I am Hao Fengjun, 32 years old. I once worked at the 610 Office of the Tianjin Bureau of State Security in China. I joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1991 and am now in Melbourne, Australia. I solemnly declare that I am withdrawing from the Communist Party, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers. From now on these organizations have nothing to do with me whatsoever; I completely steer clear of them. Upon joining the Chinese Communist Party I had great expectations about it. Yet the reality is not like what I imagined. At present, its dark rule of China is without any system for human rights. I, therefore, solemnly declare here my withdrawing from the Communist Party and all its affiliated organizations.

Hao Fengjun
June 8, 2005

- Original statement in Chinese

James Burke reports from Melbourne, Australia, the Epochtimes, Jun 08, 2005-

A fugitive Chinese security agent hiding in Melbourne has been inspired by the recent defection of Chinese diplomat Mr. Chen Yonglin and The Epoch Times’ Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, to reveal information about the massive human rights abuses inside China, especially those against Falun Gong practitioners, and Chinese spy activities in Australia.

After leaving a tourist group in Australia in February, 32-year-old Mr. Hao Fengjun sought political asylum, and in an interview with The Epoch Times on Monday, June 6, said he belonged to the Tianjin province’s “610 Office”.

The 610 office is a Chinese security agency which was established to oversee the persecution of Chinese people who practice Falun Gong or belong to other spiritual groups.

“Originally the 610 office was specifically dealing with Falun Gong, but after April 2004 the government included other religious groups which the Chinese government calls an “evil cult” into the 610 office. Besides Falun Gong, there are 14 other religious groups and also there are 14 other ‘harmful’ qigong organizations,” Mr. Hao said.

When asked why he left China and has sought asylum in Australia, he said, “First of all, I think I cannot bear what they’ve done to Falun Gong and other religious organizations because that’s not something I want to do.”

Falun Gong is an exercise and meditation practice that advocates the three principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. It was widely practised throughout China until the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned it in 1999 and instigated a campaign of brutal persecution. Mr. Hao witnessed Falun Gong practitioners being tortured by authorities for their beliefs in China.

Mr. Hao admired how Chinese diplomat Mr. Chen Yonglin publicly stood up to the Chinese government’s persecution of democracy advocates and Falun Gong practitioners. At a public rally commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Mr. Chen publicly declared he could no longer partake in his official duties of harassing and monitoring Chinese dissidents and revealed an extensive Chinese spy network operating in Australia. “Chen Yonglin is a diplomat and he stepped forward to speak clearly for Falun Gong and democratic activists. I think, as a policeman, I have a responsibility to do the same,” Mr. Hao said.

“I became a policeman in 1994 and at that time I liked the job very much, but in 2000 I was transferred to the 610 office of the National Security Bureau and I found that that job was not something that I wanted and it was different from what a policeman should do.

“Initially I thought it was ok, but in October 2000 the original work unit sent a special case, code name ‘103’ and they arrested more than 70 Falun Gong practitioners. There is one practitioner, to the 610 office she is considered number one among Falun Gong practitioners, and her name is Sunti."

Torture

Mr. Hao said Sunti was being tortured. “One day I received orders to go to Nankai police bureau with another female officer. When we arrived we saw that Sunti was in the interrogation room. The guy who interrogated Sunti is the head of the second division of the 610 office. At the time, he had about a half-meter long iron bar in his hand. When we entered the interrogation room, the woman officer found that Sunti’s back was all blue and black and there were two cuts more than 20cm long.

“Sunti has a 14-year-old daughter. To me, Sunti is not like a criminal. So I was not happy about the man who beat Sunti. From that incident, I changed my attitude towards being a policeman...After that, one officer and I applied medicine to Sunti for almost a month. Every time [we met], the head of the 610 office asked us not to say anything outside about this case. This incident was a turning point.”

“Sunti spoke to me about Falun Gong. She said that ‘We are not like what they told you. Falun Gong practitioners just want to be good people and are not criminals, like what the 610 office describes.’ This touched me greatly and I think that Falun Gong practitioners should not be considered as criminals.”

Mr. Hao’s story of torture and human rights abuses refute the claims made by Chinese ambassador Fu Ying, who on Monday, June 6 said the Chinese government had moved on from the 1970s, and that there were many misconceptions about modern China in regards to human rights. Mr. Hao’s experience as a 610 officer also refutes all official Chinese Government statements that claim that they do not mistreat Falun Gong practitioners.

Mr. Hao also described the widespread use of torture in the extensive re-education through labor camp system throughout China. “It’s pretty common in forced labor camps to use torture methods...Almost every forced labor camp uses torture methods.

“As for the number of forced labour camps, I don’t really know countrywide, but for Tianjin there are seven.

