transforming “Falun Gong” Practitioners
Description:
Taking the campaign against Falun Gong seriously, Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party has requested the different levels of party commit-tees and governments in the province to treat it as their undeniable political duties and responsibilities in re-educating Falun Gong practitioners. Based on such an understanding, this province has regarded the work of reeducating Falun Gong practitioners, especially those who have been recalcitrant , as the key elements and the most important part of this serious political struggle.
Through thorough investigation of the situations and identifying the responsibilities, they established a strict system of responsibilities and liabilities for those in charge of re-educating Falun Gong practitioners. At the very beginning of the struggle against Falun Gong, the party committees, governments as well as the relevant departments of different levels in the province have adopted such a structure of responsibilities and liabilities in re-educating Falun Gong practitioners: the officials are responsible and liable for the key members of Falun Gong, the party organizations for their party members, work units for their workers, party members for non party members, teachers for their students, workers for their families, transformed key Falun Gong members for regular Falun Gong practitioners; thus making this work of re-educating Falun Gong practitioners everybody’s responsibility. As the struggle has progressed, this system of responsibilities and liabilities has also been strengthened. It has been developed from being that only one person is responsible and liable in re-educating one Falun Gong practitioner to becoming that several people are responsible and liable for one Falun Gong practitioner.
7.1.9 Practitioner suffers from slanders, but steps out to expose the truth
Message received: January 11, 2000
Victim: Li Guanghua, 37 years of age
Description:
False news reports must be exposed -- exposure of mainland China’s false news report (by a Falun Gong practitioner who suffered from slanders)
My name is Li Guanghua, 37 years of age. I am currently employed as a lecturer at the Department of Foreign Language of Foreign Language Institute in affiliation with Anhui Institute of Pedagogy. I am also a firm believer of Falun Dafa. Not long ago, I was deeply astonished by the false news report about me which was carried by newspapers included Anhui Daily and People’s Daily
January 11, 2000, Anhui Daily published a signed article titled Walk Out of The Falun Gong Mud on their front page. There were three points summarized as follows, 1. I renounced Falun Gong ; 2. I did not attach importance to the quality of my teaching when I was practicing Falun Gong, and the teaching quality has been improved after being transformed; 3. I did not give much attention to scientific research, after being transformed I published two thesis papers. However, the facts are not like that.
First, I was a determined Falun Dafa practitioner, I am now, and I will be in the future. There never existed an issue of renouncing Falun Dafa, let alone being re-educated.
Second, I have always been conscientious and responsible for my teaching career. As a result, I have earned public praise among the students. Being responsible for one’s job is a requirement for practitioners of Falun Dafa. Besides, since I never stopped practicing Falun Gong, there exists no issue of difference before and after the so-called “transformation”.
Third, in the second half of 1999, I published two scientific papers on related topics. In fact, these papers were written beforehand and were mailed out in the first half of 1999. Both publications indicated the date of which my papers were received which could be used as evidences. The issue of publishing papers as a result of the transformation effort does not exist.
The propaganda office of the party committee in my school, motivated by their own political interests, has fabricated the news report with a reporter from Anhui Daily based on the irresponsible remarks by the school officials that recklessly distorted the facts. With the fact that I had always been practicing Falun Gong , they could still make up such a story of how I was re-educated . That is the most ridiculous thing in the world!
7.1.10 Chinese consulate criticizes Boone county, Columbia city, in Missouri USA
News received: January 5, 2000
Source of news: Columbia Daily Tribune, Columbia, Missouri
Title of the article: Falun Gong declarations irk Chinese Consulate criticizes Boone County, city (by Pierrette J. Shields of the Tribune’s staff)
Description:
The Columbia City Council proclaimed, and the Boone County Commission tomorrow plans to proclaim, a Falun Dafa week and is allowing a local group of practitioners to use the Boone County Government Center grounds. The city recognized the week December 26 through January 1, and the county’s week is planned for January 9 through January 16.
The deputy consulate of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago has asked local officials to cease supporting Columbia’s practitioners. He called presiding commissioner Don Stamper two weeks ago to urge him to disallow the group’s use of public property and to refrain from passing a proclamation declaring Falun Dafa Week. “We just wanted to alert the county that the Falun Gong is an outlaw organization,” Shen Welian said from his Chicago-based office yesterday. “This would certainly be something against the Chinese.”
