The Truth of Her 10 Days' "Personal Experience"

Zhao had ulterior motives in visiting China, which was proved repeatedly during her 10-day stay in Beijing. Let's make a comparison of her testimony with what had really happened during these 10 days.

On February 3, at 9 pm, Zhao arrived in Beijing on a Northwest flight, together with her boyfriend and three other people.

Unlike her previous trips to Beijing, Zhao did not stay at the home of her uncle or aunt this time. She did not make phone calls to give New Year's greetings to family members and friends, who had not known she passed the Spring Festival of the Year of Dragon in Beijing until she was expelled by the Chinese government 10 days later.

On February 4, at about 11 pm, she and her boyfriend left for Tiananmen Square. Having arrived at the square, she gave her passport and all other ID documents to her boyfriend who left the square, thus making her unidentifiable.

On the same day, some "Falun Gong" diehards gathered in the square to "preach and protect the law." They waved banners and shouted slogans. Failing to make them stop, patrol police took them away. In Zhao's testimony, she described this experience of her as seeing many policemen "beating and kicking 'Falun Gong' practitioners." But just as when she was questioned by reporters in the United States, she could not and cannot answer why she was not "bleeding in the face" and had no "bruises or black eyes" like others on the square.

At 2 am on February 5, Zhao and a few other "Falun Gong" practitioners (not 1,200 as Zhao claimed) were taken away from the square in police vans. They were sent to a holding center under the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. At the center, Zhao told police she was a local resident and lived in 12 Liulisi, Andingmen, Dongcheng District. The holding center then got in touch with the Dongcheng Public Security Branch. At 4 pm, Zhao was taken away by the office.

During the inquiry at Dongcheng office of the Public Security Bureau, Zhao Yanhong continued to hide her identity, and refused to answer any questions. The Dongcheng office detained her according to law. In her testimony, however, Zhao said, "I told them I was an American citizen. They did not believe me and sent me to a prison cell."

From February 6 to 10, Zhao was put in temporary custody in the Dongcheng Detention Center, which is the most habitable and modern of such facilities in Beijing. Last year, officials from the UN Committee against Torture visited the center and spoke highly of the conditions there as well as its humanitarian treatment of people in custody. Each cell has a toilet, and hot water is supplied twice a week for inmate to shower. According to the rules, newcomers must take baths. The detention center has a scientifically designed, heated wooden platform for inmates. February is the month when the heating is best supplied.

During the Spring Festival, inmates were allowed to take additional baths, and Zhao bathed on February 5, 8 and 10. Guo Guilan, who stayed in the same cell with Zhao, said she and Zhao bathed together. But, Zhao claimed in her testimony that "in the entire time I was there, we were not allowed to take any showers." Yin Fengyan and Liang Fuwei, detainees who stayed in Zhao's cell, have confirmed that police in the detention center had never beaten, cursed or tortured the "Falun Gong" members and other inmates. As to these, Zhao, who came to Beijing to get the "firsthand look at what was really going on," did not say a word at all in her testimony.

On February 9, the US Embassy to China sent a fax directly to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, saying that Zhao, a US citizen, was arrested while taking pictures of those who were practicing "Falun Gong" on Tiananmen Square. The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau got in touch with the US Embassy immediately, asking it to help provide Zhao's identification documents. On the evening of February 10, the US Embassy sent Zhao's passport to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. After verifying her identity, the Dongcheng police office released her immediately. When leaving, she expressed repeated thanks to the police officers in charge.

At 10 am, February 12, Zhao left Beijing Capital International Airport on a Northwest flight. Before boarding the plane, she made brief farewell calls to her father, uncle and aunt at the airport. It was the only call Zhao made to inform her family members of her presence in Beijing.

During her eight-day detention, she did not submit any requests to the police to meet representatives from the US Embassy in Beijing. She also declined the services of a lawyer and did not want to tell her relatives her whereabouts. Despite all these facts, Zhao claimed that in the entire time she was in detention "none of the practitioners was allowed any contact with the outside, nor were family or relatives allowed to visit."

An investigation indicated that since the Chinese government outlawed "Falun Gong" on July 22, no family members or relatives of "Falun Gong" practitioners, including Zhao's father, have received any notices of "huge fines" because of their practicing "Falun Gong."

Sources from the Ministry of Justice said the reeducation-through-labor centers and prisons under the ministry have reported no mistreatment of detained "Falun Gong" followers. Zhao's claim that "11 people are known to have died while in police custody" is truly a lie.

The Farce Is Far from Ending

Zhao's China trip came to an end ahead of schedule, but the farce has just begun. The "drama" continued after the March 2 hearing: After March 11, when a Chinese Consulate spokesman in New York refuted Zhao's testimony at the hearing, Zhao changed her statement. Actions she previously said she "saw firsthand" became actions she had only "heard about from other sources." Her testimony that she "wasn't permitted to bathe" changed into a statement that she took "three showers."

During the UN human rights conference in Geneva, Zhang Erping and other diehard members of "Falun Gong" frequently held news conferences, group practices and other activities. Zhao took a lead role. But all her accusations were later exposed up as lies.

Zhao's infatuation with "Falun Gong" was denounced by her father, uncle and aunt long ago. As for this "Tracy Zhao Incident," her relatives expressed great anger and disappointment. "I am really worried she will become a victim of Li Hongzhi," her father said.

Looking back at the whole event, we can easily find the internal links between the following:

Anti-China forces - Li Hongzhi and his "Falun Gong cult" - Zhao Yanhong;

Attack and pressure on China in the human rights conference - unlawful gatherings and riots on Tiananmen Square at critical moments - Zhao's "fact-finding" mission and testimony;

The United States' buzzing on China's human rights conditions - a host of "creepy cases" fabricated and spread by "Falun Gong" organization - the story of "mistreatment" and "torture" fabricated by Zhao Yanhong.

The "Tracy Zhao Incident" dawned on us again what a lie Li Hongzhi's "three-word doctrine (truthfulness, benevolence and tolerance)" is: The fault can be turned into truth when it is repeated 1,000 times: it will be "benevolence" if one spares no means to vilify her motherland. And "tolerance" is nothing but a means to achieve the pre-set goal - to hide one's identity and stay in prison, held the tongue during inquiry for a few days and continue to make a show when the lies are exposed. Is this the latest interpretation of the "doctrine" preached by Li Hongzhi and his followers? Zhao's lies have turned into a "priceless treasure" for the anti-China forces. Yet, it also has made the Chinese people to see again that these forces will use any means to gain their end.

(Excerpts from People's Daily, April 27, 2000)