Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong
THE MURDOCHS KOWTOW TO BEIJING Wall Street Journal Commentary, March 27, 2001: Rupert Murdoch, a master practitioner of the corporate kowtow, has instructed his son James perfectly in the craft of craven submission to the Chinese regime. The young Murdoch -- a college dropout, now CEO of his father's Hong Kong-based Star TV company -- gave an impressive, almost balletic, performance of the genuflectory arts last week at the Milken Institute. In words that astonished those gathered for the institute's annual business conference, James Murdoch, all of 28 years, lit into the Falun Gong religious resistance movement in China, describing it as a "dangerous" and "apocalyptic cult," which "clearly does not have the success of China at heart." He criticized the Western media and the Hong Kong press for negative coverage of human-rights issues in China, concluding with the lament that "these destabilizing forces today are very, very dangerous for the Chinese government." Mr. Murdoch, who described himself as "apolitical," counseled Hong Kong's democracy advocates to resign themselves to the reality of life under an "absolutist" government. The youthful CEO made no mention of the 150 Falun Gong members who have died in police custody, nor of the approximately 10,000 who languish in prison. Nor did he mention threats to Taiwan, slave labor, Tibet, arbitrary executions or the removal for sale of organs from the bodies of those executed. But let us not go there. The Murdochs have had considerable success in China with their lapdog approach, and they must see no reason why this need change.... What does one make of the Murdoch position on China? In my view, it is a form of corporate prostitution, quite different from ideological blindness or agnosticism... But the Murdoch method -- demean yourself, for it's the pragmatic thing to do -- may, in fact, result in harm to News Corp's business. Willy Lam, a Hong Kong-based China analyst, says the Murdochs should be more careful, even as a cold-blooded business calculation: "Many businessmen seem willing to do or say anything to get into the China market. This is a tricky venture because Chinese politics is going through unprecedented changes." Mr. Lam continues: "Rules and regulations -- and more importantly, the cadres running the show -- can change overnight. The millions of dollars spent, and the flattering remarks and half-truths uttered, by Western businessmen could come to nought when the wheel of political fortune in Beijing spins in an opposite direction..."
AN ALARMING DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTORTIONS OF PSYCHIATRY IN CHINA The New York Times, March 25, 2001: The government has forcibly imprisoned members of Falun Gong in psychiatric hospitals. Falun...has been the target of a heavy-handed government crackdown marked with abuses reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, among them the misuse of psychiatry... Robin Munro, a senior researcher at the University of London, explores some of these cases in an article published last month in The Columbia Journal of Asian Law. Mr. Munro, who has also worked for Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch investigating abuses in China, estimates that at least 3,000 people have been sent to mental hospitals for expressing political views in the past two decades, not including Falun Gong members. Another alarming development is the network of new police psychiatric hospitals - called Ankangs, which means "peace and happiness" - built since 1987. Chinese law includes "political harm to society" as legally dangerous mentally ill behavior. Police are instructed to take into psychiatric custody "political maniacs," defined as people who make anti-government speeches, write reactionary letters or "express opinions on important domestic and international affairs."... There are currently 20 Ankangs, and the government plans to build many more. An international gathering of psychiatrists, which investigated similar abuses in the Soviet Union, is trying to publicize China's practices and organize an investigation by members of the World Psychiatric Association. Psychiatric imprisonment is not a widespread phenomenon compared with the Chinese government's use of prisons and labor camps for dissidents. But it is a particularly noxious practice, and one that deserves more attention and criticism than it has so far received.
LATEST NEWS FROM INSIDE CHINA [Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province] The Story Behind the PRC's "Voluntary" Signature Campaign On the first day of the new semester after winter vacation, all elementary schools in Qiaoxi District of the city of Shijiazhuang began forcing pupils to participate in the petition drive "refusing evil religions." Led by class monitors, all the students had to line up and everyone was forced to participate. In one school, a second grade pupil said: "Teacher, I won't sign." The teacher got very angry after hearing this, and said, "No, you have to sign." While saying this, he hit the student twice on the head with a book he was holding. The child got very frightened and signed his name against his will. This is the truth about the "voluntary" signature campaign.
[Chongqing, Sichuan Province] "Jiang Zemin, Give Me Back My Son!" -- an Appeal from a Mother I'm the mother of Li Xiangdong, an employee of Huashu Video Instruments Company in Chongqing City. My son began practicing Falun Gong in 1996, and he has since been arrested three times because of his practice. In 1999, he exercised his constitutional right to appeal to the government in Beijing, and was subsequently arrested and sentenced to a one-year term in Xishangping labor camp. His sentence was to run from November 8, 1999 to November 8, 2000. Though this term had long elapsed, he was still held prisoner there....On July 17 of last year, I was allowed to see him after I begged for help from many friends and relatives. At 1:40 pm, I saw my son Xiangdong. He had been hung on the gate, and no part of his body was intact. His appearance was completely distorted from the torture he had received. He had weighed around 140 pounds before entering the labor camp, and now he weighed only about 90. He hadn't been given any water or food for most of that day. It was not until we protested to the chief officer of the labor camp that he ordered a prisoner to bring my son two liang [about 3 oz.] of rice soaked in water. On Feb. 12 of this year, I again asked to meet with my son, and the police sent me back to the Xishangping Labor Camp. The officials there told me that my son wasn't at the camp, and that he had been sent to the local hospital's emergency room on January 31. When I finally saw my son, we both cried hard while holding each other. My son's whole body was bloated and his lower limbs had atrophied and had become numb and useless. All of this was a result of the cruel torment he had received at the labor camp. Because he had been forced to sleep on the wet ground and wasn't allowed to take showers, his skin became ulcered and was covered with pus and blood. What's worse, his genitals, which had lost circulation, were very close to rotting. God forbid! In my most beloved country that keeps declaring that its current human rights situation is the best in its history, such gruesome crimes are being committed, and the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners is being conducted by Jiang's government. Such evil people are destined to suffer their own in the end. All kind hearted people, please help save my son. Jiang Zemin -- it is you who ordered the persecution of these compassionate practitioners. Give me back my son!