He sent materials to both mayor Darwin Hindman and Stamper denouncing the group and asked the officials to renounce the proclamations. If Stamper “can cancel the decision that would be much appreciated,” Shen said. “I am sure American people don’t like cults.” He said the proclamations are offensive to the Chinese people. “I just don’t want to see the Boone County make a decision that really hurts the Chinese official side and the Chinese people’s feelings.”
Stamper plans to present the county proclamation to the group Sunday during their kickoff celebrations for Falun Dafa Week at the Boone County Government Center. Hindman said he did not understand the controversy surrounding the group when the city approved the proclamation, but now that it is done it will remain. “To withdraw this would be symbolic of interfering with their rights,” he said, noting if he has been aware of the tension between the practitioners and the Chinese government he likely wouldn’t have approved the move. “It was an interesting experience to be in the middle of international pressure, and the Chinese government was pretty good at putting on the pressure,” Hindman said. Stamper said he will not restrict the group’s use of public property.
Terry Weidner, director of MU’s Asian Affairs Center said. “What China does not understand, of course, is that demanding that we rescind these resolutions can be perceived as a violation of our sovereign rights of democracy and free speech.”
7.1.11 National ideological re-education campaign continues
News received: January 4, 2000
Source of news: AFP
Description:
SCMP, “Re-education” to mark Zhongnanhai siege
(WILLY WO-LAP LAM and AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE )
Beijing is to launch a national ideological campaign ahead of the first anniversary of the Zhongnanhai Communist Party headquarters siege by Falun Gong members.
A security source in Beijing said yesterday that the aim of the “re-education” campaign was to “purge the residual poison of the Falun Gong”.
“Party cells in Communist Party, government and army departments, as well as in education and business units, will hold sessions of criticism and self-criticism,” the source said.
“Party authorities specifically want to ensure the purity of medium-to senior-level cadres. Officials are encouraged to expose the Falun Gong affiliation of those of their colleagues who have not voluntarily admitted their mistakes.”
The leadership’s recent instructions to ideological and propaganda departments have stressed two points: One is that the Falun Gong issue has become a new pretext with which so-called anti-China forces in the West attack Beijing.
The second is that the anti-Falun Gong campaign will be a protracted struggle that cannot be solved within a year or two.
7.1.12 “I prefer to rely on my own government,” said Mayor Hindman of Columbia, Missouri
News received: December 26, 1999
Source of news: Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Missouri
Title of the article: A world of controversy Even in Columbia, Falun Gong sparks debate (by Rika Kanaoka, Reporter@digmo.com )
Description:
To Mayor Darwin Hindman, it seemed quite innocuous - just another formality in a city official’s day.
After reviewing some written materials left by some residents, he signed a proclamation declaring this week “Falun Dafa Week.” But within weeks of the proclamation, an international controversy came to the mayor’s doorstep.
The Chinese Consulate in Chicago sent Hindman a series of critical faxes that called Falun Dafa a “dangerous cult” and asked the mayor to withdraw the proclamation. After researching the issue further, Hindman decided to stand by his decision. “I prefer to rely on my own government,” he said.
Hindman joins Seattle Mayor Paul Schell in unknowingly backing his way into a hornet’s nest. Schel issued a proclamation during the week of the World Trade Organization conference without knowing the issues in China. After Chinese Ambassador Li Zhaoxing, who was in Seattle for the trade talks, interceded, Schell decided to withdraw the proclamation, leaving Falun Gong members furious and betrayed.
7.1.13 Falun Gong honors rescinded; State, city proclamations for spiritual group irked Chinese
News received: December 11, 1999
Source of news: Washington Post, Page A25
Title of the article: Falun Gong Honors Rescinded; State, City Proclamations for Spiritual Group Irked Chinese (by Steven Mufson, Washington Post Staff Writer)
Description:
American mayors and governors make proclamations
all the time. It’s not every day they take them back or
apologize for them. But that’s what Maryland Gov. Parris
N. Glendening and the mayors of Seattle, Baltimore and
San Francisco have done since the Chinese Embassy
complained about proclamations honoring Li Hongzhi,
exiled leader of the Falun Gong spiritual and exercise
movement. Even the State Department got into the act,
according to Glendening’s office, by providing advice
about how to word a letter of apology.
In Seattle, for example, Mayor Paul Schell, a former port commissioner whose city is home to Boeing Co., Microsoft Corp. and agricultural exporters, “is well aware of the amount of trade we do with China,” said a spokesman. Although Chinese Ambassador Li Zhaoxing did not threaten retaliation for the “Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong Days” that were to coincide with the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, the ambassador “did make his displeasure clear in no uncertain terms,” said Schell aide Clifford Traisman.
