WASHINGTON, D.C.—Mobs are orchestrated by the Chinese communist regime in Flushing, New York, according to an eye witness and panel of experts at a forum in Washington, D.C. on June 26.
A video showing of earlier mob scenes shows mobs shouting death threats and slogans against Falun Gong practitioners. The host for the forum, Keith Ware, said, "You might think you were in China [during the Cultural Revolution], but it is New York City in the United States of America!
Wei Jingsheng, who spent 16 years in Chinese prisons for advocating democracy, knows first-hand the nature of the CCP. Through the voice of his English translator, Wei said that Flushing is not an isolated disturbance and that the CCP has been doing this kind of thing in Australia and Europe too. Flushing, however, is unprecedented in showing the degree to which the Chinese regime controls Chinese overseas.
"Before we didn't have the evidence. But this time we do in Flushing," said Wei.
Rob Counts, a graphics designer from Washington, D.C. and a Falun Gong practitioner, read about the disturbances beginning in May 17 in the Epoch Times, and decided he would go to Flushing and have a look for himself. He had read about an older Chinese man, an adherent to Falun Gong, and a volunteer at a "Quit the Chinese Communist Party" table in front of the Queens Library in Flushing, New York City, who had been struck in the head. He hoped that he could peacefully clear up the misunderstanding that led to such violence.
This was on the weekend of May 31 and June 1, before a video became available, showing unruly, Chinese, mostly men, surrounding Falun Gong practitioners and taunting them, and threatening them and in some cases becoming violent and hitting them. (See Youmaker for the video.)
Mr. Counts, 27, Caucasian, spoke on a panel, June 26, on Capitol Hill, organized by the Washington Forum. A scholar from the American Enterprise Institute and a world renowned Chinese dissident also offered their interpretations of these events.
Counts arrived in Flushing at 9 a.m. and saw people on the streets engaging in intense conversations with people passing out information about quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
"At about 10 o'clock, two women raised a banner that displayed photos of people who had been persecuted by the CCP. They were immediately surrounded on the street by a mob of mostly middle-aged men," said Counts.
Counts thought this peculiar and went over to see what was going on.
"The mob of mostly Chinese men had closed in on two women and were speaking in a disrespectful manner to the women… The pressure seemed to be too much. So, I stood next to one of the women, reached for the banner, and held it with them. I was surprised things were so intense so early in the morning," said Counts.
The police soon arrived and dispersed everyone, which broke up the mob.
Counts continued to hand out informational materials near the library. He saw a Chinese American friend from D.C. area standing alone and suddenly surrounded by a group of 60 to 70 people who were yelling, mostly in Chinese. He walked over to his friend, accompanied by another (non-Chinese) friend, and together, they stood with their friend "as the crowd shouted and taunted us."
"It seemed that the more people tried to engage with the local people about the true situation of things, the more these mobs tended to gather around them and taunt them," said Counts. "I asked a Chinese woman, who was distributing pamphlets, what the mobs were shouting in Chinese, and she said she would not repeat what they said as it was the absolute worst cursing she had ever heard."
During the whole day, Counts concluded that the mob behavior was not spontaneous. He saw a woman wearing dark glasses, handing out several big banners to the mob and then quickly left the scene. Then the mob would "shout and chant slogans together, with very angry expressions and gestures," said Counts.
"Late that evening, a black Honda with the Chinese flag's stars painted on the side pulled up to the curb and the driver and passenger exited. They quickly ran into the mob. They spoke Chinese for about 15 minutes and seemed to be delegating orders to the crowd. They then left in the car," said Mr. Counts.
That night the mob was very dangerous and the police took special precautions to protect the adherents of Falun Gong.
"Upon seeing this, I was really shocked at how organized these mobs were," said Counts. The orchestration of the "spontaneous" mob behavior by the Chinese Consulate General in New York City was later confirmed by a recorded confession of the Consul General Peng Keyu. A portion of that conversation was played at the forum.
"The CCP is interfering with the internal affairs in the U.S.," said Wei. This was very risky behavior, making diplomacy with the West more difficult. "Their behavior is becoming more and more irrational, and that shows the CCP will collapse soon," said Wei.
Wei's intuitive understanding of the pending collapse of the current Chinese regime was supported by the observations of Michael Ledeen, Freedom Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, author of "The War Against the Terror Masters" (2002) and "Beijing Embraces Classical Fascism," appearing recently in the Far East Economic Review.
Ledeen said that children of Chinese elites in the U.S., in particular, but also in Hong Kong and Canada, "have bought homes, not in investment property, not luxury homes, but normal homes that people live in normal places and cities," such as in the Midwest.
"Why? They anticipate in their own lifetime that they will have to leave and run away and need a place to go and live."
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