(Clearwisdom.net) According to the Epoch Times, on May 17, 2008, mobs of two or three hundred Chinese people waving Communist China flags were organized to create public disorder in Flushing, New York, where local Falun Gong practitioners were holding a rally to support the withdrawal of 36 million people from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The rally had been scheduled one month before when the organizers submitted an application to the police. The gathering began with a request for a moment of silence to mourn the deaths of the earthquake victims in Sichuan. Instead of respectful silence, however, the request was met with yelling and shouting from the mob on the other side of the street. The mobs on that day engaged in both verbal abuse and physical assault against Falun Gong practitioners. Over the next several days, those pro-communist crowds showed up at the local public library and continued to cause trouble around the Service Center for Quitting the CCP, a booth that had been in operation for four years by Falun Gong practitioners to help people withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party. Even to this day, despite a significant reduction in the number of agitators, the harassment persists.
Quite a few overseas Chinese newspapers reported the event. I was told by my friends that several Chinese newspapers based in New York and Chicago had all published stories aimed to create misunderstanding and mislead readers. This led me to do an Internet search. I located a story by Zhang Qing, a journalist for Qiao Bao, a Chinese-language newspaper, who reported on the first three days of the incident. To me, it is self-evident that Zhang's story breaks the rules of professional journalism, and reveals the true colors of Qiao Bao - a mouthpiece of the CCP, that assists in the persecution of Falun Gong and indoctrination of overseas Chinese people.
I will share my thoughts on the reporting by Qiao Bao, leaving the readers the opportunity to make their own judgment on other CCP-controlled newspapers.
Turning a blind eye to the violence
In her story, Zhang completely omitted the most prominent, inflammatory, and newsworthy episode in the entire incident in Flushing. That is, the pro-communist mob verbally and physically assaulted Falun Gong practitioners persistently during those days. It begs the question as to why Ms. Zhang, an on-site reporter, somehow missed it.
Nor did Ms. Zhang choose to provide a faithful reporting of the arrests by the New York City police of 11 pro-communist agitators during and after those few days. About the savagery of the mobs, her light-hearted description goes as follows, "One anti-Falun Gong Chinese man was arrested for body contact with a Falun Gong practitioner... Among them, a woman was notified by the police that she should stop waving a placard with anti-Falun Gong messages because its wooden holder could hurt other people. This woman, seemingly confused by what the police said, continued her protest and was eventually led away. Another man was arrested because he had taken away a placard from Falun Gong members." In the eyes of Ms. Zhang, those arrested were all peaceful protesters, and the police, making too much fuss over nothing, had taken some misguided actions that cost the freedom of some innocent citizens.
The reality was anything but as lighthearted as described by Ms. Zhang. Those mobs have brought ferocious violence to an American community, violence tainted with blood - and expressed in death threats. Even more appalling, their victims were mostly the elderly and women!
Judy Chen, a mother of three, is one of the victims. Her two sons are both U.S. Marines serving in Iraq. On May 19, she was punched, struck on the head and her neck was yanked. She suffered bruises to her hands and bleeding from the mouth. The person who attacked her also cursed at her at the same time, saying, "I am an American. I have no qualms killing you." His words were echoed by another man at the scene, who said, "Let me take a close look of your face. Watch out, I will kill you."
Xiao Jin, my friend in New York, sent me an email that read, "Several of my Falun Gong friends were beaten up by the CCP agents and their sidekicks. During the first week, when I was passing by the Service Center for Quitting the CCP in Flushing, some Chinese agents pointed at me and shouted, 'He is Falun Gong.' Those mobs and spectators, all charged with emotion, surrounded me immediately, their fists in front of my eyes and their yells in my ears, 'Hit him, hit him, hit him.' If not for the police who came to my rescue, I would have been beaten up. Twice, those people tried to attack me; twice, they were stopped by the police. The worst were a few women among them. They looked like they had been hired by someone to do the job. All day long, they did nothing but loiter around in Flushing. Whenever they saw Falun Gong practitioners distributing materials, they would swear at them like crazy. One local resident was worried. 'How could Falun Gong continue to exist in Flushing if this is allowed to persist?' said he."
It is beyond one's imagination that such frightening scenes, with crazed mobs, were actually taking place in the U.S., in the twenty-first century. It seemed like a scene out of the Cultural Revolution.
Why was there no report from Qiao Bao on the arrests of pro-communists?
