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Germany Cracks Down on Chinese Regime's Spying

Date: Friday, 02-July-2010

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By Gisela Sommer
Epoch Times
June 30, 2010

An espionage incident only weeks prior tochancellor Angela Merkel?s planned China visitmay be threatening the bilateral relationsbetween Berlin and Beijing said German newsmagazine Spiegel Online in a June 26 article.Just days earlier, China?s intelligence gatheringactivities were prominently highlighted in areport issued by Germany?s Ministry of the Interior.

Germany?s Federal Prosecutor?s office isinvestigating two high-ranking Chinese officialson allegations of espionage, and the matter couldmake Angela Merkel?s upcoming China visit more difficult.

According to information obtained by the,i>Spiegel, Federal Prosecutors are investigatingtwo Chinese individuals on accusations of spyingagainst practitioners of Falun Gong in Germany.One of the accused is said to hold the positionof a Chinese vice-minister and serves as head ofthe ?610 Office,? an extra-judicial arm of theChinese Communist Party, which executes theCommunist Party?s directive to fight the FalunGong meditation movement worldwide.

The Spiegel report also mentioned that at the endof last year, in another case, a diplomat of theChinese Consulate in Munich was ordered to leaveGermany in December 2009 after he was found tohave spied on the German Uighur community. (Alsoread: Merkel's China Visit Marred by Hacking Allegations)

Fighting the 'Five Poisons'

Just days before the Spiegel article, on June 21,Germany?s Ministry of the Interior issued its2009 Constitutional Protection Report thataddresses terrorism and espionage threats to the country.

The report devotes several pages to spyingactivities by the Chinese intelligence service,describing methodical information-gatheringmethods pertaining not only to political,industrial, and military applications, but alsoto groups of people the Chinese regime considers a threat to its rule.

One section in the report is called "Fighting theFive Poisons." The report describes how theChinese regime defames groups of people itconsiders the greatest danger to its own rule,calling these the "five poisons":

"Affected are most of all those whom Chinasuspects of separatism: Uighurs and Tibetans, aswell as adherents of the meditation movementFalun Gong. Beyond these, China?s communist partyalso considers members of the democracy movementand advocates for an independent Taiwan as state enemies," the report says.

610 Office

According to Falun Gong sources, the 610 Officeis an extralegal, Gestapo-like agency that wasformed on 6/10/1999 at the direction of formerChinese leader Jiang Zemin, specifically topersecute practitioners of Falun Gong.

A recent Clearwisdom (a Web site run by FalunGong practitioners that reports cases ofpersecution) report tells about the agency?s useof extreme torture. Along with beatings to theface and body with heavy objects, some of themost common torture techniques that 610 personneladminister or supervise include sleep deprivationfor days and weeks, shocks to sensitive bodyparts with up to six high voltage batonssimultaneously, the prying out of fingernails, etc.

In addition to torture, 610 agentsadministratively send Falun Gong practitionersdirectly to labor camps, detention centers, andbrainwashing classes "where they can be lockedaway for three years without a court hearing orother due process rights guaranteed to the Chinese people under Chinese law.

Hao Fengjun, a former Tianjin City 610 officerfled to Australia in 2005 because he no longerwanted to participate in the mistreatment ofFalun Gong practitioners. In February 2004 Haowas placed in 30 days solitary confinement aftercalling the party?s anti-Falun Gong propaganda "lies."

The former 610 officer said that though many ofhis colleagues disapprove of the 610 Office?swork, plenty others were quick to tap into the 610 Office's system of rewards.

"There were people who worked very hard becausethe more Falun Gong practitioners they arrested,the more bonuses they would get," Hao said.

Even more lucrative than arresting practitionersin China is collecting intelligence on overseasadherents; basic information about practitioners'personal lives, if deemed valuable, typicallyfetches as much as 50,000 yuan (over US$7,300).

Through a system of informants otherwise leadingordinary lives overseas, the 610 Office buildsentire profiles of overseas communities.

Hao says he "personally received intelligenceinformation about Falun Gong practitioners inAustralia, the United States, and Canada" sodetailed as to reveal where people worked and which activities they joined.