Understanding China's Political Maze

Recently, numerous major breaking news stories on Chinese politics have been in the headlines. On surface they seem quite complicated, but they are connected deeply through a common background. Zhang Tianliang, an Epoch Times columnist and well-known commentator, believes that only from the perspectives of Falun Gong, the publication of the editorial series The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, and the increasing wave of resignations from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), can we see through the maze of China's politics.

In this article, Zhang Tianliang uses these three threads to show us how to untangle some of these diverse events:

• Hong Kong's Cheng Ming Monthly reported that Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong [1] leaked a list of new Politburo members;
• China's Vice Premier Huang Ju [2], having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, appeared then disappeared a second time from the political scene;
• Front-Line Magazine published a lengthy article exposing the CCP's crimes of live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners;
• The CCP's inner circle frequently has corrupt officials falling out of favor; the CCP's Central Garrison Bureau had a major shakeup, while China's president Hu Jintao reorganized the military's leadership;
• Human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng was assaulted again by CCP agents;
• North Korea's missile testing;
• The upcoming trial of Cambodia's communist Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity;
• Release of the independent investigative report on China's organ harvesting of live Falun Gong practitioners by two Canadians.

This article is based on the transcript of an interview with Zhang Tianliang by Epoch Times reporter Xin Fei.

1. Falun Gong is the Key to the Power Struggle within the CCP

• Hu Jintao's Subtle Change of Attitude Toward Falun Gong

Various sources indicate that the CCP's inner circle is having an intense power struggle over the issue of Falun Gong, and the different factions are using their resources to position themselves.

Recently we have seen that Attorney Gao Zhisheng, the human rights lawyer who has spoken on behalf of Falun Gong, had a conflict with CCP agents who monitor him. On July 9, agents verbally insulted and assaulted Gao in front of his residence.

There was a subtle detail in his past encounters with the agents, which I hope people have not missed. On March 10 of this year, Attorney Gao received a death threat when an agent said to him, with his face up close to Gao's, "Gao Zhisheng, the time for your death is not distant; please remember my words, your death is not distant. Who are you? Those at the top have to follow our intention; even Hu Jintao has to follow our intention... " From this you will understand immediately the unsaid meaning: Hu Jintao does not want to arrest you, but he has to listen to us.

But why hasn't Gao been arrested? I suppose Hu has played a role in protecting Gao. That is the reason why Gao is in this quandary: he is not been arrested but the harassing agents do not leave either. A few days ago, Gao mentioned that Hu Jintao read his third public letter and was shocked at the degree of cruelty in the persecution of Falun Gong, and that Hu is making some efforts in this regard.

In Hong Kong, several magazines have followed the CCP's upper circles closely, including Front-Line Magazine and Cheng Ming Monthly. Their reports are quite perceptive. Front-Line Magazine recently published an article "The Incident of the CCP's Live Organ Harvesting Is Getting Bigger and Bigger." In an interview with The Epoch Times, the magazine's Chief Editor Liu Dawen strongly criticized the CCP's crime as a crime against humanity.

According to expert analyses, the magazine's reaction indicates that there is a group in Beijing that opposes the CCP and Jiang Zemin/Luo Gan [3]. This group wants to express their intention through media outlets outside of the Mainland. In the report by Cheng Ming Monthly on Zeng Qinghong's leak of the list for the 17th Politburo Standing Committee members, its critical sword points directly at Jiang Zemin's follower Zeng Qinghong.

• Hu Jintao Consolidates Power

The security of the power of the CCP's top leader depends, to a large degree, on whether the Central Garrison Bureau, the military, and Beijing's municipal government are loyal to him. This was why when Jiang Zemin tried to consolidate his power, he replaced the Central Garrison Bureau chief Yang Dezhong with his trusted follower You Xigui, promoted many generals in the army, and overthrew Beijing's then Mayor Chen Xitong. Those are considered as the sign that Jiang has gained the control.

We have seen that recently Hu Jintao's has intensified his power. The removal of Liu Zhihua as the Deputy Mayor of Beijing is reminiscent of the 1995 incidents in Beijing municipal government when the Deputy Mayor Wang Baocen committed suicide and the Mayor Chen Xitong was, in the end, imprisoned.

