By Li Zhiqing
On the evening of June 28, 2004, Australian
Falun Gong practitioners were shot at by unknown gunmen while driving down a highway
from Johannesburg International Airport to the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria,
the capital of South Africa. The practitioners’ purpose in South Africa was to
file a lawsuit against Zeng Qinghong during his visit there. The practitioner
who was wounded in the shooting was wearing a jacket that bore the words “Falun
Dafa” in English, identifying him as a Falun Dafa practitioner. This is the
first time in the five years of persecution that overseas Falun Gong practitioners
have had to endure such a life-threatening incident, and the shock was felt around
the world. Many pieces of evidence point to Zeng Qinghong as the covert director
of this incident.
1) Why is a covert director suggested?
Analysis
of the case has eliminated the possibility of a random incident. The South African
police have indicated that this shooting did not occur in an area with a high
rate of crime. If it were a random incident, such as if the Falun Gong practitioners
had unfortunately encountered some drunk or otherwise irrational scoundrels, then
the scoundrel would likely have randomly shot and then run away. In this incident,
however, the gunman shot from the passenger side while his car was behind Mr.
Liang’s car. He kept shooting until both cars were moving side-by-side, or parallel
with each other. The gunshots lasted about ten seconds. Therefore, the shooting
was obviously premeditated, and this is not an ordinary case of random crime.
The
wounded Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. David Liang, said, “The attacker began
firing a few shots at us as they approached, but I was shocked when I realized
that they were accelerating as I accelerated, and slowing down whenever I slowed
down.” Mr. Liang was the driver when the shooting occurred. From his description,
we can determine that the gunmen fired several shots before Liang was hit, and
they even attempted to adjust their driving speed in order to fire more shots.
The gunmen used a military AK-47 assault rifle to automatically fire in a continuous
burst, at least five shots of which hit Liang’s car. From this we can determine
that the incident was very likely to be an intentional assassination, or at least
a case of terrorist intimidation and for preventing the practitioners from serving
the lawsuit documents to Zeng. In fact, the South African police also classified
this case as “attempted murder.”
2) Possible Motives
Since
the incident can be classified as an assassination attempt as explained above,
and the assassins appeared to be clear-headed, keen-witted and capable, there
must have been an intense criminal motive in order to result in such a serious
consequence. What could be the possible motives?
One possible motive is
robbery, but this possibility can be easily eliminated, because the practitioners
were not robbed when they could have been so easily robbed. In addition, the Falun
Gong practitioners were not at all wealthy and to economize, five of them were
sharing a car. So they were not the type of victims that would normally be the
chosen victims of a robbery. When the car was disabled by the shots and came to
a stop, the gunmen fled the scene without stopping to rob anyone. So we can eliminate
robbery as a possible motive.
Another possible motive might have been revenge.
To kill for revenge requires a very strong personal resentment. The Falun Gong
practitioners came from far way in Australia. They had no contacts with any of
the local people, so they could not have had any personal enemies among the local
people. They didn’t have any personal enemies in Australia either. It had been
only two hours since their arrival at the airport. Even if they had had any personal
enemies in Australia, how would they have so clearly known the practitioners’
itinerary, and so promptly hired a local hit man to assassinate them? Even if
they did have such a strong hatred against the practitioners, after spending so
much effort to learn the practitioner’s schedule, and following them all the way
from Australia to South Africa, why did they give up the best opportunity to exact
their revenge when the car was disabled and stopped? Obviously, this is an unreasonable
scenario, so the gunmen did not shoot for the motive of revenge.
If the
motive was neither robbery nor revenge, then there can be only one explanation
for the motive, which is that the gunmen were on a special assignment. The only
reason why these Falun Gong practitioners came to South Africa was to bring a
lawsuit against Zeng Qinghong and to stop the persecution of Falun Gong through
legal channels. The practitioners had no personal enemies. The local people, who
didn’t even know them, would not ruthlessly shoot them without reason. The overseas
Falun Gong practitioners have been resisting the persecution of Falun Gong for
five years without yet encountering such a life-threatening event. So if anyone
wanted to assassinate Falun Gong practitioners, it must have been related to the
lawsuit, which was the purpose of the practitioner’s trip to South Africa. Zeng
Qinghong himself, as well as the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, truly hated
and feared the visiting Falun Gong practitioners, and would also have had a motive,
that of stopping the lawsuit. Anyone else would not have been sufficiently motivated,
unless they had been assigned to do it.
