MELBOURNE - On July 30, Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun, who just obtained a protection visa, appeared at “The Chen Yonglin Phenomenon” seminar sponsored by the Federation of Chinese Associations in Victoria. The sponsor was surprised to see Chen and Hao, as neither were invited. The seminar included intensive discussions about whether Chen Yonglin’s claim about the 1,000 spies in Australia will harm the Chinese communities. The seminar was dismissed within an hour. After the seminar, Chinese and English media interviewed Chen and Hao outside the seminar site.
Background of “The Chen Yonglin Phenomenon” Seminar
On July 8, Cheng Yonglin obtained a permanent protection visa by the Australian Government. Within two weeks, Yuan Hongbing, a former professor of the Department of Law at Beijing University, and Hao Fenjun, a former police officer of the 6-10 Office of Tianjin Public Security Bureau, both obtained the permanent protection visa as well.
On July 15, The Chinese Weekly in Melbourne published the front page article “The Chen Yonglin Incident Shook the Chinese Community.” The article announced, “a seminar will be held by the Shanghai General Business Committee and cosponsored by the paper”. On July 22, The Chinese Weekly published another front-page article, “Chinese, Insulted for Being Demonized”. It described Chen Yonglin, “with red mouth and white teeth”, stated that the Chinese people are demonized and announced that the Federation of Chinese Associations in Victoria will hold a ‘large-scale Seminar’ on July 30”… “looking forward to having Chinese people to participate and speak up… in order to rectify the opinions.”
On July 29, The Chinese Weekly published a front page article titled, “We Object”, stating that “the seminar on the Chen Yonglin Phenomenon sponsored by the Shanghai General Business Committee reached an agreement – to Object the Wound!” At the end of the article, The Chinese Weekly appealed that “Everyone should write a letter to the prime minister, the secretary of the Ministry of Immigration and the mainstream media” to pressure the Australian government and the mainstream media with “voices of objection”.
Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun Appear at the Seminar
On July 30, the Federation of Chinese Associations in Victoria held an open seminar and invited Chinese people from all professions to discuss on the ‘Chen Yonglin’ incidents. Around 1:30pm, the media showed up. They found out that the site of the “large-scale” seminar advertised on the paper is less than 30 square meters, with only over a dozen chairs. Except for the employees of the Federation of Chinese Associations and the guests, most of the nearly 30 people who showed up had to stand.
Chen Wenshan, chairman of the Federation of Chinese Associations, gave a speech, asking people to share their opinions on “the Damage of the Chen Yonglin Incident to the Chinese People”. At this time Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun showed up among the audience.
Chen Yonglin said, “I came here because I read the news announced by the Federation of Chinese Associations on The Chinese Weekly. It says that they welcome Chinese people to participate the large-scale seminar on the Chen Yonglin Incident. I really want to know how Chinese people think about me, so I came to Melbourne to share with those who care for me.”
Some people questioned Chen Yonglin on his motivation to defect and the credibility of the materials provided by him. Chen Yonglin said, “The important reason for me to defect is that I found out during a conversation with a senior 6-10 official in China who visited Australia that 60,000 Falun Gong practitioners are detained in China,… The number of spies (1,000) comes from an internal document sent to the consulate from Mainland China, which is absolutely true.”
Afterward, someone criticized Chen Yonglin as “insulting, shameful, and damaged the image of the Chinese people.” But Chen Yonglin did not get any chance to explain. Some one said, “We have a seminar today, not a debate, let him only listen.”
Regarding whether Chen Yonglin’s statement of the 1,000 is true or not, Hao Fengjun said, “I do not remember that Chen Yonglin said there are 1,000 Chinese spies. I only remember that he said there are 1,000 spies. When I was in China, I did not know Chen Yonglin or anybody in Australia, but I received the information sent by the special force - the special agents in Australia, who are Chinese and westerners. This information did come from Australia. When I came to Australia I found all the people monitored. I think the impact of the Chen Yonglin incident is to let the Chinese people wake up. We did not betray our homeland, we betrayed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”
One-Minute Speeches
Regarding the comment made by Chen Wenshan and some participants that Chen Yonglin damaged the dignity of the Chinese people and encouraged racisms in Australia, one gentleman stated the fact that the CCP was indifferent when Chinese people were killed in Indonesia, and that, “The one who damages the image of Chinese people is the CCP. It is the CCP who damaged the Chinese culture and morality. The CCP never really cares about Chinese people. It only cares about money and its regime.”
The host interrupted him saying, “We do not talk about politics,” and restricted everyone to speak less than one minute—“Chinese with English translation”. It caused strong dissatisfaction. With strong desires to talk and the extremely limited time, people could only increase their voices to speak up. The environment was very chaotic for a while.
Qi Jianzhen: To Respect Oneself in Order to Gain Respect
Qi Jianzhen, a writer, was the first one to talk after the time restriction. She said she wanted to make four statements: Firstly, in order to gain respect from others, one has to respect oneself. Secondly, it is better to expose the facts about the spies than to cover it up, just like it is better to find a doctor to peel off a pus, wash it and cure it, than to cover it up. Or the pus will stay and even cause death. Therefore it is right for Chen Yonglin to expose the existence of the 1,000 spies. Thirdly, I can confirm the existence of the spies. On January 28, when I went to the luncheon held by the Federation of Chinese Associations to celebrate Australian National Day, an official from the Chinese consulate drove out a reporter from The Epoch Times. The reporter did not know the official, but the official knew of her, which is the function of spies. I am also monitored by spies and I will write articles to expose it. Lastly, as a nation, in order to gain respect from other nations, one needs to do something to win the respects. In order for Chinese people to establish in Australia, we first need to have the mentality of self-criticism.
University of Melbourne Teacher: “I was forced to remain silent.”
Li Tianfu, a teacher at the Department of Politics in the University of Melbourne, thinks that we need to see whether Chen Yonglin’s statements are true or not before we talk about the impacts to the Chinese community. “I think what Mr. Chen said was all true. There are more than 1, 000 (The spies). Our meeting here today will be known very clearly by the Chinese consulate tomorrow. I can give more testimony in congress than Chen. If Mr. Chen does not reveal the truth, Mr. Wang or Mr. Zhang will do it in the future…”
Li Tianfu was interrupted many times during this speech. He had to raise his voice and said: “I am responsible for what I say!”
When Li Tianfu said that he had many friends and relatives in China, and that he knew how the information and foreign relations systems function, his speech was stopped by the host. After the meeting, Li Tianfu said that he would not come to this kind of activities anymore, as it is very obvious that the host did not welcome him. “I was forced to stop my speech,” he said, “If we are not allowed to freely express our opinions, why do they openly invite people.”
Is Chinese Consulate Behind the Scene?
During the seminar, Chairman Chen stated many times that we should not get involved in politics. One staff members of the Federation of Chinese Associations passed out an article retorting “An Open Letter to Fu Ying, the Ambassador to Australian, on the Defection of Chen Yonglin by Yuan Hongbing, and a booklet with materials against Falun Gong. After the meeting Chen Yonglin pointed out that these materials are exactly the same with the anti-Falun Gong materials in the Chinese consulate.
At 2:30 pm, the one-hour seminar ended in a rush with much chaos. The host complained, “We planned to have a seminar with members of the Chinese Union only. We did not invite others. Especially Mr. Chen Yongli, he should have at least contacted us.”
Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun were interviewed by The Epoch Times, ABC and other media after the seminar. Please see future reports.
Feeds