Zhang Qing, the reporter from Qiao Bao, mentioned twice in her story that the police insisted that the mobs stop using their placards with holders. There are two interesting questions that Ms. Zhang somehow didn't care to investigate further: a) Why did those pro-communists prepare such placards that can also serve as weapons? b) What actions did they take to draw such close scrutiny from the police, to the extent that they were warned, stopped, and even arrested?
These mobs all said they were volunteers; so said Ms. Zhang in her story. However, one cannot help but ask, without instigation and guidance from a force operating behind the scenes, how did those mobs have the guts to be so recklessly rampant on the streets of America, and in broad daylight?
One person gave a powerful retort to the Chinese-flag-waving mobs' claim that they were all volunteers acting spontaneously. He said, "You can't find any place that sells those Chinese flags in the U.S. - if they didn't get them from the Chinese Consulate, where did they get them then?"
Furthermore, one can clearly tell, from the audio recording of the phone conversation with Peng Keyu, the Counsel General in New York, that the Consulate has been working behind the scenes to plot and organize the entire Flushing incident. This, unfortunately, indicates that the CCP has exported its violence to the U.S.
Just as clearly, Mr. Peng's words implies that the Chinese authority was scheming to import the fiery anti-Falun Gong scenes overseas. They were hoping that the Chinese people would be misled into believing that Falun Gong was being opposed outside of China.
One stone kills three birds: why would the CCP oppose Falun Gong overseas?
Still, a question remains: Why did the CCP orchestrate anti-Falun Gong activities overseas and continue the campaign both in and outside of the country to demonize Falun Gong at a time when the country was reeling from a natural disaster? What was the significance of this timing?
The reason is, the great earthquake in Sichuan has forced the CCP to face unprecedented inquiries from the Chinese people. People are questioning the regime for not informing the public of the earthquake, any lame pretext of maintaining stability during the Beijing Olympics notwithstanding. They want to know who is to be blamed for the deaths of over ten thousand children buried in the ruins of sub-standard school buildings constructed by the corrupt CCP governments. People are asking, was this a natural disaster or a man-made catastrophe?
In an attempt to shed itself of its responsibility in this calamity, and to shift people's attention away from itself, the CCP, steeped in experience in deluding the Chinese people, conspired to once again frame and incite hatred toward Falun Gong. By doing so, the CCP was hoping to kill three birds with one stone: absolving itself of its crimes; shifting people's focus; and hurting its "top enemy."
The CCP's ploy this time followed its usual tactics. Namely, it first put an accusation, a label so to speak, on the group of people it intended to persecute; then, it tried to instigate the hatred of another group of people against the first group. It planned and organized the activities of the group to attack the first group. The accusation it put on Falun Gong this time was, "Falun Gong is blocking donations for the Sichuan earthquake relief." Rallying those pro-communists under this banner, they were led to assault Falun Gong practitioners.
This was the same party line that Ms. Zhang of Qiao Bao perpetrated in writing her article, implicitly lending support and justification for the violence.
The crime imposed on Falun Gong stems from one sentence only
Readers might be curious about how Falun Gong could block earthquake donations. Zhang's story offers no other details in this regard other than a single sentence quoted in the article: "Some Falun Gong practitioners shouted to the crowd, 'Your donations are to be stolen by the Chinese government, and not even a penny of it will be used for earthquake assistance.'"
It is now widely recognized that the Chinese Communist Party handled the earthquake incompetently. For instance, the CCP didn't allow rescuers from other countries to enter within the first 72 hours - the most crucial time for rescue; nor did it permit civic organizations from other parts of China to enter the earthquake zone expeditiously. This irresponsibility has had an adverse effect on rescue efforts, and are direct results of decisions made by the CCP. One may ask, can a point made by a person on the street truly block earthquake donations? The beauty of freedom of expression is precisely that a human being has the right to state his opinions, as long as he is not promoting violence or killing, or threatening the safety and freedom of others.
Ms. Zhang of Qiao Bao instigated hatred among overseas Chinese through sharing of her personal opinions. What she did has undermined the harmony of a community, and helped the CCP export its violence, helping it to persecute Falun Gong practitioners outside of China. It is incumbent upon each and every overseas Chinese person with a conscience to step forward and put a stop to such serious violations of human rights occurring right in our own neighborhood.
What is wrong with monitoring the government?
As we know, it is the right of every citizen to monitor and critique his government. Therefore, I cannot see anything wrong with the Chinese people exercising their right to monitor the government, to inquire whether this government, one that is accountable to nobody and corrupt beyond description, has stolen donations from its own people.
