On July 1, 2006, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was celebrating its 85th anniversary of its establishment, Xinhua.Net, the official CCP mouthpiece, leaked the information that the CCP has taken pains for years to hide from the Chinese people: Over 11 million people have resigned from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. This information appeared in the editor’s note of a report titled “Meng Weizai: I will never renounce the CCP!” Although Xinhua issued this article to refute the wave of withdrawals, it in fact confirmed the existence of the withdrawals to people in mainland China.
The Word Is Out
Xinhua.Net leaked information about the 11 million withdrawals in an editor’s note it added to an article first publicized in Cnkfun.com. The article said Meng Weizai, former director of Division of Art and Literature under CCP’s Propaganda Department, denied resigning from the CCP, saying, “Communism has been my ideal and goal. I will not betray my goal.”
Last year around July 1, when 2.8 million resigned from the CCP and its affiliated organizations, the CCP made its first official response to the wave of withdrawals. Li Jingtian, the deputy head of the CCP Central Committee’s Organization Department, claimed in a press conference, “Some time ago, certain foreign websites reported that thousands of party members resigned their CCP membership, and publicized some resignation statements. This is a false rumor.” Li then used the case of Meng Weizai as an example.
This year on July 1, Xinhua.Net again used Meng Weizai to refute the reports of the resignation. But this time, Xinhua Net claimed the total number of withdrawals is 11 million. The question remains now is, “Did Meng Weizai resign from the CCP?”
Did Meng Weizai Resign?
On December 10, 2004, a statement was issued on a website outside China in the name of Meng Weizai. In the statement Meng introduced himself, “I was born in Hongtong County, Shanxi Province. I am a well known writer and painter, and former head of the People’s Literature Publishing House and the People’s Art Publishing House, former deputy Party chief at China Federation of Art and Literature (CFAL), former director of Division of Art and Literature under CCP’s Propaganda Department, and former specialist of the General Administration of Press and Publication.” The statement says that after practicing Falun Gong, Meng found his health greatly improved and diseases cured. However, because of his belief in Falun Gong, he has been frequently harassed by Chinese government. Meng declared that he decided to resign from the CCP after he read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. He appealed in the statement, “I, a 70-year-old, a former CCP member for 55 years, call to all Chinese people to renounce the CCP.”
One day after the statement was issued, the CFAL released a statement via Xinhua.Net under the title “Meng Weizai Solemnly Declares: I will remain a CCP member forever.” The statement said Meng was shocked when he “learned on the evening of December 8 that a certain overseas website said that I had resigned from the Communist Party of China.”
One day after that statement, a new declaration of Meng Weizai was posted in a website outside China. In this latest statement, Meng condemned Xinhua.Net for fabricating his statement, and pointed out that the CFAL and Xinhua did not dare to mention the fact that Meng practices Falun Gong and have read the Nine Commentaries when they fabricated the so-called “authorized statement.”
Behind This Story is the Unstoppable Wave of Withdrawals
Mr. Wang Hua, a volunteer of the Service Center for Quitting the CCP, gave his views on the case of Meng Weizai. Wang said, “Whether Meng Weizai resigned from the CCP is not essential. The nature of quitting the CCP is a spiritual self-questioning and a personal free choice. It happens at the grass-root level. It does not matter if Meng Weizai really resigned from the CCP, or if he denied the resignation under pressure, or if Cnkfun.com fabricated his denial. It’s just the case of one individual. Against the background of the resignation of 11 million people, one single case does not mean anything. You can not deny the withdrawal of millions of people with one case.”
Gao Dawei, head of the service center, said that July 1 is dedicated as Quitting-the-CCP Day for a good reason. He noted that the imminent disintegration of the CCP has become a tacit but common understanding among both high-ranking CCP officials and the ordinary Chinese people. Many high level officials have renounced the CCP, and they are helping spread the Nine Commentaries to the Chinese people.
Experts pointed out that there is a reason that the information of 11 million withdrawals was revealed in the CCP’s official website, particularly on the CCP’s founding anniversary. For the CCP, it is surely not a promising birthday gift.
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