Chinese authorities have confiscated money from Sichuan earthquake victims because it came from Humanitarian China, an organization involved in China’s student democracy movement in 1989.

Humanitarian China is a registered organization in the United States formed by a group of Qinghua University alumni living in San Francisco.

Some of the organization’s members were student leaders during the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989, including Zhou Fengsuo who has been in exile since the incident.
Zhao Jing, the coordinator of Humanitarian China, said the organization was formed to provide humanitarian aid to victims of natural or man-made disasters in China, and has nothing to do with politics.

Humanitarian China donated money to the Dujiangyan Communist Youth League Committee and the Bureau of Education through an agent in Chengdu, Sichuan Province in early July.

The money was given to the families of 26 teachers who died in the earthquake.

However, the Youth League sent the money back to Humanitarian China. Thus, Zhao asked the agent in Chengdu to find out why this occurred.

“When the agent called a victim's family member who had received 6000 yuan, she told him she was very frightened because someone from the Dujianyan Communist Youth League Committee had insisted that she return the money,” Zhao said.

The agent then made phone calls to three school principals, and one of them told him that someone from National Security had ordered the principals and the Youth League to return the money.

“The school principal said that a national security representative warned them not to accept any money from Humanitarian China,” Zhao said.

Zhao said Humanitarian China had also worked with Mr. Qi Huang from Tian Wang to supply aid to earthquake victims.

Huang was arrested while delivering about 11,000 pounds of rice and other materials to the victims, he said.

“They searched him and perhaps found the correspondence with us that mentioned Humanitarian China. So Humanitarian China has become a sensitive political organization in the eyes of National Security,” Zhao said.

Zhao said he condemns the Chinese regime for using secret police officersto monitor fund-raising activities outside of Mainland China.

“It is ridiculous in every way. It is tyrannical and totally fabricated. It shows the Chinese government is interfering with society's disaster relief operations.”

According to Zhao, Humanitarian China will continue to raise funds for the victims and has no intention of stopping.

"Hu Jintao is an alumnus of Tsinghua University. He promoted the idea of a ‘harmonious society’. While we were helping him reach that goal, instead of supporting us he used the secret police against us. Hu Jintao's so-called new system is deceitful, it's nothing but another slogan to maintain their [the Chinese Communist regime] power."