Furthermore, Hu Jintao promoted 10 generals in the military so that the total number of generals reached 36. Clearly Hu's position in the military is greatly strengthened. Some top-ranking military personnel will retire before the CCP's 17th Congress, including Zhu Qi in the Beijing military region, Sui Mingtai in the armed police force, Yang Deqing in the Guangzhou military region, and Li Ganyuan in the Lanzhou military region. Hu Jintao will promote people into important military positions, which is a sign of his power strategy. In addition, the Central Garrison Bureau will have personnel turnover this year. The bureau head You Xigui, Jiang Zemin's personal bodyguard, will now be replaced with Sun Zhigong, Hu Jintao's head guard. This way, Hu's safety will basically be ensured.

• Counterpunch From Jiang's Clique

Of course, seeing this, Jiang would not idly sit by. On May 1 this year, China's "Labor Day," he made his appearance on Mount Tai. What was he trying to do? Using the jargon of the CCP itself, he wanted to demonstrate that he was "still alive and still has his ambition."

We all remember that Deng made his South China inspection tour in 1992, when he was 88 years old. Why did he do this? He revealed the reason himself in a speech: "As for the words I spoke recently, some people followed while some others refused to obey. The city of Beijing has actively launched the campaign to implement my policy; however, some people in the central government are still resisting."

Deng was targeting Jiang Zemin in this speech. Because Jiang refused to follow his order, Deng decided to go public. Now, Jiang is 80 years old, yet he still toured Mount Tai. From the photos taken during the tour, we can see that he huddled up in a heavy jacket and was carried by others. Obviously, he was in very poor health. And it was a desperate struggle for him to make this public appearance. Obviously, Hu no longer follows his orders.

Recently, there was another person near death who went public. Huang Ju is suffering from incurable pancreatic cancer. Jiang Zemin arranged to have Huang make a public appearance, showing that this key member of the Jiang's clique was still alive. They are only bluffing. Huang can be seen publicly once a month; the rest of the month, he is in hiding. If he has really recovered, he would be seen more frequently.

The biggest counterpunch from Jiang's side was to launch a new anti-Falun Gong website in a rush before July 1. This website published a large number of articles defaming Falun Gong. The authors are a handful of Jiang's and Luo's diehard followers, such as He Zuoxiu [4], Zhao Zhizhen [5] and others.

According to insiders, the "610 Office," an organization specifically established to plan and implement the persecution of Falun Gong, granted Xinhua News Agency a large sum of money to reprint these slanderous articles. They are aimed at waging another round of anti-Falun Gong propaganda, the potency of which was only second to the propaganda at beginning of the persecution and after the "Self-immolation Incident [6]."

Zeng Qinghong's list revealed that the in the upcoming 17th National Congress, within the Standing Committee of the Politburo, he and Jia Qinglin [7] would remain in the same positions; Li Changchun [8] would take office as the vice chairman of China. He also mentioned that Liu Yunshan, Zhang Dejiang [9] and others would be promoted.

Zeng and Jia are Jiang's diehard gangmembers. Li Changchun was sued by Falun Gong for following Jiang in the persecution of Falun Gong. Liu Yunshan is the Minister of the Department of Propaganda. Zhang Dejiang was also a member of Jiang's clique who slaughtered the villagers in Shanwei.

Zeng Qinghong actually tried to put up a smoke screen to fool the outside that Jiang's clique still had solid political power. But he was criticized by Wu Bangguo [10] as a result.

• How Will Hu Jintao Be Evaluated

Hu Jintao has made some effort to bring the persecution of Falun Gong to an end. However, his subjective effort didn't have much effect. As to how Hu Jintao will be evaluated, depends on the reason Hu decided to stop the persecution, which in turn, determines whether he can succeed in the end.

If it is an issue of conscience and for the sake of upholding freedom of belief that Hu wants to stop the persecution of Falun Gong, it is the best scenario I can hope for. The human rights catastrophe that Falun Gong is suffering, including the organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners, has never happened before, even in the persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire. The mental torture Falun Gong practitioners suffered in brainwashing have never been experienced by any other spiritual group in history either.

If Hu is willing to bring an end to the persecution, he will have accumulated greater merit than Roman Emperor Constantine and King Ashoka of India. It would be an achievement of boundless merit for him.

There is no middle road for Hu Jintao. He either chooses to be Emperor Constantine or Jiang Zemin.

If it is for the sake of power that Hu proposed to end the persecution of Falun Gong, so as to drive Jiang's clique out of the Politburo and eventually save the CCP, there is no way I would be in favor of him.

The CCP, an evil religion with all kinds of sins, will not tolerate the existence of Falun Gong. Falun Gong's principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" will fundamentally disintegrate the CCP. This was the scenario at the onset of the persecution.

