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August 20, 2006 (Sunday) － Issue No. 63 |
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Falun
Gong Responds to Harry Wu |
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Fifty-one
Chinese Christians Renounce the Communist Party |
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My
Debate with Two CCP Members |
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Attempts Suicide After Losing His Land His apparent suicide attempt came after he had unsuccessfully appealed to the government on numerous occasions for just compensation for the appropriation of his, and others, farmland....…Full Article |
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Beijing Strikes Hard at Satellite TV Users The meeting assigned measures to assert control over satellite TV users in Beijing within a month, including emphasizing control over the manufacturing, sales and installation of satellite TV receivers. Any "offender" could be charged under criminal law......…Full Article |
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NEW YORK—Harry Wu, head of the China Information Centre, has made a number of statements attacking and undermining reports that Falun Gong practitioners have been targeted for organ harvesting by the Chinese authorities. He has actively approached the media and members of the U.S. Congress to persuade them the allegations are fraudulent and has even accused Falun Gong practitioners of fabricating the story, even though the initial witnesses and investigators of this atrocity are not Falun Gong practitioners. A detailed, point-by-point rebuttal to Harry Wu's assertions can be found here: http://www.faluninfo.net/hwu-rebuttal.html. The Falun Dafa Information Center feels it is time to respond to Mr. Wu's actions so the public can discern the facts for themselves. We acknowledge the work that Mr. Wu has done over the years in exposing many of the atrocities in China. It was Mr. Wu himself who, years ago, was instrumental in bringing to light the PRC's gruesome policy of harvesting organs from death row inmates. Of course, even petty thieves can be sentenced to death in the PRC, let alone political prisoners. In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced its aim to "eradicate Falun Gong at any cost." Now, with the lucrative organ harvesting trade already in place, the witnesses' claims, shocking as they would seem under different circumstances, only confirmed our greatest fears. After all, the Chinese regime considers Falun Gong its No. 1 enemy, and practitioners are treated as non-persons who can be tortured and murdered with no consequence. In recent years, tens of thousands of these innocent men and women have been locked in labor camps and not allowed any contact with the outside world or have simply gone missing. Given such a background, these shocking claims—of organs being harvested from a readily accessible supply of captive, healthy people who practice Falun Gong—are not only believable, but also paint a picture that is highly probable. Our reaction to the witness accounts was to immediately call for help from the US government and international agencies and to call for an investigation. We were thus shocked and puzzled to hear that Mr. Wu had taken it upon himself to write a secret letter to certain members of Congress undermining our efforts before he had a chance to speak with us or meet with the witnesses. If he truly felt it was a "greater expression of sympathy and support to keep them [Falun Gong] from straying too far from the facts" as he claims, why try to keep the letter hidden from us? The witness reports
are horrifying, and in a way, we all wish they weren't true. But when
a Chinese surgeon cheerfully tells a potential transplant customer
they have a supply of livers from Falun Gong practitioners, from living
bodies, what are we to conclude? How should we, as human beings and
members of the international community, react to this kind of information?