“There are no human rights whatsoever in these forced labor camps. These people have to work from six in the morning to nine in the evening. They all work in processing jobs like making cardboard boxes, but the government or the forced labor camp will not pay the workers anything.”

Mr. Hao went into detail of how the Chinese authorities send Falun Gong practitioners to brainwashing centers and labor camps. “The process for dealing with Falun Gong is that first you will be sent to a brainwashing center, and if they are not reformed there, they are sent to forced labor camps. In labor camps, they are only kept for three years. If after that they are still not “reformed”, they will be sent back to the brainwashing center, and then if still not reformed, will be sent for a second time to the forced labor camp,” he said.

Mr. Hao himself had also been subject to persecution when his comments about the state-run media’s fabrication of stories against Falun Gong were heard. “When they arrested a practitioner from Hebei, I saw that the CCTV (China Central Television) film crew was making false stories... I said that it was a lie, it was fabrication. I didn’t know that a reporter was next to me [when I said this]. I was in trouble. I was sent to solitary confinement in the Tianjin detention center for more than 20 days.”

When Mr. Hao was asked whether many other Chinese people were like himself and Mr. Chen in having concerns about human rights and the persecution of innocent people in China, he said there were. “I think there must be many people like me. Some of my colleagues have the same thoughts as I did, but not everyone will step forward to do this. They are doing what they really don’t want to do.”

In regards to Mr. Chen’s statements about Chinese officials extending the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners outside of China, Mr. Hao agreed. He was also not surprised about Mr. Chen’s claims of a thousand Chinese agents working undercover in Australia.

“I think this figure is true. I know this. Also I know that the Chinese spies are not only in the Chinese consulate and embassy but also in businesses and overseas Chinese organizations.”

Mr. Hao said there were different channels in which Chinese agents would come into Australia; some come as investors, some as technical personnel. “Some were sent in by the national security bureau and others by the military,” he said.

He stated that this was not only occurring in Australia and that spies working for the CCP were everywhere. “They are countless. Whether there are Chinese communities or not, there are Chinese special agents.”

Since being here in Australia, Mr. Hao has read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party published by Dajiyuan, the Chinese-language version of The Epoch Times, which is one of the largest independent Chinese language papers in the world.

“I have read through the Nine Commentaries since I came to Australia. It touched me deeply. It mentioned lots of articles and stories. I have seen some of them in China (due to my job)... It describes the dark side of China, yet all of them are true. After reading Nine Commentaries, I have a strong will to come and speak out the truth. Yet due to my worries about my family, my child, I hesitated, because they are still in China now.”

The Nine Commentaries have been steadily circulating throughout China and has inspired over 2 million people to withdraw from the Party. In December, The Epoch Times established a website dedicated to the withdrawals. The Chinese diplomat Mr. Chen and his wife both withdrew their membership from the CCP on Saturday, June 4, the 16th commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Text of Interview with Mr. Hao Fengjun,
610 Official Who Has Applied for Asylum in Australia

Q: Can you tell me your full name, age, and the position you held in China?
A: My name is Hao Fengjun, I am 32 years old and originally I am from the 610 Office of Tianjin.

Q: How long have you been in Australia?
A: I left Hong Kong on February 14th and arrived in Australia on February 15th this year.

Q: What made you choose this time now, three months down the track, to bring your story out to the Australian public?
A: After I came here I applied for political protection, but I still worry about my family because my family is still in China. That is why I did not make my story public. But on June the 4th, when the Diplomat in Sydney made his public statement, I decided to come forward.

Q: Have you read The Epoch Times' “Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party”?
A: I have read through the “Nine Commentaries” since I came to Australia. It touched me deeply. It mentioned lots of articles and stories. I have seen some of these things mentioned in China (due to my job). Yet I definitely know that in China, ordinary people will never get a chance to read them. It describes the dark side of China, yet all of them are true. After reading the “Nine Commentaries,” I had a strong desire to come and speak out the truth. Yet due to my worries about my family, my child, I hesitated. Because they are still in China now.

Q: How long were you a policeman in China?
A: I became a policeman in 1994 and at that time I liked the job very much, but in 2000 I was transferred to the 610 office of the National Security Bureau, and I found that that job was not something that I wanted and it was different from what a policeman is doing.

Q: Can you describe what the 610 office is and what role did you play within it?
A: The 610 office was created from the very top headed by Luo Gan, one of the members of the politburo. In every province and municipality there is a 610 office in the Public Security Bureau and also in almost every level of the government organizations and its main task is to deal with the issue of Falun Gong or to persecute Falun Gong and also some other organizations that have been named as a cult by the CCP.

