Sydney – Former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) diplomat, Chen Yonglin, recently granted an Australian visa, further revealed CCP espionage activities in Australia at a press conference in Sydney on July 10. At this time he made public some of the intelligence information supplied by CCP agents to the Chinese consulate.
CCP Gathers Vital Information through the Consulates
Yonglin announced, “The CCP’s Australian consulate has two systems; the diplomatic system and the intelligence system. The budget for the personnel in the intelligence system is independent. Many thought it was not wise to use the consulate to collect intelligence, but in fact, all the significant intelligence information is gathered through the consulate. Therefore, most consulates are equipped with intelligence systems. I was originally the political consul for the CCP consulate general in Sydney, responsible for contacts with both the Australian and Chinese officials and for dealings regarding political issues- a diplomatic system official. I gathered intelligence information primarily using public means (for example, reading publications, the internet, publicly monitoring group activities of dissenting persons, etc.) I participated in the receiving of intelligence from informers; therefore, I also know some informers’ names, even though I was not an intelligence system person.
"When I was working for the Chinese consulate, if I wanted to investigate someone, it was as easy as turning one’s palm- the consulate would just obtain information from informers. We only needed to give them a call, and they would tell us what we wanted to know. Some informers would even disclose the secrets of people around them over the phone; some would report in writing, although real smart ones would talk in person. But do not think it’s safe to talk in person; all telephone conversations or personal conversations must be reported in writing, and reported collectively to the supervisors, then reported to the internal intelligence department at home after analyzing and organizing the information. The intelligence system personnel inside the consulate would then directly report to the chief-of-staff or the security department.”
Three Documents Exhibited to the Media by Yonglin
Yonglin continued, “The first document was supplied by an agent to a consul, Duowei, comprising a list of Falun Gong practitioners’ names with a written note saying, ‘This document was obtained from the organization given on the back of the envelope.’ After verification, people named on the list were included in the internal monitoring list.” [Editor’s Note: This list is commonly called a “blacklist.”]
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The second document exhibited by Yonglin was a six page facsimile from the Canberra Embassy to Sydney and Melbourne. It has the signature of the then CCP Ambassador in Australia, Zhou Wenzhong. It is a list naming Falun Gong practitioners and dissident persons.
Yonglin continued, “Because there are so many names on this list I do not wish to make all these names public.
"Certainly, I also have other files, but I do not wish to release all the files to the public, because nearly every document has a specific individual name, be it a political figure or a public official. I do not wish to produce the concrete details, because there are many families involved, and these files are potentially harmful to these families.”
Yonglin disclosed that the Sydney consul general once had more than 800 Falun Gong practitioners’ names on a list, but he deleted the majority of them from the consulate computers. He said that originally the majority of these were only names without other details such as passport information, or birth dates, which require the consulate general’s verification. He personally removed this portion of the names from the computer. Yonglin also indicated that the reason he was sympathetic to the Falun Gong practitioners was because he truly felt that they were practicing the principle of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
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The last document was an extremely detailed list of personal data regarding a Falun Gong practitioner, Kong Huiling and her activities. It includes her birth date; her parents’ names; the parents’ application to visit Australia, and each Falun Gong activity that Huiling participated in from 1999 to 2004.
The report even included her attendance at the 2001 Asia and Pacific Region Falun Gong Meeting held in Taiwan where she was in the 11th group, even listing the name she used. Near the end of 2000, Huiling was denied entry by Macao customs because of the blacklist and was beaten.
Huiling went to Macao in 2000, and while waiting in line to go through customs, was called to leave the line and forcibly dragged into an elevator, where she was beaten. Huiling said that she realized afterwards that she was on the blacklist because it wasn’t her turn at the customs counter before she was summoned away from the waiting line.
Huiling said she was very surprised to see that the secret list that Yonglin exhibited was so detailed.
She said, “Although I have always known there were some spy activities, I had never thought it to be so rampant, and it is like there are several people watching one person. While the mainland Falun Gong practitioners suffer bodily persecution, overseas practitioners suffer mental persecution. It makes you feel there is no privacy, no individual space, no freedom, and no security. Initially, we came abroad in pursuit of freedom, but I have been followed and my name was on the blacklist simply because I practice Falun Gong.”
She continued, “Those who do this kind of work for the CCP are really pitiful; they are unworthy. Every person on this earth is important and is here for a reason, but these people are behaving like puppets and betraying their integrity for trivial profit. If they don't think about their own futures, they should at least think about their children's. Just as Chen Yonglin says, they should ‘rein in at the brink of the precipice,’ and not wait to be accounted for when the CCP collapses.”
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Yonglin said, “There are many informants in Chinese communities, and they pander to the CCP for economic gains in a desire to be favored by the CCP, using it as political capital to show off and to obtain local officials’ favoritism and guaranteeing a good reception when returning to their homeland, thus obtaining various financial gains.”
Yonglin said that today he does not want to reveal these people’s names, and only wishes to warn them to “rein in at the brink of the precipice; not to continue to sweat for the CCP, facing self-destruction in the future.”
He continued, “Knowing that they also have families, I despise these informers from the bottom of my heart! As to the informers, many youngsters in the consulate democratic system share my views.”
Yonglin indicates that there will be more defectors, “Just as Fu Ying said, following the Australian government approving my visa, CCP officials will defect as though the floodgates were opened. Other defectors may not be as considerate as I am; therefore, I advise the informers to wash their hands right now or the files may become evidence for use by the Australian police for indictment, were they to become public.”
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