(Minghui.org) Soon after the news of Bo Xilai's fall broke, the crimes of Zhou Yongkang, head of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Political and Legal Committee, became exposed. Zhou's crimes of persecuting Falun Gong under the direction of Jiang Zemin have received significant attention.
Following Jiang Zemin and Implementing the Persecution
Zhou's promotions within the CCP's ranks relied on bribery during the early years and the favor of Jiang Zemin during the later years.
Events in Zhou's personal life reveal his character. Zhou did not have a good relationship with his ex-wife. He often boasted that he was too busy at work. However, he was busy raping women at the Shiye Hotel. Once, during the CCP's People's Congress in Sichuan Province, Zhou openly called prostitutes into his hotel. Later, Zhou's ex-wife died in a car accident. Insiders revealed that Zhou killed his ex-wife. Soon Zhou married Jiang Zemin's niece.
Zhou was once the governor of Sichuan Province. People in Sichuan referred to him as a big scoundrel. He often boasted that he was a relative of Jiang Zemin and said things like “the Central CCP Committee sent me” and “I'm very close to Chairman Jiang.”
During his post as the governor of Sichuan Province, Zhou authorized, monitored and approved the elimination of Falun Gong practitioners via killing, torture, and forced disappearance. He adopted a very cruel implication policy to cut off Falun Gong practitioners financially: fire the son or daughter of parents who practice Falun Gong, and similarly fire the parents or stop pension payments if the son or daughter practices Falun Gong.
People of Sichuan Province called Zhou a “human rights killer.” During his several years in Sichuan Province, a province with a population of about 100 million, it became one of the most severe areas of persecution. Zhou used the persecution and the blood of innocent people to pave his road of promotions.
Selected to Succeed Luo Gan
Zhou Yongkang's ruthlessness provided him with something in common with former CCP head Jiang Zemin.
Because Zhou closely followed Jiang's policy of persecuting Falun Gong, Zhou's rise through the ranks was quick and bolstered by Jiang. In November 2002, Zhou assumed the position of politburo member and Secretary of the CCP Central Committee. He also became the Deputy Secretary of the CCP's Political and Legal Committee. In December 2002, he took the position of Minister of Public Security.
According to reports from Cheng Ming Magazine in Hong Kong, Wei Jianxing, former Secretary of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP, openly objected to Zhou Yongkang's assumption of the position. He pointed out that the function of public security had its own uniqueness and questioned if Zhou would be able to handle it. However, Jiang Zemin fully supported Zhou and said that Zhou had worked in big enterprises as well as the CCP central ministries, therefore he wouldn't have any problems handling the job and could bring in new ideas.
In March 2003, Zhou was appointed as Member of the State Council and stayed at the position as Minister of Public Security and the first political commissar of the Armed Police Force. During the 17th National Congress of the CCP in October 2007, Jiang Zemin arranged for Zhou to succeed Luo Gan. Zhou was promoted to be on the CCP's Central Political Bureau Standing Committee and became Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Committee, garnering enormous power along the way.
During the 7 months between May 2003 and February 2004, Zhou Yongkang slandered Falun Gong or emphasized persecuting Falun Gong twelve times publicly as the Minister of Public Security.
In December 2003, shortly after assuming the post of Minster of Public Security, Zhou promoted the persecution of Falun Gong at a coordinator's meeting of all levels in the Ministry of Public Security and said, “Cracking down on Falun Gong severely is still the focus of China's public security work.”
Implementing and executing Jiang's policy of persecuting Falun Gong without reservation was the major reason that contributed to Zhou's rapid rise.
Ever since Zhou became the Minister of Public Security and Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Committee, the legal development in China took a big downturn. Public security severely deteriorated. Crime rates stayed high, and mafia domination was common in society. Human rights were not protected at all. The number of criminal cases in China rose from 17% to 22%. Public security divisions have now become the most corrupt and dark agencies widely according to Chinese citizens. A common saying among Chinese people now is, “In the past, bandits lived in the mountains. Now bandits reside in the public security.” As Minister of Public Security, Zhou is directly responsible for this perception, effectively leading a group of bandits.
Jiang Strongly Supported Zhou to Join the Politburo
Zhou Yongkang is a sworn follower of Jiang Zemin. Their futures are tied together.
Even though Zhou hadn't done a good job in his posts, was repelled by people inside and outside of the CCP, was reported by others multiple times, and even had to offer to resign from the Minister of Public Security a few times, he stayed in his posts because of Jiang's strong support.
In 2007, Jiang was afraid of being held accountable for the persecution of Falun Gong, and wanted to somehow extend the persecution he started. He strongly recommended that Zhou succeed Luo Gan to be part of the Politburo, the nine-member entity at the highest level of the CCP that makes the major decisions. He wanted Zhou to become the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Committee. Once in charge of the CCP's political and legal system, Zhou became a committed executor for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
Zhou Yongkang Used the Powers Within the Political and Legal Committee to Bring Evil to Its Peak
When Jiang launched the persecution in 1999, the head of the CCP's Political and Legal committee was Luo Gan, who stayed in control until 2007. Afterwards, Zhou took over the committee. Zhou became the highest ranking official sustaining the persecution of Falun Gong after Jiang and Luo resigned.
During the persecution of Falun Gong, Zhou expanded the powers within the Political and Legal Committee to bring evil to its peak.
After the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), some CCP leaders such as Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang and Qiao Shi wanted to establish a legal system to govern the country by rule of law. They were in the process of discarding the Political and Legal Committee. However, the Tiananmen Square Massacre suspended this progress. In 1990, Jiang Zemin rebuilt the Political and Legal Committee. At the time, laws in China were still not completely effective, and only in some locations or in some cases, might the law be upheld.
