In China, I was once a Ph.D. student at the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. I risked the comfortable life that awaits a Ph.D. in China in order to work for The Epoch Times. This newspaper is unlike other Chinese-language newspapers. It is fearless in telling the truth about life in China and in exposing the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party. I was not alone in preferring to take the risk to tell the truth. I introduced several friends to The Epoch Times, who also worked for it. We were among the first to work for this paper.

The leaders of the Communist Party hate The Epoch Times. The people of China, on the other hand, turn to this paper in the hope of freeing themselves from the lies the Party forces on them.

In March, 2001 I and a classmate were abducted and illegally detained. I was secretly sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment. I learned later that 30 other students were also secretly arrested. Most of them had graduated from China’s best universities. Some of these were sentenced to 10 years in prison, or even more.

I was held at the Beijing Detention Center. The police wanted a confession from me. The interrogations went on for 40 continuous days. The sessions would begin at night, usually starting around 9 p.m. and go into the morning, until 2 a.m. or 4 a.m. Then I would often immediately be re-interrogated. Everyday the interrogations would go on for a total of ten hours or more. The police wanted to make you feel that at any moment you might be interrogated. They wanted to break you down. We could not get even a minimal amount of sleep, and were forced to stand or sit the whole day. Nerves were exhausted and prisoners felt like they were going crazy. My friend Baozhong Jin, with a Masters degree in Science, in fact was driven mad there.

During the interrogation, policemen threatened me, “Do you think you can walk out of here alive? Ten Chinese Academy of Sciences, ten universities are nothing. The Chinese Communist Party was founded at the cost of 20 million lives. Killing a hundred scientists is only a trivial thing. We are only responsible to Jiang Zemin [at that time Jiang Zemin was the paramount leader of China] and the Communist Party. Not to let them lose face is the most important thing to us.”

I was locked up with criminals, many of whom would soon be executed. The cells were dirty, dim and stuffy. On average, every prisoner had less than 1 square meter of space to himself. Eating, drinking, sleeping, defecating were done in the same cell. Diseases spread rapidly. In the sweltering summer, we were like fish without oxygen. Outside of the severe conditions of the cell, I had to face intimidation, corporal punishment and insult from both policemen and prisoners every day. Several times I felt it was much better to die than live.

The Cancellation of NTDTV’s Satellite Contract

Today we are discussing the cancellation of New Tang Dynasty TV’s (NTDTV) satellite contract by Eutelsat. The Chinese Communist Party has worked very hard to keep NTDTV from broadcasting to China. It has done so for the same reason it has tried to suppress The Epoch Times. The Party fears any media that has a spirit of freedom and a dedication to telling the truth.

The Party has asked a western company, Eutelsat, to deny its own dedication to freedom. What the Party has asked of Eutelsat, it has asked before of other western companies, and in the future will ask of yet other western companies. The Party must act this way, because its tyranny cannot survive if the people of China are allowed to know the truth.

Some people, and organizations, and even some governments have thought human rights in China have been improving, and so they have been compromising with the Chinese government. If you compromise with the Chinese Communist Party, you are trading with the blood of the people of China. If you were to aid the Chinese Communist Party, and then truly understand the consequences of doing so, your conscience would be sore the rest of your life.

When I agreed to speak today, I thought I mainly had something to tell you about China. On reflection, even though I have just arrived here in the United States, I realized I might have something worthwhile to say about the west. Because I have just arrived, perhaps I can see some things more clearly.

From the very moment that I stepped on American soil, I felt that I was shown respect again. I felt the friendly air and the freedom that exists here. As westerners, you may not realize how lucky you are, and how precious this freedom is.

In opposing Eutelsat’s immoral and possibly illegal decision not to renew NTDTV’s contract, we are not only defending the access of the Chinese people to a precious source of truth. We are defending the west’s own dedication to a free media that reports honestly, without fear or favor. We are defending ourselves.

Several of my friends from The Epoch Times are still in prison. Although reminding myself of these painful experiences hurts deeply, I decided to stand here today to ask for support from anyone who treasures freedom. It is my duty to appeal for those who cannot speak for themselves. I joined The Epoch Times so that I could help tell the truth about China, and in doing so to make things better. Now that I am free, how can I not continue what I had begun? Will not all of this suffering be in vain unless we all affirm our dedication to defend a free press that speaks the truth?

Please join with me. Appeal for the release of the innocent journalists of The Epoch Times. Appeal to Eutelsat to understand that its own interests lie with the cause of a free press, not with the wishes of tyrants. Appeal to the people and governments of the west to understand this fight is their own. They must gently but firmly say: we stand with The Epoch Times, we stand with NTDTV, we stand with those who answer tyranny with freedom and lies with truth.

Thank you.

Remarks made at an Epoch Times Forum on Eutelsat’s cancellation of NTDTV’s satellite contract on Tuesday, April 12 at the New York City Press Club.