minime1111
08-15-2005, 09:16 PM
Defectors Expose Espionage
Chinese officials reveal spy networks in Australia, U.S., Canada, New Zealand
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Caylan Ford and Jonathan Browde
The Epoch Times
Jun 14, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://english.epochtimes.com/news_images/2005-6-13-defector.jpg
Hao Fengjun, who left China and has been hiding in Melbourne since February, talks to a reporter. (The Epoch Times)
The names of Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun are not well known to most Americans. But they should be.
Chen and Hao are senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who very publicly defected in Australia this past week. They brought with them documents to back up claims of massive Chinese spying in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. Their stories help explain acts of harassment and violence here in the U.S.
This drama of defection, espionage, and personal courage has unfolded in rapid steps this past week.
On June 4, Chen, the First Secretary of China¡¦s Consulate-General in Sydney, announced publicly his defection at a press conference in Sydney marking the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Chen claimed knowledge of a 1,000-person strong Chinese spy network in Australia.
On June 6 in Melbourne, Hao granted an exclusive interview to The Epoch Times. A former agent of the ¡§610 Office¡¨ in China, Hao corroborated Chen¡¦s claim and discussed spy networks he had knowledge of in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.
On June 8, the two men¡¦s claims were further buttressed when the case of an anonymous third Chinese official was made public by his lawyer on Australian TV¡¦s Lateline. Attorney Bernard Collaery said his client, a former senior state security officer who has already received asylum in Australia, had previously fled China after witnessing widespread torture of Falun Gong adherents in his police district.
Coming Forward
Hao, 32, from Tianjin City, China, was assigned to work as a police officer at the age of 21. At the time he thought it was the perfect job, he says, and one that would allow him to safeguard justice and protect those who could not protect themselves.
But his perceptions began to change in 2000 when he was transferred to work in China¡¦s ¡§610 Office¡¨- a Gestapo-like organization created in 1999 for the purpose of eradicating the Falun Gong meditation practice. Among Hao¡¦s duties was to sort and analyze reports about Falun Gong collected from Chinese spies stationed around the world. He says that most of the reports came from underground operatives stationed in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Falun Gong is a meditation discipline with roots in traditional Chinese culture, and espouses the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. By the late 1990s the practice, which was not officially registered under the state, had attracted more practitioners than the Communist Party had members. In July 1999, China¡¦s former president declared the practice illegal and set out to crush it. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, the deaths of 2500 practitioners due to mistreatment in police custody have been verified, but the true death toll is estimated as being in the range of 10,000.
At first, Hao says, he didn¡¦t mind the job of monitoring Falun Gong. But in October, 2000, he witnessed a colleague in the 610 Office violently beat a female Falun Gong practitioner with an iron bar, leaving her black and blue and with two lacerations more than 20 cm long. He began to understand that as a 610 officer, he wouldn¡¦t be safeguarding justice anymore.
With a heavy conscience, Hao says he looked for a way out, and it came in February of this year. Security officials are not permitted to travel abroad. Nonetheless, through a ruse Hao was able to obtain a passport.
He traveled to Australia as a tourist, bringing with him smuggled reports from the 610 Office documenting the surveillance of Falun Gong and other religious groups persecuted by the CCP.
He began to apply for asylum, but dared not speak out publicly about what he knew, fearing for the safety of his family who remain in China. Hao found work in Australia and was living quietly under a bridging visa. Until June 4th, that is, when Chen, who was in charge of monitoring Falun Gong practitioners, dissidents and democracy activists in Australia, publicly defected.
Chen says he couldn¡¦t bear to continue in his post. He made headlines across Australia when he said that China has a network of roughly 1000 spies operating in the country- a claim the Chinese government quickly denied. He also spoke out against China¡¦s persecution of Falun Gong, saying practitioners are innocent and shouldn¡¦t be facing torture.
Hao¡¦s courage was ignited.
¡§Chen Yonglin is a diplomat and he stepped forward to speak clearly on behalf of Falun Gong and democratic activists. I think I am a policeman so I have a responsibility to do the same,¡¨ he told The Epoch Times last Monday.