In the past I heard formulaic words and excuses of all sorts that were created to safeguard the rule of the CCP. This time, after the earthquake, I heard a new set of excuses cooked up by the CCP. They will now tell you, "Hey, our country is now in trouble because of the wrath of Mother Nature, so this really isn't the best time to criticize the government." Those overseas Chinese who happen to be in agreement with this notion should really take a long pause and think it over: If this totalitarian and incurably corrupt regime will not stop its corruption because of the perils the country is now facing, why would we, the people, stop our monitoring and critiquing of the government?
What is more, in a time of calamity, this government accountable to nobody can only become more corrupt, because now it is even easier under the pretext of "earthquake assistance." In normal times, those communist officials have shown to put the little money allotted for education into their own pockets, resulting in those substandard school buildings. Now, when earthquake donations are pouring in from everywhere, is it really that inconceivable that those same Party officials would steal the money? It is high time we ask: Where is the monitoring of the people? And where is the balance of power?
Qiao Bao's fabrication: "Heaven protect China" changed to "Heaven eliminate China"
The worst part of Ms. Zhang's story concerns a subtle but dramatic change in the reporting of the wording of a Falun Gong banner. The banner stated, "Heaven eliminates the CCP; Heaven protect China" but in the report the banner was changed to, "Heaven eliminates the CCP; Heaven eliminates China."
The ill-advised actions of Qiao Bao - from its fabrications, to framing, and to inciting hatred - remind us of the Chinese Communist mouthpiece, People's Daily. Sadly, other Chinese media outlets, such as Sinovision TV, the World Journal, etc., have all jumped to action to serve their master. In doing so, they have all played their usual, despicable role of promoting the CCP's propaganda.
The relations between the "Big Four" Chinese media in North America and the CCP
The similarity between Qiao Bao and Chinese media under direct control of the CCP caused me think of an article published in an online magazine, China Brief (sponsored by the Jamestown Foundation) on November 21, 2001, which discusses the relations between the CCP and the Xing Dao Daily, the World Journal, Ming Bao, and Qiao Bao - the "Big Four" of Chinese media in North America.
The author of the article is Mr. Mei Duzhe, a professor teaching at a reputable institution on the west coast and a China specialist. In the article, Mr. Mei elaborates on the process of how the "Big Four" media were penetrated, and ultimately controlled by the CCP to become its mouthpieces. About Qiao Bao, he provided the following background, "Qiao Bao was launched in New York City in January 1990. It has been under direct control of the CCP. One prominent feature of the paper relates to the great quantities of timely reports and news from Mainland China. In other words, Qiao Bao represents the official voice of the CCP (in North America)."
Mr. Cai Yuanpei, the late president of Beijing University during the Nationalist period, once said, "To see whether a country, or its government, is good or bad, you do not need to look further than how it treats its people. If only the government advocates human rights and promotes humanity, it can be redeemed even if it makes mistakes. On the other hand, if a government defies human rights, instigates hatred, and stifles the spiritual vitality of the people, it is an awful government even if it has done one or two good deeds that will go down in history." What would have stunned Mr. Cai, were he alive today, would be that the current Chinese regime has done no good deeds at all, but has been constantly playing havoc with the Chinese people since its inception. It has never stopped instigating hatred and stifling spiritual vitality.
The damage this rogue government has done to the Chinese morality, to the profound culture heritage of China, and to it natural environment has become so considerable and irrevocable that any Chinese person of conscience really should pause to worry about the country's future. More appallingly, this government has always surrounded itself with a group of obsequious sidekicks ready to pounce on any dissidents at an order from their master. From the Flushing incident, to its coverage by Qiao Bao, to the bootlicking behavior of other Chinese media overseas, we can clearly see a seamlessly working assembly line. Starting with the organizing of the mobs to do foul play, it concluded with the CCP mouthpieces going full blast to build up momentum. It is evident that the CCP has successfully infiltrated and controlled a lot of overseas Chinese media.
Qiao Bao's coverage of the Flushing incident reveals the true identity of similar Chinese media outlets. They are nothing but evil lieutenants bought by the CCP to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and mislead the overseas Chinese community at large. The reporters working for those media have, in the same vein, sold out their souls to the CCP regime and have become accomplices of the brutal dictatorship.
(first published in the Sacred Fire of Human Rights)
Category: Perspective