Q: Why do you think the crackdown on Falun Gong has been so much more severe than other groups targeted by the CCP?
A: I think it really is about the number of practitioners. In 1999 I was still in the unit of the police department and every time Jiang Zemin mentioned that if he wanted to mobilize an army it would take him 48 hours but for Falun Gong it needed less than 24 hours so he was very much shocked—and maybe from his own personal interests and personal reasons he began the crackdown.

Q: So what made you leave China to come to Australia?
A: First of all, I think I cannot bear what they’ve done to Falun Gong and other religious organizations because that’s not something I want to do. Secondly, I came to Australia because I want to say something for these organizations because the government doesn’t treat them fairly.

Q: Mr. Chen spoke out recently on June 4, has that given you courage to speak up? Do you still hold fears for your family and your own safety?
A: Chen Yonglin is a diplomat and he stepped forward to speak clearly for Falun Gong and democratic activists. I think I am a policeman so I have a responsibility to do the same. Most of my family are still in China and I do really worry about them.

Q: How do you feel about your safety here in Australia?
A: I’m not surprised by what Mr. Chen said about 1000 spies in Australia. I think this figure is true. I know this. Also, I know that the Chinese spies are not only in the Chinese consulate and embassy but also in businesses and overseas Chinese organisations.

Q: So how do these people enter Australia and form part of this spy network to monitor for the CCP?
A: There are several different channels; some come as investors, some as technical personal. Some were sent in by the national security bureau and others by the military.

Q: What kind of techniques do these spies use to monitor Australians?
A: The spies you mention, actually in China we put them into 3 different categories, described as “secret forces.”
1. Special agent. These people appear as a businessman, but they are sent over by the national security bureau.
2. Secret cadres or friends just graduated from the police academy, they do not wear uniforms. The other type is friends. The other types are public security bureau members who make friends.
3. Working relations. These types are individual business men sent in by the Chinese government to work in the Chinese communities. Their main task is to follow and kidnap those dissidents outside of China. They also collect information from the business circles and also military information.

Q: So obviously, this isn’t just happening in Australia. How long has this been happening for and how widespread are these spies?
A: They are countless. Whether there are Chinese communities or not, there are Chinese special agents.

Q: Where does the money come from to fund these spies and such an extensive persecution? How much is...
A: The funds are provided by the actual unit that sends this agent out so whoever sends the agent out will pay for the agent. As for the actual figures, I don’t really know because different provinces and municipalities have different funds. As far as the three municipalities are concerned, Shanghai, [the amount] roughly spent on special agents is 7 million. Tianjin is a lot less [at] 250,000 but for Beijing it is about 6-7 million Chinese Yuan annually.

Q: China is also said to have a wide network of labor camps.
A: As for the number of forced labor camps, I don’t really know countrywide, but for Tianjin there are 7 forced labor camps.

Forced labor is illegal because forced labor doesn’t require any legal proceedings. The police bureau decides and the terms are between 6 months and 3 years.

There are no human rights whatsoever in these forced labor camps. These people have to work from 6 in the morning to 9 in the evening.

They all work in processing jobs like making cardboard boxes, but the government or the forced labor camp will not pay the workers anything.

Q: There are a lot of allegations of torture at these labor camps. Have you been witness to that?
A: It’s pretty common in forced labor camps to use torture methods, something like handcuffing behind the back is considered very normal inside forced labor camps. Almost every forced labor camp uses torture methods.

Q: What was the turning point to make you decide to leave your work for the CCP?
A: After my graduation I was assigned to go to the bureau to be a police officer. I think that the job of a policeman is to safeguard justice, peace and to help the weak so that’s the job I like. But in 2000 I was transferred to the 610 Office of the national security bureau of Tianjin municipality.

In the beginning I thought it was ok, but in October 2000 the original work unit sent a special case, code named “103” and they arrested more than 70 Falun Gong practitioners. There is one practitioner, the 610 office considered her number one among Falun Gong practitioners, and her name is Sunti.

One day I received orders to go to Nankai police bureau with a female officer. When we arrived, we saw that Sunti was in the interrogation room. The guy who interrogated Sunti is the head of the second division of the 610 office. At the time, he had about a half meter long iron bar in his hand. When we entered the interrogation room, the woman officer found that Sunti’s back was all blue and black and there were 2 cuts more than 20cm long.

Sunti has a 14-year-old daughter. To me, Sunti is not like a criminal. So I was not happy about the man who beat Sunti. From that incident, I changed my attitude towards being a policeman.

The image changed. After that, one officer and I applied medicine to Sunti for almost a month. Every time the head of the 610 office asked us not to say anything outside about this case. This incident was a turning point.

Sunti spoke to me about Falun Gong. She said that “We are not like what they told you. Falun Gong practitioners just want to be good people and are not criminals, like what the 610 office describes.” This touched me greatly and I think that Falun Gong practitioners should not be considered as criminals.