Hao backed Chen¡¦s claims of the spy network, elaborating the inner workings of China¡¦s overseas spy rings whose reports he had spent years sorting through.
The Makings of China¡¦s Spy Network
¡§I¡¦m not surprised about what Mr. Chen said about there being 1000 spies in Australia,¡¨ says Hao.
¡§This figure is accurate. I know this. Also, I know that the Chinese spies are not only in the Chinese consulates and embassy but also in businesses and overseas Chinese organizations.¡¨
According to Hao, spies from China are delegated and paid for by individual police units. Every municipality has its own spy budget, he says, making it difficult to calculate exactly how much China spends to send spies overseas. Hao did, however, tell The Epoch Times that the city of Shanghai spends roughly 7 million Yuan ($845,000) annually; the city of Tianjin spends about 250,000 ($30,000), and Beijing spends between six and seven million Yuan annually to send spies overseas.
Hao describes three general classes of Chinese spies:
1) Special agents¡Xagents sent overseas by the National Security Bureau who often pose as businessmen
2) Friends¡Xsecret cadres, or recent graduates from the police academy or members of the Public Security Bureau who, out of uniform, make friends and use these friendships to gather intelligence
3) Working relations¡Xbusinessmen sent to collect information from overseas business, technology, or military circles
Hao says that some spies have also infiltrated overseas groups, including Falun Gong, Christian organizations, and advocates for democracy in China.
In addition to reporting information back to Mainland China, the spies also make efforts to interfere in the livelihoods of Falun Gong practitioners and others.
¡§I think outside of China that persecution of Falun Gong practitioners exists,¡¨ Hao says. ¡§They tell¡K Chinese community organizations not to hire or give jobs to Falun Gong practitioners.¡¨
The United States Congress agrees. It unanimously passed Concurrent Resolution 304 in September 2004, condemning China¡¦s actions of spying on and harassing Americans who practice Falun Gong. The resolution listed instances of breaking and entering as well as assault and battery.
link to this article:
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-6-14/29521.html [URL]
Chinese officials reveal spy networks in Australia, U.S., Canada, New Zealand
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Caylan Ford and Jonathan Browde
The Epoch Times
Jun 14, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://english.epochtimes.com/news_images/2005-6-13-defector.jpg
Hao Fengjun, who left China and has been hiding in Melbourne since February, talks to a reporter. (The Epoch Times)
The names of Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun are not well known to most Americans. But they should be.
Chen and Hao are senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who very publicly defected in Australia this past week. They brought with them documents to back up claims of massive Chinese spying in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. Their stories help explain acts of harassment and violence here in the U.S.
This drama of defection, espionage, and personal courage has unfolded in rapid steps this past week.
On June 4, Chen, the First Secretary of China¡¦s Consulate-General in Sydney, announced publicly his defection at a press conference in Sydney marking the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Chen claimed knowledge of a 1,000-person strong Chinese spy network in Australia.
On June 6 in Melbourne, Hao granted an exclusive interview to The Epoch Times. A former agent of the ¡§610 Office¡¨ in China, Hao corroborated Chen¡¦s claim and discussed spy networks he had knowledge of in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.
On June 8, the two men¡¦s claims were further buttressed when the case of an anonymous third Chinese official was made public by his lawyer on Australian TV¡¦s Lateline. Attorney Bernard Collaery said his client, a former senior state security officer who has already received asylum in Australia, had previously fled China after witnessing widespread torture of Falun Gong adherents in his police district.
Coming Forward
Hao, 32, from Tianjin City, China, was assigned to work as a police officer at the age of 21. At the time he thought it was the perfect job, he says, and one that would allow him to safeguard justice and protect those who could not protect themselves.
