Taiwanese businessman Lee Meng-chu witnessed firsthand the ongoing persecution of Chinese citizens and religious groups—particularly the oppression faced by Falun Gong practitioners—in a Chinese prison.
Chinese authorities detained Mr. Lee during a business trip to China in 2019. He returned to Taiwan in September this year after he was imprisoned for 22 months on charges of conducting espionage activities. He was also prohibited from leaving China for two years and given a “supplementary punishment” of “deprivation of political rights,” meaning he could not vote or participate in elections.
During the two-year “supplementary punishment,” Mr. Lee visited more than 100 Chinese cities and learned about the atrocities occurring inside prisons, particularly the abuses perpetrated against Falun Gong adherents.
The Arrest
Mr. Lee was detained during Hong Kong’s large-scale “anti-extradition” protests that erupted in June 2019, with tens of thousands arrested.In February 2019, the Hong Kong government proposed the “Amendment Bill to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance,” allowing Hong Kong criminal suspects to be extradited to the mainland for trial. Critics argued that, given the Chinese regime’s disregard for the rule of law, the proposals would empower Beijing to pursue the extradition of its critics in Hong Kong with impunity.
In October 2020, China’s state broadcaster CCTV claimed that Mr. Lee was a spy exposed by Chinese national security, connecting him to “hundreds of espionage cases involving spies from Taiwan.” He was accused of being part of “Taiwan independence” forces involved in espionage and meddling in Hong Kong affairs.
Authorities forced Mr. Lee to “confess” his “crimes” and apologize to the “motherland” on state media.
Reflecting on the persecution he endured under the Chinese regime, he said, “The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] turned out to be different from what I initially believed.”
The Persecution
Mr. Lee was detained at Zhaoqing Prison in southern Guangdong Province. There were 20 separate sections in the prison, each holding several hundred inmates. At least five Falun Gong practitioners were in the section he was assigned.He observed that Falun Gong adherents were specifically targeted and subjected to inhumane treatment, with prison authorities seizing every opportunity to impose punishments on them.
“They were locked up simply for practicing Falun Gong. That’s how the CCP specifically treats them,” he said.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline involving meditative exercises and moral teachings based on three core principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The practice gained popularity in China during the 1990s, with 70 million to 100 million adherents by the end of the decade, according to official estimates at the time.
Forced Organ Harvesting
Mr. Lee pointed out an unusual phenomenon in Chinese prisons. “Prisoners without identifiable names, families, or backgrounds tend to vanish,” he recounted.A fellow inmate told him that in a prison in Northeast China, around one-third of new inmates disappeared within four months.
“This sparked discussions among inmates, with many speculating that these individuals were most likely subjected to live organ harvesting,” according to Mr. Lee.
In the two years of the travel ban, he visited 105 cities across China. It was in Northeast China that he encountered numerous stories about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
During Mr. Lee’s visit to Changchun city—where Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi first introduced the practice to the public in 1992—a local friend shared a disturbing story. Mr. Zhao (pseudonym) told Mr. Lee that after the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong, numerous local practitioners, including some of his elementary and middle school classmates, as well as entire families, inexplicably disappeared.
Mr. Zhao said that one of his classmates discovered her family members had gone missing and suspected CCP involvement. In an attempt to seek answers, other family members went to the authorities, only to be detained by the CCP.
“Local residents said that it’s been 20 years, and there is still no news about all those missing individuals,” Mr. Lee said.
Despite the rarity of voluntary organ donation in China, its organ transplant industry has seen remarkable growth since the early 2000s.
International human rights lawyer David Matas said that large-scale killing for organ harvesting began in the early 2000s, a few years after the persecution of Falun Gong began.
‘Communists Cannot Tolerate Dissenting Voices’
Despite Beijing’s extensive campaign to smear Falun Gong, a significant number of Chinese citizens, including the youth, have become aware of the CCP’s deceit and brutality, Mr. Lee said. He emphasized that “Chinese people also deserve to have meaningful religious beliefs.”Mr. Lee believes that the Chinese regime employs extreme measures to suppress religious beliefs because, at its core, the CCP is atheistic.
He also said the Taiwanese must not assume that they can engage in dialogue with the CCP regarding the fundamental rights granted by their constitution, such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to assemble.
“Communists cannot tolerate dissenting voices in society.”
