General Report on the "610 Office"

Preface

On June 10, 1999, bypassing procedures required by the Chinese constitution and other laws, and under direct orders from the then leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Jiang Zemin, the CCP Central Committee formed the "610 Office," an organization with the sole mission of cracking down on Falun Gong. Besides its central office in Beijing, the "610 Office" has branches in all the Chinese cities, villages, governmental agencies, institutions, and schools. In terms of its establishment, structure, reporting mechanism, operation and founding mechanism, it is an organization that is allowed to exist outside of the established framework of the CCP and the Chinese government. The power it has far exceeds that which is officially authorized under the Chinese constitution and other laws; furthermore, it is free from budgetary constraints. The "610 Office" has full control over any issue that has to do with Falun Gong, and has become an organization that Jiang Zemin uses personally and privately to persecute Falun Gong. This organization does not have any legal basis. It is an organization that is very similar to Nazi Germany's Gestapo and the "Central Committee of the Cultural Revolution" during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Because of its special status and function, the "610 Office" should take major responsibility in the brutal treatment that numerous Falun Gong practitioners have suffered from. This ill treatment includes being tortured, even being tortured to death or to the point of permanent disability, being unlawfully detained, being sent to labor camps, and being forced to pay large sums of money as fines. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) hereby releases background information of the "610 Office" and a partial list of the crimes that it has committed.

1. The Establishment of the "610 Office"

On April 25, 1999, more than ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners held a peaceful appeal in Beijing. That same evening, Jiang Zemin wrote a letter to the members of the CCP Standing Committee and other Chinese top leaders. In the letter, Jiang first made the statement, "The Communist Party must vanquish Falun Gong.?In the letter, he said, "How could it be possible that the Marxist theory that we Communists endorse and the materialism and atheism that we believe in can't vanquish what Falun Gong propagates? If it were true, wouldn't we become laughing stocks?"[1]

On June 7, Jiang held a meeting among the Politburo members of the CCP to discuss how to swiftly handle and solve the "Falun Gong problem." During the meeting, Jiang gave a speech saying, "We must take this issue seriously, do more in-depth research, and take effective countermeasures. The Central Leadership has already agreed to let Comrade Li Lanqing form a leadership team whose sole mission is to deal with the "Falun Gong problem." Comrade Li Lanqing will be the team leader. Comrades Ding Guangen and Luo Gan will be the assistant team leaders. Other comrades who are in charge of relevant departments will be members of the team. They will work together to choose and implement procedures, methods and measures to solve the "Falun Gong problem." The Central Leadership, all the ministries in the government, and all the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government must closely cooperate with the team."[2]

Three days later, on June 10, 1999, the CCP Central Committee formed the "Leadership Team to Deal with the Falun Gong Problem.?Li Lanqing, Luo Gan and others led the team, and the "610 Office" was formed under them. Even though the organization was formed on June 10, 1999, the CCP central leadership and government didn't officially begin suppressing Falun Gong until more than a month later. The official crackdown on Falun Gong was marked on several documents released around July 20, 1999. These documents are: "The announcement of the CCP central committee on July 19, 1999" [3], "The announcement of the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs" [4], "The announcement of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security on July 22" [5], "The announcement of General Administration of Press and Publication on July 22" [6], and others. Among them, the earliest one was the "Announcement by the CCP Central Committee Forbidding Party Members to Practice Falun Dafa" published on July 19, 1999. In other words, the "610 Office" was formed exactly 40 days prior to the official announcement by the CCP Central Committee announcing the official crackdown against Falun Gong.

Traditionally, only the supreme leader of the CCP has the power to bypass normal CCP procedures in order to achieve his personal mission. Throughout the CCP history, there have been a number of such examples including 1) The formation of the CCP Cultural Revolution Leading Committee under the order of Chairman Mao Zedong. 2) The formation by Deng Xiaoping of the Elders' Democratic Activity Committee, which ordered the forced resignation of Hu Yaobang. 3) In 1989, under the order of Deng Xiaoping, a leadership team was formed, which eventually ordered the shooting and killing of students and ordinary citizens who were protesting for democracy on Tiananmen Square on July 4, 1989.

Based on the traditions of the CCP, the position that Jiang held within the party, the difference in attitude exhibited between Jiang and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee in their public speeches on the issue of Falun Gong, the letter that Jiang wrote to the members of the Politburo Standing Committee and other leaders as well as his speech at the Central Politburo meeting, it is easy to reach the conclusion that the formation of the "610 Office" was purely Jiang's personal decision.