For the CCP to hold spiritual practitioners in camps like livestock
until it is time to slaughter them for their organs is an evil greater
than we can imagine. If this is fully revealed one day, this issue
could shake humanity to the core. Back On July 29 the Chinese Communist regime violently destroyed several family churches in Xiaoshan district, Hangzhou. For the past few days many Christian followers in Mainland China and overseas have been going on hunger strikes and saying prayers daily in aid of those in Xiaoshan who are resisting and protesting against the suppression of freedom of belief by the Chinese Communist regime. In part due to these incidents, 51 people have solemnly renounced the Chinese Communist Party through The Epoch Times Tuidang (Quit the CCP) website. These 51 people come from Beijing as well as family church members in different districts and their family members, sons and daughters, friends and associates. They entrusted fellow Christians from Beijing to publish their renunciation on The Epoch Times website. Amongst them, one quarter were members of the Chinese Communist Party. This Christian [entrusted to publish the renunciation] told the reporter that for a long time, she had a strong abhorrence towards the persecution of religious adherents in Mainland China by the Chinese Communist regime. Especially since the Communist regime took power, the persecution of family church followers has never stopped. This Christian woman said: "Not only are we [Christian believers] suppressed by members of the China Christian Trinity Patriotic Movement Committee, now the government has publicly sent armed troops, policemen and has used the state apparatus to destroy our "holy shrine." They used state violence to deal with these kind-hearted Christian worshippers, arresting and detaining many people. The government even wants to convict us. Indeed, the Chinese Communist Party is a "legal" bandit and ruffian." She said: "The final judgment is coming. The Epoch Times even said "to remove the mark of the beast," that is to ask everybody to disassociate with the evil Chinese Communist Party. Get rid of the dirty mark on our bodies and wash away the shame. When she told fellow church members the final consequence of having this dirty mark [of the Chinese Communist Party], everyone understood and believed that the day heaven eliminates the CCP will definitely come. Hence her brothers and sisters in the church brought up their decision to quit the CCP and all its affiliated associations. They wanted to use their actions to hasten the disintegration of the CCP. Her church friends
said: "Only when there is no CCP can Chinese Christians be free."
Back Typhoon Saomai, the most severe storm China has encountered in 50 years, destroyed ships and houses and caused mass casualties along the coastal regions of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. Most of the ships that had headed into shore to seek refuge were capsized during the storm with many people still aboard. Reports from officials in Fujian Province claim that only 41 people died in Fuding City, the city hit hardest by the typhoon. However, telephone calls made by The Epoch Times to the region and other media reports reveal that many dead bodies are still floating in the sea and that the cries of family members can be heard throughout the city. The storm killed thousands of people, including naval officers and soldiers involved in the rescue. A farmer from Fuding City said that the city looked horrific and that the government falsified their reports. He claims to have lost over one million yuan (US$ 125,000) in property from damage caused by the storm. The farmer also states that hundreds of bodies lay on the shore and even more are floating in the sea. "It will take several incinerators to cremate all the bodies," he remarked. The impact of the storm brought great loses to the southeastern coastal region, especially Shacheng Township in Fuding, which has the most casualties. She said that as far as she knew, more than 1,100 villagers had died in the typhoon, but only more than ten bodies were found. The villager also told the reporter that the central government sent reporters to Zhejiang, but the local officials were very corrupted, and they just kept the reporters in the hotels, preventing them from going to the villages. According to earlier
reports from Reuters, the Chinese government shut off villages where
the death toll is really high to stop news from getting out. The Epoch
Times tried to contact the local government, but nobody answered the
phone. The Epoch Times also called the Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters of Fuding City, and was told that the electricity and
water supply has been recovered in town and city areas, but it will
take some more time in other areas. The headquarter said they could
not estimate financial losses and death tolls, but they indicated
that Fujian has sent out over 200 armed police and local Red Cross
teams for the rescue.
