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By Zhao Mojia 30/04/2010
On April 25, 11 years ago, 10,000 Chinese citizens, all Falun Gong
practitioners, spontaneously gathered in front of the State Bureau of
Letters and Calls to peacefully appeal for the right to pursue their
practice of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The event, now
known as the “Falun Gong 4.25 Peaceful Appeal,” brought awareness of
Falun Gong to the world. It was also the beginning of a peaceful
protest that would span the next 11 years, carried out by the largest
group of people to ever have been persecuted in China.
Mr. Wu Baozhang
Wu Baozhang, former director of Radio France Internationale’s (RFI) Chinese program, shared with The Epoch Times
his views on the significance of the Falun Gong issue and its impact on
Chinese society as a whole. He also spoke about future trends in
Chinese society and the standpoint from which democratic countries view
Chinese issues.
The Core Political Issue
Wu said, “I think the 4.25
incident marked the beginning of peaceful protests as a way for Chinese
people to resist persecution through clarifying the facts and opposing
the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) lies and violence.” Wu also sees it
as the starting point of the Chinese human rights and anti-violence
movements of the 21st century. “The CCP’s 11 years of brutal
persecution and suppression have not only failed to wipe out Falun
Gong, but have instead pushed Falun Gong to the peak of historical and
moral significance.”
Before retirement in 2003, Wu had worked for the Xinhua
News Agency for 28 years and subsequently for RFI for another 13 years.
He said he had been observing Falun Gong since the 4.25 incident in
1999 and came to the conclusion that “the Falun Gong issue is the core
of all political issues in China.”
“I am not looking at it from Falun Gong’s viewpoint. I am looking at it
as a journalist working in today’s social environment,” he said.
Although unable to return to China, Wu said he was able to keep up with
happenings in China through various means. “After eleven years of
brutal persecution, there are still many Falun Gong practitioners in
every level of society in China. When I was still with RFI before I
retired in 2003, I heard from my friends in Beijing that they would
often receive Falun Gong flyers in their mailboxes.”
And while the persecution was unfolding in China, Wu notes that there
was a parallel development–Falun Gong became an international movement
over the same time period. There are currently Falun Gong practitioners
in North America, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, India, and other Asian
countries. “This shows that Falun Gong’s principles and values have not
only been widely accepted by Chinese descendants, but by people
internationally as well,” Wu said.
As someone in his 70s who survived all the political campaigns the CCP
launched since it took over China, Wu said he understands the CCP very
well. “The reason the CCP has constantly launched political campaigns
over the past 60 years is solely to solidify its rule.” He said that
throughout all of its political movements, the CCP has always succeeded
in its campaigns of persecution, even to the extent of successfully
“reeducating” its victims. Some former dissidents even “turned around
and praised the CCP after being persecuted by it.”
“Under the CCP’s tyranny, no persecuted group has ever been able to
resist persecution so bravely and enduringly as Falun Gong has done,
nor has any group been able to expose the CCP’s lies and violence as
thoroughly as Falun Gong has. Never.
“No group of victims under the CCP’s tyranny has been able to file
lawsuits overseas against the head of the persecution like Falun Gong
has against Jiang Zemin, gaining sympathy and support from the
international jurisdiction community. Never.
“And no group under the CCP’s persecution has been able to assemble a
performing arts group like Shen Yun Performing Arts to promote
traditional Chinese culture worldwide. I think Shen Yun has become the
classic of Chinese performing arts.”
Having worked for both Chinese and overseas media, Wu said he knows how
much effort the CCP has put into influencing Western media. He said the
CCP often invites Western reporters to Beijing to communicate the CCP’s
reporting guidelines to them.
Once, as the director of RFI’s Chinese programs, he received a phone
call from the Chinese Embassy in 2000. He went to the embassy, and
after some polite remarks, the Chinese official took out a bag of
materials, all of which were anti-Falun Gong propaganda. The official
told him, “We hope your program does not report on Falun Gong from now
on.”
Wu could see that the CCP was doing whatever it could to influence
international media with anti-Falun Gong propaganda. As to why it was
doing this, Wu said, ”I am further convinced that it is because the
Falun Gong issue is indeed the core of all political issues in China.”
Persecution Showcases Falun Gong
Wu thinks the reason the
CCP is so nervous about Falun Gong is because, of all the groups
persecuted by the CCP over the years, Falun Gong is the only one that
has thoroughly exposed the CCP’s nature.
Moreover, Falun Gong has successfully filed lawsuits against the head
of the persecution overseas and in the United Nations. “There has never
been a group like this in China’s modern history,” Wu said.
“At the beginning, the CCP had planned to wipe out Falun Gong in three
months or a year. But it is obvious that the Falun Gong group is
indestructible because it is upright, and its practitioners will never
give up their faith. In this sense, the more harshly the CCP persecutes
Falun Gong, the faster it accelerates its own doom.”
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