2. The Structure of the "610 Office"

Under Jiang's direct order, the CCP Central Committee formally created the "Leadership Team to Deal with the Falun Gong Problem.?Li Lanqing, Ding Guangen and Luo Gan were put in charge of the team, with Li Lanqing as the team leader. [2](Fig.1]


Fig.1. Beijing Spring 2001[6]: A speech at the meeting of the CCP Politburo on how to swiftly handle and solve the "Falun Gong problem." by Jiang XX. (June 7, 1999]

On June 10, 1999, this leadership team formed an office and called it the "610 Office." Liu Jing [7] and Wang Maolin [8] each served as directors of the central "610 Office." The existence of the Central Committee "610 Office" can be validated by the official documents from the Chinese State Council, other Ministries and local governments as well as Chinese media reports [9].

Following the establishment of the Central Committee "610 Office," each province, city, county and township quickly formed a corresponding organization, and each of them is called "610 Office." After Jiang began to suppress Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, the Central Committee "610 Office" became a permanent organization within the CCP, and was elevated to the level of a Ministry. The head of each "610 Office" also received an official rank. For example, in Yangquan City, Shanxi Province, the head of the local "610 Office" had the same rank as the head of a county. In the county of Penglai, Shandong Province, the head of the local "610 Office" has the same rank as the director of a Section. [10]

In addition, each university, government organization, and major corporation also formed its own "610 Office." [11] In one official government document, all central, provincial and city "610 Offices" were mentioned. [12] It is evident that various "610 Offices" were established under the direct order of the CCP Central Committee. The regional commissioner at Simao, Yunnan Province said, "Certain organizations outside the original structure, such as the "610 Office"; must be formed because they were required by the CCP Central Committee and the provincial Committee."[13] In China, the Central Committee has all the power. Local governments don't have any power to make their own decisions or to pass their own laws regarding major policies. The order of the Central Committee is carried out throughout the country,
and there is basically no distinction on how the orders are implemented in different regions.

3. Naming and Reporting Relationships of the"610 Office"

There is a "Leadership Team to Deal With the Falun Gong Problem" at the CCP Central Committee as well as at each local CCP branch. Underneath it, there is "The Office of the Leadership Team to Deal with Falun Gong Problem," which is also called the "610 Office." Most local "610 Offices" are associated with the Political and Judiciary Committee of the local CCP branches. A small number of them are associated with the Office of the Communist Party at the local CCP branches. Thus, the "610 Office" belongs to the Communist Party system. Because it is unlawful for the Communist Party to directly handle administrative affairs, the government later formed a corresponding office called "The Office of Preventing and Handling Evil Cult Problems." Later, the two offices from the Party side and the government side merged into one body but kept their own names. It's still called the "610 Office" to outsiders and is still controlled by the CCP Political and Judiciary Committee. [14] The reason that most "610 Offices" are associated with the Political and Judiciary Committee is that the committee itself is ambiguous in nature and can assume special power. There are a few exceptions. In Heilongjiang province, it's called "615 Office" 14d), while in Huangshi City, Hubei Province, it is "The Office of the Leadership Team on the Issue of Dealing with Falun Gong and Other Qigong Organizations that are Harmful to Society"[15]. In some areas, the "610 Offices" are associated with the offices of local CCP Committee or another existing CCP subcommittee "Comprehensive Administration Office" 10b, 10d).

4. The Scope of Power of the "610 Office"

On the issue of dealing with Falun Gong, the "610 Office" is completely above the power that a normal agency has at its level. Other than reporting to the local Communist Party branches, it has higher power than normal government agencies and the Chinese legal, law and judicial system. For example, the "610 Office" at the Zhuanglang County, Gansu Province has the following responsibilities: 1] "Directing, coordinating and checking the entire county's struggle with Falun Gong and other cults" and 2] "Directing the police and the public security bureau to prevent Falun Gong and its cult organization from using the power within and outside China to overthrow the government as well as to ensure the stability of the society." [16]

Other than directly persecuting Falun Gong [17](Fig.2], the "610 Offices" also are involved with holding cultural activities [18], education [19], cable TV [20], holding exhibitions [21], Qigong [22], the women's association [12, 23], the Chinese Communist Youth League [24] as well as other organizations. It has the power to check and decide which TV programs get broadcasted outside of China [25]. It can also interfere with lawyers on legal cases related with Falun Gong [26]. At Datong District, Daqing City, a document clearly states that in order for an official to receive an assignment or a promotion, he must receive the blessings from the Department of Interior Affairs, the Political and Judiciary Committee, the "610 Office," and others. Otherwise, no further progress will be considered.[27]