But his perceptions began to change in 2000 when he was transferred to work in China¡¦s ¡§610 Office¡¨- a Gestapo-like organization created in 1999 for the purpose of eradicating the Falun Gong meditation practice. Among Hao¡¦s duties was to sort and analyze reports about Falun Gong collected from Chinese spies stationed around the world. He says that most of the reports came from underground operatives stationed in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Falun Gong is a meditation discipline with roots in traditional Chinese culture, and espouses the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. By the late 1990s the practice, which was not officially registered under the state, had attracted more practitioners than the Communist Party had members. In July 1999, China¡¦s former president declared the practice illegal and set out to crush it. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, the deaths of 2500 practitioners due to mistreatment in police custody have been verified, but the true death toll is estimated as being in the range of 10,000.
At first, Hao says, he didn¡¦t mind the job of monitoring Falun Gong. But in October, 2000, he witnessed a colleague in the 610 Office violently beat a female Falun Gong practitioner with an iron bar, leaving her black and blue and with two lacerations more than 20 cm long. He began to understand that as a 610 officer, he wouldn¡¦t be safeguarding justice anymore.
With a heavy conscience, Hao says he looked for a way out, and it came in February of this year. Security officials are not permitted to travel abroad. Nonetheless, through a ruse Hao was able to obtain a passport.
He traveled to Australia as a tourist, bringing with him smuggled reports from the 610 Office documenting the surveillance of Falun Gong and other religious groups persecuted by the CCP.
He began to apply for asylum, but dared not speak out publicly about what he knew, fearing for the safety of his family who remain in China. Hao found work in Australia and was living quietly under a bridging visa. Until June 4th, that is, when Chen, who was in charge of monitoring Falun Gong practitioners, dissidents and democracy activists in Australia, publicly defected.
Chen says he couldn¡¦t bear to continue in his post. He made headlines across Australia when he said that China has a network of roughly 1000 spies operating in the country- a claim the Chinese government quickly denied. He also spoke out against China¡¦s persecution of Falun Gong, saying practitioners are innocent and shouldn¡¦t be facing torture.
Hao¡¦s courage was ignited.
¡§Chen Yonglin is a diplomat and he stepped forward to speak clearly on behalf of Falun Gong and democratic activists. I think I am a policeman so I have a responsibility to do the same,¡¨ he told The Epoch Times last Monday.
Hao backed Chen¡¦s claims of the spy network, elaborating the inner workings of China¡¦s overseas spy rings whose reports he had spent years sorting through.
The Makings of China¡¦s Spy Network
¡§I¡¦m not surprised about what Mr. Chen said about there being 1000 spies in Australia,¡¨ says Hao.
¡§This figure is accurate. I know this. Also, I know that the Chinese spies are not only in the Chinese consulates and embassy but also in businesses and overseas Chinese organizations.¡¨
According to Hao, spies from China are delegated and paid for by individual police units. Every municipality has its own spy budget, he says, making it difficult to calculate exactly how much China spends to send spies overseas. Hao did, however, tell The Epoch Times that the city of Shanghai spends roughly 7 million Yuan ($845,000) annually; the city of Tianjin spends about 250,000 ($30,000), and Beijing spends between six and seven million Yuan annually to send spies overseas.
Hao describes three general classes of Chinese spies:
1) Special agents¡Xagents sent overseas by the National Security Bureau who often pose as businessmen
2) Friends¡Xsecret cadres, or recent graduates from the police academy or members of the Public Security Bureau who, out of uniform, make friends and use these friendships to gather intelligence
3) Working relations¡Xbusinessmen sent to collect information from overseas business, technology, or military circles
Hao says that some spies have also infiltrated overseas groups, including Falun Gong, Christian organizations, and advocates for democracy in China.
In addition to reporting information back to Mainland China, the spies also make efforts to interfere in the livelihoods of Falun Gong practitioners and others.
¡§I think outside of China that persecution of Falun Gong practitioners exists,¡¨ Hao says. ¡§They tell¡K Chinese community organizations not to hire or give jobs to Falun Gong practitioners.¡¨
The United States Congress agrees. It unanimously passed Concurrent Resolution 304 in September 2004, condemning China¡¦s actions of spying on and harassing Americans who practice Falun Gong. The resolution listed instances of breaking and entering as well as assault and battery.
link to this article:
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-6-14/29521.html [URL]