I, as an individual, would hope to see what's going to happen with the kindest intentions.

2. CCP's Crisis in the International Community

The CCP has become more and more isolated in the international community. Recently, an independent research report was published in Canada detailing the organ harvesting in China from live Falun Gong practitioners. The media followed up with reports. The crime could not be kept secret any longer. This issue will cause other countries to reposition their foreign policy on the CCP. There is no reason for such an anti-human, evil party to exist in the international community anymore.

Recently, we've seen several relatively major shifts in the international community.

• Increased Understanding of CCP Crimes

With the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and the ensuing wave of resignations from the CCP, the international community has gained a better understanding of the CCP's crimes. The Council of Europe passed a resolution on January 25, 2006, in Strasbourg, France, to condemn the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes.

A new memorial for victims of communism will be erected in the national mall of Washington, D.C. On July 5, a special court was established in Cambodia to try the accused perpetrators in the Khmer Rouge massacres and their crimes against humanity. All of these are frightening the CCP, which relies on deception to survive in the international community.

• Attention on Civic Groups and Forces in China

Previously, the international community attempted to work with the CCP and urged it to implement systematic political reforms, in the hope that it could become a democracy. Lately, we have seen other countries are increasingly paying more attention to civic groups in China.

For example, in early May, President Bush met with Chinese human rights advocates at the White House. According to inside sources, Bush intended to invite more than just home church members from Mainland China. He also wanted to meet with attorneys Guo Feixiong, who has fought to protect the civil rights of Chinese citizens, and Gao Zhisheng, who voiced strong opposition to the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. The intention demonstrated the United States' interest in civic groups and forces in China.

Subsequently, Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott of the European Parliament, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and other Western political leaders met with Chinese civil rights activists, Falun Gong practitioners, and dissidents. These meetings captured the attention of many people and are regarded as important signals of the West's changing policy on China.

• The CCP's Response

As usual, the CCP wants to create distractions. In other words, it will hide behind the curtain and prompt terrorist countries to create international chaos.

Two recent events stand out: one is inviting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to Shanghai to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; the other is using North Korea to create crises.

I believe that the CCP cannot pretend to have no responsibility in the North Korea missile crisis. Japan-based Sankei News and South Korea Associated Press reported that ten high-ranking military officials from Iran went to North Korea by way of Beijing to watch the missile tests. Also, key parts for the Taepodong-2 missile were all imported from China.

3. Massive Resignations From the CCP

The international Communist bloc relies on the CCP for its survival. Every year, the CCP gives North Korea 1 million tons of petroleum, 2.5 million tons of coal and coke, and 500,000 tons of grains. Last year, the CCP gave it US$2 billion. The CCP also gave Vietnam US$1 billion, as well as a large assistance package to Cuba. North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba are all smaller countries. They don't even have the ability to survive on their own. If the CCP does not support them, they would immediately collapse.

What Should be Done?

For the international community, there is an obvious solution to eliminate communism.

Military attacks will result in millions of deaths. Economic sanctions would be used by the CCP to prompt blind patriotism. The best way, which is the least expensive and will involve no deaths, is to spread the Nine Commentaries and encourage people to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. It will quickly dissolve the CCP and facilitate China's peaceful transformation.

[1] Zeng Qinghong: Member of CCP Politburo Standing Committee, Secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee, Vice President of the People's Republic of China.
[2] Huang Ju: Member of CCP Politburo Standing Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council.
[3] Luo Gan: Member of CCP Politburo Standing Committee, head of the Political and Judiciary Commission of CCP.
[4] He Zuoxiu: Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, relative of Luo Gan's, and helper in the CCP's persecution against Falun Gong.
[5] Zhao Zhizhen: Former director of Wuhan Television Station, founder of "China Anti-Cult Web," and involved in the making of TV programs and articles that instigate hatred against Falun Gong.
[6] On January 23, 2001 a group of people self-immolated in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China. The group were allegedly practitioners of the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong; however, this is disputed by Falun Gong supporters, who claim it was a setup by the Chinese Communist Party as a part of the ongoing crackdown on the movement.
[7] Jia Qinglin: Member of CCP Politburo Standing Committee, Chairman of the National Political Consultative Commission.
[8] Li Changchun: Member of CCP Politburo Standing Committee.
[9] Zhang Dejiang, Member of CCP Politburo Standing Committee, CCP Secretary of Guangdong Province.
[10] Wu Bangguo: Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.