“I hope you will convey my regrets to your government for this unfortunate situation,” Schell wrote November 30 in a contrite letter to the envoy. “I assure you that there was never any intent to cause embarrassment or insult to China.”
The Chinese Embassy has trumpeted the reversals on its World Wide Web site, calling Falun Gong a “laughingstock in Seattle” and quoting Schell as saying he was “embarrassed by making such a careless proclamation.”
7.1.14 China steps up harassment overseas with embassies as main forces
News received: December 7, 1999
Source of news: www.minghui.ca
Description:
Escalating the crackdown on Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China, the Chinese security administrations have stepped up harassment towards overseas Falun Gong practitioners. Directly interfering with and attacking Falun Gong web sites, attacking and slandering Falun Gong and repeatedly posting propaganda materials against Falun Gong on the Internet, following, wiretapping, controlling certain overseas Chinese media etc. are no longer news. Recently, what has happened frequently is that in the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and European countries, the ambassadors of the Chinese embassies took the lead to make appearances and held various meetings to “discuss” and “criticize” Falun Gong, disallowing the participation of Falun Gong practitioners. They coerced with economical interests the local governments in North America into withdrawing their proclamations that had already been issued to Falun Gong in recognition of its contributions to social welfare. At the same time, they employed various means such as interviews to threaten and induce overseas Falun Gong practitioners in order to change and “win them over”. From reliable sources some even darker espionage methods have also been in use.
A few days ago, a “seminar on the current situation” was organized jointly by the Central Propaganda Administration, Central Government Directly Associated Organization Council, Central National Organization Council, the General Political Department of PLA and the Chinese Communist Party Beijing Council. On November 26, Vice Premier Li Lanqing gave a report on the special topic of “Some issues about struggling with Falun Gong” in the People’s Great Hall. The report concluded that the struggle over the past period of time “has achieved a decisive victory.” He put forward the next step of continuing to “carry out thorough-ly” the struggle with Falun Gong and “achieving the complete victory in the struggle with Falun Gong.” There were over 3000 people from the army in Beijing, armed police, and department-level officials from the central organizations in Beijing attended the seminar.
Li Lanqing said in his report that since the Central Communist Party publicly banned Falun Gong on July 22 and implemented the crackdown on it, and the Ministry of Public Security issued the “public notice”, Falun Gong practitioners have been “generally stubborn” and are “resolute in their determination”. As he spoke of the number of people detained in Beijing (mainly around Tiananmen) as they appealed to the authorities, he said: there are over 60 or 70 people everyday from October 30 to present, and the number of practitioners who appealed during Annan’s visit to China between November 14 to November 17 is even more. So far there has not been a single day of peace, a single day without people coming to appeal. Thus he said that, “the struggle with Falun Gong would be long-term, arduous and complex.”
Li Lanqing also said, “Over the past period of time, we have achieved very good results in criticizing Falun Gong through Internet and the embassies abroad. Next we should continue launching attacks on our own initiative.”
7.1.15 China pressures Baltimore into rescinding goodwill gesture toward Falun Gong leader
News received: December 7, 1999
Source of news: Baltimore Sun
Title of the article: Never mind, Li Hongzhi; Retreat: China pressures Baltimore into rescinding goodwill gesture toward Falun Gong leader. The state issues its own apology. (by Frank Langfitt and Heather Dewar , SUN STAFF )
Description:
This year, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke named an official day for Chinese citizen Li Hongzhi, the leader of the spiritual meditation group Falun Gong. The governor’s office gave Li an honorary state citizenship certificate. Ordinarily, such gestures of goodwill go unnoticed by the executives who proclaim them and most of the rest of the world.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington complained angrily and effectively. Schmoke retroactively rescinded “Li Hongzhi Day,” and last month the governor’s office wrote a letter of apology to a Chinese Embassy official. “Please accept our humblest and most sincere apology for the misunderstanding caused by the awarding of a Certificate of Honorary Citizenship to Li Hongzhi,” wrote Elizabeth R. Pike, director of the state’s federal relations office. “We meant no offense to you or to the people of the People’s Republic of China.” Schmoke said he had not wanted the city drawn into Chinese politics but that someone in his public information office had passed on a request for approval for “Li Hongzhi Day” without realizing the sensitivity of the matter. “Given the politics over there, this is not something I wanted to get involved in,” said Schmoke, who visited China this year.