Fig.2. The official document of CCP Mentougou District Committee "610 Office" [Urgent Notice of Strengthening the Monitoring of Work During Sensitive Periods (such as "4.25" ]

The "610 Office" operates clandestinely. This year, information about the "610 Office" on Chinese official web pages has been largely omitted. An official document from CCP Rongchang County Committee states, "For the internal (the documents marked "secret", use the name "The Office of the Leadership Team on the Issue of Dealing with Falun Gong of CCP Rongchang County Committee" For the external (the documents open to the public without secret level), use the name "The Office of the Leadership Team on the Issue of Dealing with Falun Gong of Rongchang County."; The name of "610 Office" is not allowed to be used. In public activities, the use of "The county 610 Office" is absolutely forbidden."[28] Traditionally, in the Communist Party, this kind of document can only come directly from the CCP Central Committee.

The Economy and Trade Committee of Suizhou City, Hubei Province received 204 official documents in 2001. Among them, 2 were marked as "Announcement," 20 were marked as "secret," and 2 were marked "highly secret." Only one document from the "610 Office" of the Province was marked as "top secret"[29]. According to Article 9 of PRC Law on Protection of State Secrets, the state secret has three levels, "secret," "highly secret" and "top secret." "top secret" is the most important state secret. Leaking it will cause very serious damage to the state safety and interest. The Propaganda Bureau, Civilization Office, "610 Office" of CCP Central Committee, and the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice and the Science Association of PRC once made an "Announcement of Holding an Exhibition on Anti-cult, Promoting Civilization." [21] However, none of the Chinese government controlled media reports on this exhibition mentioned this announcement. Actually, when asked in the State Council Press Conference, the head of the Central "610 Office" Liu Jing intentionally avoided answering the question about this "610 Office" [30].

5. Human Resources and Funding of the "610 Office"

The position of head of a "610 Office" is normally held by the Deputy General Secretary of the Political and Judiciary department of the corresponding Communist Party Branch. People who work in the office come from other governmental agencies. Currently, certain positions are also open to the public at large as well as new college graduates. For example, in 2003, the "610 Office" of Hebei Province has one job opening for a student who had just graduated with a master's degree [31]. The "610 Office" of the Yunnan Province has 6 job openings to new college graduates [32]. The "610 Office" at Changsha City, Hunan Province hired 2 people from the public at large in 2002 [33].

In Penglai City (formerly Penglai County), Shandong Province, there are 7 people in its "610 Office." [10] On top of receiving a salary, each person also receives a "610 bonus" and other job-related compensation. The Bureau of Human Resources and the Bureau of Finance in Hebei Province jointly released a document called "Notice on Giving Special Bonuses to the people who work in the "610 Office." That document clearly stated that the bonuses are given based on key points from the April 28th National "610 Office" Directors' Conference. [34] In Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, the budget for the bureau of public security was 158 Million Chinese Yuan in 2002, an increase of 27 Million Chinese Yuan over 2001 or 21.29%. The main reason for the increase is to pay the salaries and special bonuses as well as the funding for the "610 Office." [35] Raohe county, Heilongjiang Province had one time spending for "610 Office" supplies. [36] Guangzhou City converted the Conghua Hot Spring Convalesce Center for City Police Officials to the working station for the "610 Office" of the city police department. [37]

6. The "610 Office" Is An Illegitimate Entity

The State Council issued "The Notification on the Structure of the Government" (State Council [2003] number 8] on March 21st, 2003. It states that, "The Office of Preventing and Handling the Evil Cult Problem of the State Council" and "The Office of Leadership Team to Deal with Falun Gong Problem of the CCP Central Committee" are the same organization with two different public names. It is directly controlled and run by the CCP Central Committee. [38] The government at all levels has formed the corresponding "Office of Preventing and Handling the Evil Cult Problem." Those government offices still share the same offices with the CCP's "610 Offices" and are controlled by the Political and Judiciary Committee of the CCP local branches. [14]

"The Office of Preventing and Handling the Evil Cult Problem" of the State Council was established in September 2000, [30] almost one year after the establishment of the "610 Office" of CCP Central Committee. The first report of this office was February 26, 2002. On that day, this office co-organized an "Anti Falun Gong Advanced Deeds Report Conference" with the Central Human Resource Bureau, the Central Propaganda Bureau, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Personnel of PRC (State Council). The next day, February 27, 2001, the Press office of the State Council held a press conference. [30](Fig.3]

