China Eastern Airlines pilot Yuan Sheng, who was detained and questioned by police about advising people to withdraw from the Communist Party before a flight at the Shanghai Airport, applied for political asylum in the United States on August 9. This event has brought about reverberations from Chinese outside of China.
Mr. Zhang, a retired Chinese Air Force fighter pilot who was active in the 70's, now lives in Los Angeles. He contacted The Epoch Times to state his views on this incident. He said that he met Yuan Sheng only once, and had the impression that Yuan was an honest and kind man. He sympathizes with Yuan's present situation and that he is unable to return home to China.
He thought the police harassment that caused Yuan to seek asylum caused a great loss to the airline. He also pointed out the fact that the police threats caused him extreme psychological trauma just before boarding a flight. This is "very irresponsible" to the passengers.
A Very Dangerous Situation
Zhang said that from the viewpoint of the aviation safety, allowing him to fly with the threat of detention upon his return to China was a "huge mistake on the part of the authorities." This caused tremendous psychological pressure on this pilot.
Putting this kind of pressure on a pilot, who is responsible for the safety of everyone in the aircraft, is extremely unwise. Luckily, Yuan was not the chief captain of the flight, which somewhat lessened the danger to the passengers.
Mr. Zhang was very angry with the authorities' actions. "Who would be responsible for an accident? There were hundreds of lives on the airplane! Isn't the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 'treating human life as if it were not worth a blade of grass?' Isn't the CCP taking human live as a "trifling matter?' What if an accident occurred because of this, who would dare fly on CCP airplanes in the future?"
Yuan Sheng Is a Good Person
Mr. Zhang said that he met Yuan once through a friend. [He is] "Such an honest and kind person… I met him only once, but I can tell he is a good person."
"I later learned from this friend that Yuan could not sleep all night during the flight because he had lost everything. How could anyone bear that? The law enforcement department was just too unreasonable."
Zhang expressed deep sympathy to Yuan's situation. He thought it was precisely the communist police's detention and threats that gave him no way out, which compelled him to seek asylum in the United States, and made it impossible for him to return home.
Loss to the Airline
Mr. Zhang indicated that the aviation industry is very important to China's development. Pilots are all high-caliber people, and experienced pilots are so much in demand they are like a national treasure. Pilots like Yaun, who isn't yet 39 years old and has more than 18 years and 12,400 hours of flight experience, are exceedingly rare.
Zhang thinks that it is a loss to the airline, especially when the airline is short of experienced pilots. He stated, "Inappropriate police actions can cause problems."
The CCP Is Extremely Nervous
With respect to this incident and the later denial in a CCP media interview, where China Eastern Airlines denied that Yuan was threatened for advising others to withdraw from the party. Zhang indicated that in the course of the incident, the CCP authority, public security, and Yuan's supervisor handled the affair very poorly.
Zhang said that coming from the same profession as Yuan Sheng, he felt that any ordinary person has his own opinion on any matter, whether it is right or wrong, one must be allowed to speak about it.
That day, Yuan talked about the persecution of Falun Gong and the party withdrawal campaign. What's the big deal? Where is the right of freedom of speech? He simply stated the facts. Just take a look at the Chinese constitution, doesn't it talk about freedom of speech?
He also said that through the CCP's cover up of this incident, one can see how severe the persecution of the Falun Gong is and how frightened the CCP is about the party withdrawal campaign.
He finally expressed that the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong is "extremely wrong."
Feeds