NEW ZEALAND - On June 29, a New Zealand Epoch Times reporter conducted a telephone interview with Hao Fengjun, former official of the 610 Office in Tianjin, regarding the CCP spy activities overseas. Not long ago, he escaped to Australia with many secret documents, which have caught the attention of the international community. In the interview, Hao Fengjun disclosed such information as to how the CCP spies pry into the affairs of New Zealand churches and Falun Gong, the activities of the 610 secret agency, and the operation details of the overseas spy situation.
Hao Fengjun told the reporter that there was a spy with the code name “180” in New Zealand providing the CCP with information on the local church (referred to as Church A below). The following are the contents of the interview.
REPORTER: You once pointed out that in mainland China you received information sent to the mainland by secret agents and spies, many of which were from the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Do you know details of the spy activities in New Zealand? Can you give a specific example?
HAO FENGJUN (referred to below as HAO): I can give an example. There is a branch of Christianity in Auckland, New Zealand, that is referred to as an underground church in China.
REPORTER: Here we call it Church A.
HAO: Yes. They have invested in a steel products business in Shanghai. A Tianjin spy with the code “180” should be in New Zealand.
REPORTER: Is this person still in New Zealand?
HAO: Right, because he travels back and forth between New Zealand and China.
REPORTER: Mr. Hao, you said that this person is a member of Church A?
HAO: Yes, he has already been in contact with important people in Church A in New Zealand. Last year, he held a fellowship meeting in Tianjin; and the whole meeting was monitored by Tianjin City Public Security Bureau.
REPORTER: What kind of information does he collect?
HAO: The information includes their activity details, and instructions to him by Church A in New Zealand regarding plans to manage the company in Shanghai in order to gain more members in China and to spread Christianity among the company employees. He reports this information back to the Hongqiao district police whom he works for, because he lives there. This district is under the authority of one branch of Tianjin City Public Security Bureau.
REPORTER: When was Number 180 sent to New Zealand?
HAO: Initially, he worked for a company in Tianjin because the New Zealand Church A had also invested in a company in Tianjin. This company’s office was in the Hexi district. In 2000 or 2001, he was arrested by the Tianjin police. After his arrest, police forced him to defect. Then he agreed to work for the police station. Because he already had connections in New Zealand from before, they lightened his punishment by holding him to only half of the term, and then the police made him defect, and asked him to infiltrate back into the New Zealand Church A.
REPORTER: Why was he arrested?
HAO: Because of the church members gathering in his place.
REPORTER: Is it that the police arrested him just because he believed in Christianity at the time and church members had a gathering together?
HAO: Right, right.
REPORTER: This also means that in mainland China it is not only Falun Gong, but those who believe in other religions who are monitored too, is that right?
HAO: Right. As long as it is not a Three-Self Patriotic Movement Church or a CCP- acknowledged temple, they are all monitored, especially around sensitive dates.
REPORTER: What are the sensitive dates that you mentioned?
HAO: For Falun Gong there is April 25, July 20 and 22, as well as some major holidays. There are also some dates for Christianity. They are all called sensitive dates, and different people are monitored, based on the different sensitive dates.
REPORTER: Besides these associations’ and churches’ own special days, do these sensitive dates you mentioned include some Chinese national holidays?
HAO: Right. For example, May 1, July 1, October 1, New Year’s Day, and the Spring Festival.
REPORTER: After Number 180 reports to the Tianjin City Public Security Bureau, what does he get?
HAO: The police station provides him with money for overseas travel or for some other activities. Every time he sends back some information, the Ministry of Public Security will give him money based on the rank of the information.
REPORTER: For example, if he gets information about Church A, from your experience, what rank would this kind of information belong to?
HAO: General overseas information would be ranked as level three or above, and would be filed in the Ministry of Public Security (archive).
REPORTER: Can you tell us in detail what level three means?
HAO: The Ministry of Public Security divides information into four ranks: level three, level two, level one and the special level. This is how they classify the quality of the information.
REPORTER: So it’s the importance of it (the information), right?
HAO: Right. In normal situations, after the information has been accepted by the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry sends them to the various authorities in the country. High-ranking information is sent to the leaders in the Ministry of Public Security and the CCP Politburo to review. Low-ranking information is considered acceptance information such as a meeting that is being held in New Zealand. For example, last time we received a report about a fellowship meeting that they were going to hold in Tianjin. This was only local information. After we reported it to the Ministry of Public Security, they would post it on the 610 and Ministry of Public Security bulletins. Even for this information, they would also give money, but only about several thousand dollars.
REPORTER: The spies will get several thousand dollars just for reporting meeting information?
HAO: Right.
REPORTER: That’s a considerable amount of income.
HAO: Right.
REPORTER: If you were to guess, besides Number 180, are there other informers monitoring Church A in New Zealand?
HAO: There is, there definitely is, because last year when 180 returned, we held a meeting in Beijing.
REPORTER: I’ve heard that there is bi-directional monitoring.
HAO: Right. In this, you can see who reports situations that are real, and it creates a mutual supervision function. Therefore, I dare to confirm that it is not only the one individual, 180, because it is impossible for them to send just one person. Because this is controlled nation-wide, there must be people from other provinces and cities in New Zealand. It works the same way with Falun Gong. In the past, when I was in the team monitoring Falun Gong, the most situation reports I saw were from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
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