Fig.3. Liu Jing's Answer to Reporters at the Press Conference by the News Office of the State Council

This government organization is not well known to the public. The major public event it held is co-organizing the "Anti-cult, promoting civilization" exhibition in July, 2001. [21, 39] More recently, Wang Xiaoxiang, the deputy director of this office, attended "The Beijing Anti Falun Gong Working Conference" on January 9, 2003. [40] "The Notification on the Structure of the Government" (State Council [2003] number 8] was issued by the State Council on March 21st, 2003. In this notification, this organization's setting was still mentioned. [38] This means that "The Office of Preventing and Handling the Evil Cult Problem" of the State Council (the government version of "610 Office" was active from at least September 2000 to March 2003. However, the CCP authorized propaganda media People's Net database, which was updated in April 2003, does not show either "The Office of Preventing and Handling the Evil Cult Problem" of the State Council or the "Leadership Team to Deal with Falun Gong Problem" of the CCP Central Committee on the State Council's list [41] or the Central CCP's list. [42] There are only two subcommittees that can be related to Luo Gan on the CCP Central Committee's directly controlled subcommittees. They are "Political and Judiciary Committee of the CCP Central Committee" and "Comprehensive Administration Office of the CCP Central Committee." Both of these are headed by Luo Gan. Luo Gan's personal information linked to these two subcommittees was updated on November 15, 2002. Since "610 Office," which has two other public names, was very active at that time, but both names couldn't be found on any of the central government and the CCP Central Committee's list, we consider it to be a secret, illegal organization.