Back While chatting with a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member this morning, former General Secretary Jiang Zemin's theory of the "Three Represents 1 " was brought up. I first asked, "Is the CCP's economic growth model representative of the advanced productive forces?" The current extensive economic growth model utilizes low efficiency but high consumption. For example, China needs to sell 800 million shirts to buy one Airbus airplane. The high consumption has also caused river blockage, water pollution, and intensified desertification. The desert is now only 90 km away from Beijing due to desertification. The Chinese are spending heedlessly at the expense of future generations because they have consumed massive resources. Could that be considered representative of the advanced social productive forces? Next, I asked, "Is it representative of citizen's most basic interest to have police forces in Guangzhou city use migrant workers as targets for their suppression training?" This does not seem to fit the theory's claim of always representing "the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China." My last question was, "Are the Eight Honors and Disgraces also representative of an advanced social culture?" This set of "moral concepts" developed by Chinese president Hu Jintao is to further flatter the CCP. How could self-flattery be a representation of an advanced culture? These three questions left the man speechless. I continued to say, "Mao called Chiang Kai-Shek a servile follower of the United States, but was not Mao himself the Soviet Union's servile follower? He acknowledged the unfair treaties between China and the Soviet Union and even allowed Stalin to take 170 thousand square km of China's Tuva area. On the other hand, the United States has never taken any land from China, but has funded Tsinghua University to support foreign students and even sent aid to China during the Sino-Japanese war." I told him, "Your historical knowledge is limited to the textbooks published by the CCP. You should learn real history." To my surprise, the first CCP member moved to my side and added that the CCP's textbooks are written for political purposes and cannot be completely believed. This left the second man in an awkward position, and he just walked away. In China, many
people share the same opinion as these two CCP members. Many Chinese
people have lost their normal thinking and judgment abilities after
long periods of brainwashing under the rule of the CCP. Though I won
on the debate on the surface, I am not happy because I feel very sorry
for them. Their hearts are still shrouded by ignorance. Oh, my poor
country and my poor fellow citizens. Back According to a report by Hong Kong's Mingpao newspaper, a farmer went to Tiananmen Square, Beijing on August 6 and publicly cut his abdomen with a knife. His apparent suicide attempt came after he had unsuccessfully appealed to the government on numerous occasions for just compensation for the appropriation of his, and others, farmland. After being admitted to a hospital, he remains in critical condition. His unanswered appeals accused local authorities in Changsha City, Hunan province, of acquiring land using underhanded means and embezzling the compensation funds that belonged to the farmers. In the early part of this year, with the approval of the local land department, local authorities acquired more than 16 hectares of farmland from Xilong village to build a sewage treatment plant. The land appropriation met with strong opposition from the villagers who felt that the taking of their farmland was not only against the law, but was also an encroachment on the farmers' right to use the land for farming and their permanent contractual rights to the land. Villagers pointed out that the required 30-plus million yuan (US$ 3.7 million) in compensation fees for the land acquisition was not paid to the farmers in accordance with state regulations. In addition, the several million yuan (several hundred thousand US$) due in compensation fees for damaged young crops and rebuilding vanished without a trace. Therefore, the villagers elected representatives to make appeals and negotiate with the government to get their due compensation. Yang was one of the representatives. Yang and others also went to Beijing four times. In a letter written before leaving for Beijing recently, Yang stated that as an elected representative of the villagers, he had appealed for several months from local to central authorities in protest against the underhanded way the land acquisition had occurred. Not only did his appeals fail to bring any results, he was actually arrested by the police. He felt that his only recourse was to shed blood on Tiananmen Square for his fellow villagers. In his letter he also said to his wife, "my death was caused by corrupt and greedy officials who forced me to seek death as the only way out." Back Beijing
Strikes Hard at Satellite TV Users—Overseas TV Programs Targeted Back BEIJING—On August 12, a meeting was held by the Beijing Municipal Overseas Satellite TV Program Control Special Working Group and the Municipal "Anti-Pornography & Anti-Illegality" Office. The meeting assigned measures to assert control over satellite TV users in Beijing within a month, including emphasizing control over the manufacturing, sales and installation of satellite TV receivers. Any "offender" could be charged under criminal law. According to the Beijing Morning Post, the meeting emphasized that under the "Satellite TV & Radio Broadcasting Ground Receiving Equipment Administration Regulation," no company or individuals are allowed to manufacture, import, sell or install ground receiving equipment without permission, particularly for setting up ground receiving equipment and viewing overseas satellite TV programs. In addition, no company or individual may promote the sale or installation of satellite ground receivers through mobile phone text messages, the Internet, posters, etc. All companies and individuals who have already installed receivers without permission must stop viewing overseas satellite TV programs and should dismantle their equipment. The meeting also emphasized that informers would be rewarded for providing leads to companies or individuals who "illegally" advertise sales and installation of satellite TV receivers through the methods mentioned above. The "offenders" will be subject to regulatory punishment according to the "law," and serious "offenders" will be charged under criminal law. Back |
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