After Jiang launched the persecution in 1999, the situation took an irreversible turn for the worse. In order to persecute the more than 100 million innocent citizens who practiced Falun Gong, Jiang had to completely destroy the legal system. Only in a country that cannot recover its social justice could the persecution of Falun Gong proceed effectively.
Jiang then established the 610 Office, and effectively set the agency up as a department of the Political and Legal Committee, giving the 610 Office supreme legal power and authority. The 610 Office controls all legislative and law enforcement agencies, and is in charge of persecuting Falun Gong on behalf of the Political and Legal Committee. At the same time, the authority of the 610 Office surpasses that of the Committee. All governmental agencies such as public security, legislative, law enforcement, national security, foreign affairs, financial and public health have to follow the 610 Office and serve the persecution. During the process, the existence of the 610 Office expanded the authority of the Political and Legal Committee without limit. The position of Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee joined the Politburo during the 16th National Congress. During the 17th National Congress, Zhou continued the membership of the Politburo as the new secretary of the committee.
The budget for public security increased from 405.9 billion yuan in 2008 to 701.8 billion yuan in 2012. For two consecutive years, the budget for public security exceeded the defense budget. This budget is spent by the public security and armed police force under the supervision of the Political and Legal Committee. Some people have commented that the power of the Political and Legal Committee exceeds that of the military.
Precisely because of his expansion of power, Zhou dared to plan a coup with Bo Xilai. He intended to help Bo Xilai join the Politburo during the CCP's 18th National Congress and to later take over the Political and Legal Committee, assuming the highest power in the CCP in the future.
Zhou Yongkang is Currently the Primary Culprit in the Persecution of Falun Gong
Zhou Yongkang is one of the four primary culprits in the persecution of Falun Gong. The other three are Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan and Liu Jing.
Zhou had already committed a lot of crimes during his post as the CCP secretary of Sichuan Province and Minister of Public Security. After he joined the Politburo, he escalated the persecution.
Zhou not only directed all levels of the Political and Legal Committee to persecute Falun Gong, but also visited different locales across China to directly instruct the local 610 Offices, national security, public security and community spies to harass Falun Gong practitioners. Wherever he went, the local officers would be negatively influenced by him and join in the persecution. Falun Gong practitioners in that area would be arrested, sent to labor camps, sentenced to jail or sent to brainwashing sessions.
Between the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, Zhou gave a special order in the court system: speed up and toughen up the case processing of Falun Gong practitioners.
During Zhou Yongkang's visit to Chongqing in 2010, Bo Xilai, the former CCP Secretary of Chongqing City, in order to show off Chongqing's political performance in “community defense and control” (the capability of persecuting Chinese citizens), launched a severe persecution campaign with Wang Lijun. They tightly monitored petitioners, dissidents, religious people and Falun Gong practitioners. On November 16 of that year, the 610 Office, national security, and community spies in Chongqing City arrested dozens of Falun Gong practitioners in order to please Zhou and Bo.
In November 2010, Falun Gong practitioners broadcast truth-clarification programs after accessing a radio station in Dalian City, Liaoning Province. The CCP was very afraid. Zhou Yongkang went to Dalian, mobilized all of the police force including the military, to personally direct the arrests of Falun Gong practitioners.
On March 23, 2012, when Zhou appeared in public to “dispel the rumor” that he was controlled by others, the Internet blockade of information of “live organ harvesting,” the highest-level “sensitive phrase” classified by Zhou, was lifted. Now on Baidu webpages, there are a lot of articles about the live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. These crimes were committed by police and armed police forces under the supervision of the Political and Legal Committee. Wang Lijuan, the former Chief of Public Security of Chongqing City, is believed to have been directly involved in it. When the news of Shenyang Military General Hospital's involvement in live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners broke out, Zhou went to Shenyang to personally direct the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners there.
Zhou Has Been Sued Many Times Outside of China
The following is partial list of cases in which Zhou has been sued:
On August 27, 2001, He Haiying, a Falun Gong practitioner in Boston, sued Zhou Yongkang for torturing, persecuting and killing Falun Gong practitioners and crimes against humanity at the northern district court in the state of Illinois, in the United States.
On November 12, 2004, Falun Gong practitioners in Vancouver, Canada brought a lawsuit against Zhou Yongkang, Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, and Li Lanqing to the Attorney General of Canada.
On May 30, 2005, Friends of Falun Gong in Europe submitted a list of high-ranking Chinese officials directly involved in the persecution of Falun Gong (including Zhou), their crimes, and evidence to the immigration office of the UK and applied for denial of entry for these individuals.
On July 17, 2005, 2 Falun Gong practitioners in Belgium sued the 610 Office, Luo Gan, Zhou Yongkang, Liu Jing and Xu Yongyue, Minister of National Security, for crimes of harassment. On May 28, 2009, the Belgium High Court held a hearing on the case, which is still ongoing.
Zhou Yongkang Will Be Held Accountable Soon
At the beginning of February, Wang Lijun fled to the US consulate in Chengdu, setting off a power struggle within the CCP not seen in decades. In mid-March, Bo Xilai lost his position, and on April 10 he was investigated. During the rapid developments surrounding Wang and Bo, Zhou initially tried to protect Bo, but as more and more of his own crimes, including the killing his ex-wife, raping women, helping his son to obtain illegal profit, persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, conspiring in a coup with Bo Xilai, are exposed, Zhou cannot even protect himself.
As more and more truth is exposed, Zhou will be brought to justice. We believe that his ending will not be pretty. Those who are still blindly following Jiang Zemin and Zhou Yongkang in persecuting Falun Gong should take note and learn from these lessons.
Category: Perspective