References

[1] Beijing Spring 2001(6): A letter to the standing members of the Politburo and other top leaders by Jiang XX. (April 25, 1999)(Back)
[2] Beijing Spring 2001(6): A speech at the meeting of the CCP Politburo on how to swiftly handle and solve the "Falun Gong problem." by Jiang XX. (June 7, 1999)(Back)
[3] An announcement by the CCP Central Committee Forbidding Party Members from practicing Falun Gong (July 19, 1999)(Back)
[4] The Decision by the Bureau of Civil Administration of the People's Republic of China about banning the Falun Dafa Research Association.(Back)
[5] An announcement by the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China.(Back)
[6] An announcement by the Press and Publication Bureau of the People's Republic of China reiterating the processing opinion about the publication of Falun Gong Literature.(Back)
[7] Liu Jing takes the post of vice-minister of the Ministry of Public Security 2003(Back)
[8] Changchun city green-garden district spring city subdistrict office: Guided by the policy of "four politics" and diligently do practical work for the people.(Back)
[9] 2002 Work Report of the health improving qigong administrative center of the National Sports Bureau; Hua Fuzhou's work report on the seventh conference of the coordination group of the national five-good civilized family establishment activity; Inside News of the Communist Youth League central committee (2001); Report on the exhibition of "Oppose Cults and Advocate Science" held in Ningxia province; Report on the large-scale Photo exhibition of "Oppose Cults and Advocate Science" held in Ningxia province; Documents of big event records of Hangzhou Caihe Street Commity and the report.(Back)
[10] a) Setup documents of "610 Office" : Province level (Guangdong Provincial Party Committee Appointment Name List); b) City level (Scheme of the Function Disposition, inside organization and personnel organization of Shanxi Province Yangquan City Party Committee General Office of the CCP); c) County level (2001 Penglai Chronicle); d) The street and town level (Working Guide of Chengdu City Wuhe District Jiangxi Street Office; Organization Setup of Beijing Haidian District East Beiwang Township)(Back)
[11] Management Organization Setup of Shandong University, The 304th Issue of the Weekly Information of the Party Committee and Principal Office of Lanzhou University, administration function of the Political Department of Guangzhou Judiciary Bureau.(Back)
[12] The 40th Issue of the Jinan Women's Union and Women's Work Communication(Back)
[13] Yunnan Simao Area Party Secretary's Speech at the 2001 Area County Township Organization Reform Mobilization Conference.(Back)
[14] a) Stipulates on the Function Configuration, Inside Setup and Staff of the Political and Judiciary Committee of Beijing Congwen District of the CCP; b) 2001 Penglai City Chronicle; c) The CCP Zhaoqing City Committee Office Document (the 13 Issue in 2001 by Zhaoqing City Party Committee Office); d) the "615 office" of Heilongjiang Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau.(Back)
[15] Opinion on the Implementation of Huangshi City Organization Reformation Plan.(Back)
[16] Responsibilities of the Political and Judiciary Committee and "610 Office" of Gansu Province Zhuanglang County.(Back)
[17] Urgent Notice of Strengthening the Monitoring of Work During Sensitive Periods (such as "4]25" by the CCP Mentougou District Party Committee "610 Office."(Back)
[18] Notice of Organizing and Watching the Modern Music Drama "The Unusual Mother and Daughter" by the Changzhou City Party Committee Propaganda Department and the City Party Committee "610 Office" (the 19th Issue in 2002 by Changzhou City Party Committee "610 Office" ).(Back)
[19] Notice of Continuing the Anti-cults Education in Middle and Elementary Schools by the Ministry of Education (the 3rd Issue in 2003 by the Teaching-Society-Politics) (The copies of this document are sent to: Central Committee "610 Office," Ministry of Public Security).(Back)
[20] Notice of Approving and Transmitting by Zhangjiagang City Party Committee Office (the 6th Issue in 2003) "Opinion on Further Standardizing the Construction of Wired Television System in Newly Built Residence Villages and Buildings?Proposed by the City Party Committee "610 Office" City Construction Bureau and City Culture Bureau.(Back)
[21] "Notice of Opposing Cults and Advocating Civilization" by the Central Party Committee Propaganda Department, the Central Party Committee Civilization Office, Central Party Committee "610 Office," Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Judiciary and the Chinese Association of Science.(Back)
[22] 2003 Main Work Report of National Sports Bureau Health-improving Qigong Center.(Back)
[23] Hua Fuzhou's work report at the seventh conference of the coordination group of the national five-good civilized family establishment activity (Jan. 21, 2003)(Back)
[24] 2001 Inside-news of the Central Communist Youth League Committee (February Issue)(Back)
[25] 2000 CCTV Chronicle (on May 26th, 2002)(Back)
[26] Reports on Chongqing Lawyer Work (12th issue of 2001)(Back)
[27] Report titled "Create Mechanism of Cardre Selection and Assignment, Improve the Art of Cardre Selection and Assignment" by Wang Rui from the CCP Daqing City Datong District Standing Committee and the Organization Department.(Back)
[28] Inside-setup of the Political and Judiciary Committee if the CCP Rongchang County Party Committee(Back)
[29] Related Important Documents received in 2001 by the Economic and Trade Committee of Suizou, Hubei province(Back)
[30] Liu Jing's Answer to Reporters at the Press Conference by the News Office of the State Council (on February 27th, 2001)(Back)
[31] Hebei Province's Announcement of Recuiting Government Servant (Staff) from This Year's Graduates of Institutions of Higher Education (2003)(Back)
[32] Admit Plan of Examing and Hiring Government Servants in Yunnan Province (2003)(Back)
[33] General Rules of Examing and Hiring Government Servants and Organization Staff through Unified Examination by Changsha City Party Government-Public Organizations (2002)(Back)
[34] "Notice of Implementing Allowance for the Staff of 610 Offic" (the 13th Issue, 2003, Hebei province)(Back)
[35] Year 2002 Finance Budget of the Guangzhou Haizhu District(Back)
[36] Report on the Purchase of Concrete Office Equipment of Heilongjiang Raohe County.(Back)
[37] Document of the CCP Guangzhou City Party Committee Office (the 21st Issue of 2002)(Back)
[38] State Council's Notice on the Organization Establishment (the 8th issue of 2003 by the State Council)(Back)
[39] Large Scale Exhibition "Opposing Cults, Advocating Civilization" Starts in Beijing (People's Net, July 15, 2001)(Back)
[40] Beijing Work Conference on the Struggle against "Falun Gong" Cult (Beijing Daily, January 10, 2003)(Back)
[41] Leader Name List of the administrative office and the subordinate organization of the State Council and Every Ministry.(Back)
[42] Central Committee of the CCP Subordinate Organizations

Note 1: In China, Central leadership has very specific meaning, that is Central Chinese Communist Party, not the government.
Note 2: Documentation is available for every reference listed above. If you need a copy, please contact "World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong."
Note 3: The references 9, 10, 14, and 17 only give a few examples, more information is available upon request.

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong

Tel：1-347-448-5790；Fax：1-347-402-1444；
Mail Address：P.O. Box 84， New york, NY 10116
Website： http://www.upholdjustice.org/, http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/