“610 Office” – “Chinese Gestapo”
The 610 Office is a secretive entity with sweeping and vaguely defined powers, often likened to the Chinese version of the Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany. It was set up by former head of the Party Jiang Zemin on June 10, 1999 (the date from which its name is drawn) with the express purpose of carrying out the persecution of Falun Gong. With a structure extending from top to bottom throughout the Party, government, and military, it has the power to command all police and judicial organs.
The 610 Office called more than 3,000 officials to the Great Hall of the People on November 30, 1999 to address the campaign against Falun Gong. The head of the 610 Office, Li Lanqing, announced the government’s new policy on the movement: to “defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially and destroy them physically.”
A propaganda campaign has been a key tool in the suppression of Falun Gong. Since the persecution began in July 1999, the 610 Office has used the country’s newspapers, television stations, radio stations, websites, and loudspeakers in rural areas to broadcast anti-Falun Gong propaganda. It also has used Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, China News Agency, Party-controlled media overseas, and Chinese consulates to spread this propaganda globally.
The demonization incitement of hatred against Falun Gong provided a basis on which crimes against practitioners could be justified.
Industrialization of Organ Transplantation
Since 2000, a large number of national and military transplantation medical technology research centers and key research laboratories have been established, incubated new transplant technologies, and led the rapid development of the transplant industry. After nearly 40 years of preparation and then relying on a living organ bank, transplantation in China saw a unique explosive growth from sporadic cases to the large-scale transplant industry it has now.
The timing of this growth corresponds to that of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution campaign against Falun Gong.
Mounting evidence tells a terrible tale of murder and mutilation in China. Witnesses and Chinese physicians reveal that thousands of persons affiliated with the Falun Gong are being killed for their organs, which are sold and transplanted at enormous profit.