Q: You were actually a witness to the incident in Tianjin that sparked off the Zhongnanhai incident. Were you aware that this would lead to a full-blown genocide in such a short time?
A: At that time I was still working at the Heping police security bureau. That appeal happened in the Heping district so all of the policemen were present. At that time I didn’t think it would lead to the genocide happening today. I think a lot of things were actually orchestrated by the government. At that time when Falun Gong practitioners gathered in front of the education building and officers of the Tianjin municipality came out and told them that you cannot solve this matter here, so if you want to have this matter solved, you will have to go to Beijing. So I think this incident is made by the Tianjin municipality so that it is expanded to Beijing.

On 22 April 1999, the government set a lot of cameras on top of the education institute and buildings around the area and around the building and later on used the footage to print out photos and send out to grassroots police stations to do investigations. Then they found out the number of Falun Gong practitioners and also the names and addresses, a whole lot about these practitioners. They established a database on Falun Gong practitioners based on that footage.

Q: Is the information collected about Falun Gong practitioners outside of China as detailed as that collected about those inside of China?
A: I think more or less the same because every day we have work reports and we collect all the information sent in from all over the world.

For example, in a certain country someone went to buy something and it was reported back, even this kind of small detail. So China relies on these spies to collect information on Falun Gong practitioners and also these dissidents. I also have to mention that within Falun Gong and other democratic organizations there are all special agents from China.

Q: Do you have name lists of those agents?
A: I don’t have the name list. These agents all use code numbers, like 74, 76 or 24, etc. But if I tell you the incident, people who know the incident can tell who the spies are.

Q: What evidence do you have to back up these claims?
A: I have evidence for that. I think this evidence should be true evidence because they are all collected by special agents around the world so I think that the evidence must be the truth.

Q: It seems like your conscience was awakened. Do you think there are many more people like you inside China and like Mr. Chen outside of China?
A: I think there must be many people like me. Some of my colleagues have the same thought as I did but not everyone will step forward to do this. They are doing what they really don’t want to do.

Q: Are you aware of any persecution that is happening outside of China by Chinese agents?
A: I think outside of China that persecution of Falun Gong practitioners exists. Things like they tell these Chinese community organizations not to hire or give jobs to Falun Gong practitioners. So this kind of thing really happens.

Q: You mentioned other dissident groups that are persecuted by the CCP...
A: Originally the 610 office was specifically dealing with Falun Gong, but after April 2004 the government included other religious groups which the Chinese government calls an evil cult into the 610 office. Besides Falun Gong there are 14 other religious groups and also there are 14 other “harmful” qigong organisations. The Chinese government uses the same methods to deal with the 14 labeled as evil cults and the 14 other groups.

Q: Are Christians, say, the Catholic Church, considered an evil cult by the CCP?
A: China has no diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Although China has Christians and Catholics, these are patriotic organizations. Actually, for these organizations you have to be loyal to the Communist Party, otherwise, these organizations cannot be registered.

Q: The CCP has categorized many groups under the term “evil cult.”
A: There is no clear definition for evil cult in China. Actually there is no document to give a definition as to what is an evil cult. As I understand it, any people the Communist Party doesn’t like will be categorized as an evil cult. So only when you are loyal or you listen to what the party says, will you be a good organization, or if you don’t listen to the party you will be an evil cult.

Q: Do you find that Falun Gong is treated more severely than other groups?
A: I think the government persecutes Falun Gong more severely than other groups. Because of Falun Gong, the government worked out 300 articles of criminal law. As for other religious groups, when discovered by the police department they will not necessarily be detained and arrested, but for Falun Gong practitioners, whenever they find one, one will be arrested and will be reformed, otherwise, they will not be released.

The process for dealing with Falun Gong is that, first, you will be sent to a brainwashing center, and if they are not reformed there, they are sent to forced labor camps. In labor camps, they are only kept for 3 years. If after that they are still not “reformed”, they will be sent back to the brainwashing center, and then if still not reformed, will be sent for a second time to the forced labor camp.

Q: You have also been persecuted, can you tell us a bit about your experience?
A: When they arrested a practitioner from Hebei, I saw the CCTV film crew was making false stories. I said something and it was heard by the reporter by CCTV. The point of this—I was asked to confess and I was held at the Tianjin detention center. I was next to a reporter and my boss was telling the actor what to say. I said that it was a lie, it was fabrication and I didn’t know that a reporter was next to me and I was in trouble. I was sent to solitary confinement in the Tianjin detention center for more than 20 days.

- The Epochtimes

More about Hao Fengjun

- Hao Fengjun Explains Why He Escaped from China, Part I
- Hao Fengjun Explains Why He Escaped from China, Part II
- Hao Fengjun Explains Why He Escaped from China, Part III