China often complains of the West meddling in its internal affairs over such issues as Tibet and human rights, but when he was asked whether China wasn’t doing the same to Maryland, Yu just laughed. “Not at all,” he said, suggesting that by criticizing state officials, the Chinese were helping rectify an embarrassing mis-take.
The state and the port of Baltimore do millions of dollars of business with China, which is potentially the world’s largest consumer market. Maryland has growing business ties to China, said Walinda P. West, a spokes-woman for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. The state has a representative in Shanghai. China is the world’s 19th-biggest market for Maryland exports; the state’s businesses sold $76.5 million worth of goods in 1998, up 30 percent over 1994 sales to China.
7.1.16 St. Louis Mayor would not rescind recognition of Falun Gong despite pressure from the Chinese consulate
News received: December 5, 1999
Source of news: Liu Ningping, St. Louis, MO
Description:
A conversation with a city official of St. Louis
Mayor Clarence Harmon proclaimed September 18th, 1999 as Falun Dafa Day in the City of St Louis. In late November, we felt that we need to provide the city government about the updated information of the persecution. One practitioner (Li Qiang) called the city office for appointment. The assistant of the Mayor who is in charge of international affair, Ms. Karen Isbell assured us explicitly that the recognition would not be taken back, even though they “had received pressure from the Chinese consulate”. She mentioned that in our local area, Falun Gong had no controversy.
7.1.17 Communist Party Secretary works tire-lessly to “re-educate” Falun Gong practitioners
Date: December 2, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Important News.
Title of the article: Help More and Win Over More, no Shirking and Giving up -- Huayu Electrical Instrument and Meter General Plant in Chongqing pays special attention to the critical link of ideological education, works thoroughly and painstakingly on re-educating and transforming key “Falun Gong” practitioners in the Plant.
In order to reach the goal of re-educating key Falun Gong members, and to bring along the majority of practitioners, Huayu General Plant has done a lot of painstaking work. When working on Ye Manying, a key member of “Falun Gong” in the plant, the Party Secretary, Li Shiren, visited her almost everyday. Using policies of the Central Party Committee and private family life, Li was eventually able to influence Ye.
7.1.18 Psychologically transforming “Falun Gong” Practitioners
Date: November 23, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, International News, Page 3.
Title of the article: The system of responsibility, Xichangjie in Changsha, prevents negative psychological reaction from “Falun Gong”.
November 22nd, reported by Wu Xinghua from Changsha: Xichangjie Subdistrict Office of the Chinese Communist Committee in Kaifu Distric, City of Changsha, Hunan Province, brings into full play the Party’s militant blockhouse and solidly does the work of psychologically transforming “Falun Gong” Practitioners.
7.1.19 All forces are mobilized - see from some titles of the articles from People’s Daily, the largest official newspaper in China
The following articles were published in People’s Daily which tend to mislead the public.
Date: November 19, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Compiled News Reports, Page 3
Title of the article: Patiently Persuade, Prevent Negative Reaction -- Hainan liberate the vast majority of Falun Gong Practitioners
Date: November 15, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Compiled News Reports, Page 3
Title of the article: Teachers and Students of Colleges in Zhejiang Province, thoroughly expose and criticize the Falun Gong Organization (Internet, “Colleges in Zhejiang Support Crackdown on Falun Gong”)
Date: November 12, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Compiled News Reports, Page 1
Title of the article: A Complicated and Fierce Struggle
Date: November 11, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Editorial commentary, Page 1
Title of the article: Do Deep-Going and Painstaking Education and Transformation Work
Date: November 4, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, News Roundup, Page 3
Title of the article: Chinese academy of social science organized forum to expose and criticize “Falun Gong”
Date: October 30, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Headline News, Page 2
Title of the article: Military and armed security forces stand firmly by the central government to fight against “Falun Gong” to the end.
Date: October 29, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Headline News
Title of the article: Our special commentator’s article triggered strong responses: Officials and the public across the country expose and criticize “Falun Gong” further.
Date: October 29, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Headline News, Page 1
Title of the article: Religious groups and social scientists in Beijing held forum severely criticizing “Falun Gong”
Date: October 19, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, News Roundup, Page 4
Title of the article: Hunan province reinforces its success in fighting against “Falun Gong”.
