SYDNEY, Australia - Since The Epoch Times published "The Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party," the paper has hosted seven public forums on the commentaries in Sydney. During the forums, guest panelists gave speeches that elicited questions from the audiences. The following are just a few of the questions and answers:

Q: Professor Yuan, what is your view regarding the legality of Falun Gong practitioners in China intercepting TV signals and broadcasting information? Did they disrupt people’s lives?

Yuan Hongbing: I have heard about the TV interceptions by Falun Gong practitioners in China. First of all, I think these incidents are legal, and their actions are moral, since they are protecting human rights.

Since the time of Aristotle, laws have been categorized as good laws and bad laws. A law is not correct simply because it is called a law. A law itself needs to be legal. What is the purpose of a law? According to the spirit of modern justice, protecting basic human rights is the first goal any good law should achieve. Laws that take away basic human rights from people are bad laws.

There is overwhelming evidence that laws issued by the Chinese Communist Party are terrible laws because the laws deprive Chinese citizens of almost all of their basic human rights, including their right to true information.

The TV interceptions by Falun Gong practitioners are revolts against bad laws. The practitioners have been promoting just laws that protect freedom of information. Their behavior should be respected, since they are upholding the intent of modern justice.

Q: Since the Chinese government has rebuilt all the temples that were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, does this mean that the CCP has furthered Chinese traditional culture or destroyed it?

Li Baoqing: I believe these were extremely sinister acts by the CCP, which destroyed traditional Chinese culture. On the surface they are building temples, but they have completely changed the nature of the temples. In 1984, I went to Wutai Mountain. There were many temples there. The buildings were decorated very well, but I felt as if I was at a marketplace. The monks wore suits and dress shoes underneath their robes, and they were selling videotapes and other items. We all know monks should be solemnly cultivating. The CCP has turned sacred environments into commercial sites.

Also, the CCP uses religion to destroy religion and traditional culture. When the CCP first took control of China, they forcibly created the “Three Self Patriot Committee.” What does this title refer to? It means self-control, self-support and self-disseminating. Self-control means Catholics in China cannot follow the Vatican's instructions. Self-support means monks should work to make their own money. In the past, monks in temples had to beg for a living, but the CCP outlawed that way of cultivation. They forced monks to go into business and to work for government salaries. Through these and other means, the traditional beliefs and culture and were destroyed.

Q: Given more time, do you think CCP will change for the better?

Yuan: I heard one such theory that we should give the CCP more time and chances to correct itself. Peaceful transformation is beneficial to people. Factually, the CCP has been given many chances to democratically reform itself, and each time the CCP rejected the opportunity.

So, should we give it more chances today? The answer is no, because the CCP bureaucratic control is in a negative cycle. Only when a process is in a positive cycle can it correct itself. When an entity is in a negative cycle, the more chances you give it, the more damage it will do. What do I mean by a negative cycle? First, in China there are more than ten million corrupt officials. Corruption has become part of their bureaucratic lives; they will not stop corruption. There is no way for them to move the CCP into a positive cycle.

There are two roles a government can play: One is democratic, open, fair and just. Such a government can lead a nation into a better future. Another one is corrupted, brutish and selfish. This type of government leads a country into degeneration. If we continue to allow so many corrupt officials to rule, they will only create disaster for China.

The CCP will also further damage the environment the nation relies on. Our natural resources will continue to degrade. There was a recent report stating that the ecological system in the Yangtze River basin will deteriorate in ten years, and the Yellow River ecological system has already degenerated. If we continue to let such an irresponsible government exist, we may lose the basic living conditions that our descendants need. Why should we give the CCP more chances? Give it more chances to further damage our nation?

Q: Under a democratic system, we should allow the Communist Party to exist. A true democratic system should allow multi-parties and multi-beliefs to exist simultaneously. However, the nine commentaries stated that the CCP has to be eliminated. Does this conflict with the spirit of democracy?

Yuan: There is a basic rule to determine whether or not the Communist Party could exist in a future democratic government. Though democracy respects the existence of different ideologies and parties, there is an exception. What is the exception? When a party announces that any other parties should not exist except for itself, such a party has eliminated its own right to exist. For example, Germany is a democratic country, but it does not allow fascism and or the fascist Nazi Party to exist.

A party such as the Nazi Party is anti-human. It committed crimes against humanity, thus it should not exist. Similarly, the CCP should not exist in China’s future, because it eliminated all other parties. When it denied other parties a right to exist, it ultimately denied its own right to survive.