(Clearwisdom.net) On January 11, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) decided to initiate an investigation on related Chinese government institutions and individuals for their interference with the Chinese New Year Spectacular. Below is the WOIPFG investigation statement:
WOIPFG has learned that the Chinese Communist regime has been purposefully and systematically sabotaging the New Tang Dynasty TV's (NTDTV) 2006 Holiday Wonders and 2007 Chinese New Year Spectacular shows. Regarding such interference, WOIPFG issues the following statement:
NTDTV is an independent Chinese language TV station based in New York City and transmits its programs worldwide via satellite. Starting from 2004, the station introduced a show called "Chinese New Year Global Gala" to promote authentic traditional Chinese culture. This annual event has received wide support from all over the world. In December 2006, the station introduced a new show called "Holiday Wonders" with great success. Many westerners who watched the show highly commended it and Chinese audiences felt very proud for having traditional Chinese culture programs performed on Broadway.
NTDTV is independent and bravely reports news objectively: It is the first TV station which exposed the real situation of SARS in China; it has been focusing on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, especially the CCP's atrocities of harvesting organs from detained practitioners; it has carried a series of reports on the detention, house arrest and unlawful trial of renowned rights lawyer Gao Zhishen; it has paid high attention to the worldwide movement of quitting the CCP, which was triggered by the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Since the station started to prepare for the first Chinese New Year Gala in 2003, the Chinese Communist regime has spent huge amounts of taxpayers' money to interfere with and sabotage the show.
Starting from late 2006, the Chinese Communist regime has employed many despicable measures to interfere with the show. The measures include: Chinese diplomats threatened sponsors of the show and forced them to terminate their sponsorship; using national relations, commercial interest, and cultural exchange to coerce government officials, professors, and others not to participate in the show, receive media interviews or give comments regarding the show, or issue proclamations or congratulatory letters; Chinese government institutions directly pressured related foreign government institutions to force theaters under its management to cancel contracts with the NTDTV show; unlawfully withheld props made in China which were under special order for the show; systematically dispatched cultural performance groups to regions where the NTDTV show were to be performed. In an overlapping time slot, the regime rented the same theater or a nearby theater to hold a show in order to distract the audience. Those shows were unsuccessful and wasted huge amounts of money and resources. Meanwhile, most of the content of such shows were to praise the Chinese Communist regime and distort Chinese culture, which in fact damaged the image of the Chinese people and Chinese culture.
On December 16, 2003, when NTDTV was preparing for its first Chinese New Year Global Gala, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) issued an coded telegraph to all its provincial branches and gave direction on how to sabotage the Chinese New Year Global Gala. In a 2003 meeting, Wang Lili, director of Discipline Examination and Supervision of SARFT, mentioned the First Chinese New Year Global Gala presented by NTDTV and said that the satellite transmission of the show is to compete with the Chinese Central TV's (CCTV) New Year Gala; the SARFT-controlled CCTV repeatedly pressured the company which it rents satellite time from not to commit to a long-term contract with NTDTV; Chinese Communist embassies and consulates in many countries have written to local government officials, scholars and public figures, requesting them not to send congratulatory letters/greetings to the Chinese New Year Global Gala or receive media interviews; in addition, the Chinese Communist regime has also attacked NTDTV through local newspapers and public assemblies, and demanded local people, especially Chinese, not to support NTDTV. It also uses overseas Chinese associations which are under its control to attack the station and the show.
In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry has also pressured an European satellite company in order to interfere with NTDTV's signal transmission. WOIPFG has previously released an investigation statement and report on this topic.
Based on these facts, WOIPFG has decided to carry out an investigation on responsible institutions and individuals in order to verify their interference and pursue legal actions against the following people:
Zeng Qinghong, member of the CCP' Politburo Standing Committee
Li Zhaoxing, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other involved officials from the ministry, embassies and consulates
Su Jiazheng, Minster of Culture, and other involved officials from the ministry
Wang Taihua, Director of State Administration of Radio Film and Television, and other involved officials from the Administration
Xu Yongyue, Minister of National Security, and other involved officials from the ministry
Background
WOIPFG was founded on January 20, 2003. Its mission is to help and coordinate concerned people for justice and criminal justice institutions to investigate responsible individuals who have been involved in the persecution of Falun Gong and assist victims to bring the perpetrators to justice.