In fact, Mr. Li Qizhong, who accompanied
Mr. David Liang to South Africa, received a threatening phone call just a few
days prior to the trip. Two months ago, Mr. Li’s van, bearing obvious Falun Gong
signs, was seriously damaged near the Chinese Embassy in Sydney. All four tires
had been punctured flat and all the windows smashed. The outside of the van had
been spray painted all over with various colors. Mr. David Liang’s name was on
a “black list” circulated by the Chinese Embassies. He was refused entry
into Hong Kong three years ago when he traveled there to attend a Falun Gong activity.
The windows and doors of his Falun Gong sign bearing car were bashed in a few
times, although nothing was ever stolen from the car. These facts indicate that
these two Falun Gong practitioners were being watched all the time. They were
being watched not for any personal reasons, but by agents of the Chinese Embassy
for practicing Falun Gong in Australia. The threats they received just prior to
this incident fully indicate that the shooting was closely related to their status
as Falun Gong practitioners and to their South African mission to sue Zeng Qinghong.
Thus, all these clues are motives leading to Zeng Qinghong.
3) Daring
and Capability
Motive is only one necessary factor for a significant
incident to occur. Daringness and capability are two other necessary factors.
Let’s compare Zeng Qinghong and the Chinese Embassy in South Africa. Think about
it …quot; in such a significant case as assassination in a
foreign territory, even if the Chinese Embassy had intended to do it, they couldn’t
be more careful. In addition, the person coming to South Africa was Zeng Qinghong,
who was the henchman and close ally to Jiang. The embassy would not dare to act
rashly without first knowing Zeng’s ideas. It would create a tremendously negative
influence if it were not what Zeng wanted. The one in the embassy who ordered
it would not only risk losing his job, but would even risk losing his own life.
Hence, the final decision of an incident like this would have to come from Zeng
Qinghong, although the detailed execution might be carried out by the Chinese
embassy, or by the system of special agents directed by Zeng Qinghong through
the leader of the local organize crime gangs.
Take another look at Zeng
Qinghong. He belongs the so-called “Prince Party” in China,(1) and he
is also Jiang’s henchman. He is cruel and merciless, and does not care at all
about any laws, whether human or divine. He frequently employs high-pressure thug
tactics to deal with his opponents and is internally known by officials by the
nickname “butcher.” Recently, a series of incidents occurred in Hong
Kong, in which members of an organized criminal gang had threatened congressmen
and entertainers. These incidents were all related to Zeng’s way of handling his
opponents. When handling international affairs, Party officials including Jiang
himself deceivingly and hypocritically pretend to be moderates. But Zeng Qinghong
never bothered to hide his belligerence with a facade. So treating Falun Gong
practitioners in South Africa with such gangster-like tactics could be said to
conform to Zeng Qinghong’s character. Basically, no one else among the most daring
has a sufficiently malicious nature to do so
From the aspect of capability,
the shooting took place during the short, two-hour window when Falun Gong practitioners
were on their way from the airport to their hotel. Unless it had been prearranged,
and the practitioners closely watched and followed, it would never have been possible
for the gunmen to meet the practitioners on the same freeway, going the same direction,
at a driving speed of 110 km per hour (or 68 mph). Therefore, someone must have
accurately known the travel itinerary of the Australian practitioners beforehand.
They closely watched the practitioners, and ambushed them in advance, while still
near the airport. There undoubtedly had to be a huge intelligence network of special
agents. The threats received by Falun Gong practitioners prior to their trip,
actually provide an important clue to this shooting incident. Who would threaten
the practitioners against their efforts to sue Zeng Qinghong? Who has the capability
to monitor the practitioners so closely? Who has a global network of special agents
at their disposal? Of course all of these questions point to Zeng Qinghong, who
heads the Chinese system of special agents.
From the above analysis of the
motives for assassination, and the daring and capability required to carry out
the shooting incident, Zeng Qinghong best fits the qualifications as the perpetrator
to have plotted and directed the assassination attempt. Zeng Qinghong, with his
cruel and merciless disposition and network of special agents, is the only one
who could have carried out such an assassination attempt by hired gunmen, in order
to prevent the lawsuit against him by the Falun Gong practitioners. Therefore,
the covert director of this deplorable incident is certain to have been Zeng Qinghong.
1.
The so-called “Prince Party” denotes the children of high-ranking officials
in China. They take advantage of the power that their parents wield, and gain
many benefits for themselves in all fields.
Posting date: 9/Jul/2004
Original
article date: 7/Jul/2004
Category: Open Forum