7.1.20 Professor in UCLA, Wu Yingnian, clarifies the facts about the certificate issued and rescinded by LA city government
News received: November 12, 1999
Source of news: http://www.chinesenewsnet.com
Title of the article: About the certificate issued and rescinded by LA city government (Wu Yingnian )
Description:
At the beginning of August 1999, I started my job as an assistant professor in UCLA. On behalf of Falun Gong practitioners in LA, I sent an application for honorary award to Mr. Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong to the LA city government late August. The application materials included introduction to Falun Gong, short biography of Mr. Li Hongzhi, health surveys of Falun Gong practitioners in China, experiences of Falun Gong practitioners, and awards from other cities and states. A few days later, a staff member informed me that they would award Mr. Li Hongzhi a certificate of commendation. At the end of August, I picked up the certificate from the front desk. On September 5, Falun Gong practitioners in LA announced the certificate during the group practice on Santa Monica beach. The certificate carried the signature of the Mayor.
A few days later, however, I received a phone call from another staff member, telling me that the city government had decided to rescind the certificate. I requested her to give me a written explanation but she refused. I regretted very much about this decision.
We went through normal application procedures. I arrived in LA at the beginning of August, so I did not know anybody in the city government. During this event, I did not even meet the two staff members.
Additional note:
The above note was written before another practitioner and I went to the LA city government to ask for clarification of a news report by the Xinhua news agency on the morning of November 12, 1999. We presented the above note to a staff member. We did not get any response afterwards.
7.1.21 People’s Daily suggested the very fate of China hangs on the struggle against the spiritual movement
News received on: November 6, 1999
Source of news: New York Times
Title of the article: China Says Its Future Depends on Routing Banned Spiritual Movement (by Erik Eckholm )
Description:
BEIJING -- Just when it seemed that official invective against Falun Gong could grow no harsher, Friday’s issue of the People’s Daily has suggested that the very fate of China hangs on the struggle against the banned spiritual movement.
A front-page commentary in the newspaper, which speaks directly for the Communist Party, carries the headline “Totally Expunge Evil, Pursue It to the End.”
First declaring that the government has achieved a “decisive victory” against Falun Gong, which it banned last July, the editorial goes on to say that the struggle to defeat the movement will be a “long and arduous one.”
7.1.22 Law enforcement, propaganda machines mobilized to carry out a multi-pronged attack on Falun Gong and its U.S.-based leader, Li Hongzhi
News received: November 6, 1999
Source of news: Washington Post Foreign Service
Description:
BEIJING - China has mobilized thousands of police, government officials and journalists to carry out a multi-pronged attack on Falun Gong and its U.S.-based leader, Li Hongzhi. The campaign has dominated airwaves and newspapers almost constantly since July 22, when the Communist Party first moved to suppress the group.
China’s state-run media have declared that Falun Gong represents the most serious threat to stability in 50 years of Communist history--despite the fact that Falun Gong advocates no political position and is basically a mixture of ancient Chinese philosophy, meditation and slow-motion martial arts exercises spiced with doomsday predictions.
“Our attitude must be resolute and clear,” said the Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, in a front-page commentary. Still, the Party paper acknowledged that the campaign against Falun Gong would be difficult because some adherents are “obsessed” with its teachings.
7.1.23 China passed a law expanding legal penalties against Falun Gong
Message received: October 31, 1999
Description:
[October 31, 1999, LA TIMES] BEIJING--China’s parliament passed a law today banning cults--aimed at the Falun Gong spiritual movement--and called on the legal system to “smash them rigorously,” the official New China News Agency reported. “It calls on courts, prosecutors, police and administrative judicial organs to be on full alert for cult activities and smash them rigorously in accordance with the law,” the agency said.
Falun Gong members have been demonstrating all week outside the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square where the standing committee of the National People’s Congress met to discuss the law. Several dozen members staged passive protests in the square again today and were taken away by police. But there was no repetition of the previous day’s events, when plain-clothes men kicked, beat and dragged away protesters by the hair, witnesses said. Protesters seized from Tiananmen Square this week told police and party officials that they only want China’s leaders to understand Falun Gong and the benefits its meditation exercises and philosophy bring to health and morality, the party source said.
China Expends Legal Penalties Against Falun Gong
[October31, 1999, Tribune] --The new rules will facilitate the prosecution of those detained in the crack-down against the sect last July, who are expected to go on trial as early as this week. Prosecutors will be able to seek harsh punishments, including the death penalty, for actions which Falun Gong has allegedly undertaken, including a demonstration by 10,000 supporters outside government headquarters in April.
The law specified that resisting government efforts to ban cults is illegal, as is resuming or continuing cult activities and establishing new cults. It does not define what a cult is, but under existing law all organizations, including religions, are banned unless specifically approved by the Communist Party.
(To be Continued)
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