TORONTO—The Epoch Times has obtained a second recording revealing directions given to students at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa on Friday, June 18, five days before the arrival of Chinese leader Hu Jintao (Read about the first one here). In this tape, an embassy-sanctioned organizer tells students to prepare to “wage war” with critics of human rights abuses in China who were expected to protest during Hu’s visit.
The organizer, Yuan Pinghua, does not appear to be staff of the embassy, but is introduced by the embassy’s first-secretary of eduction, Mr. Liu Shaohua, who also speaks at the gathering.
“Now in a word this is like waging war, so today we are mobilizing for war, having all of you raise your guard,” says Yuan, addressing between 40 and 50 Chinese students and scholars who are in Ottawa on Chinese government scholarships. “Some things that should not be said definitely cannot be said.”
Calling the embassy’s plans for Hu’s welcome contingent a “state secret,” Mr. Yuan says that revealing the plans to “enemies” would put the embassy in a “deathtrap.” He said he worries that some students are inexperienced and would talk freely about the plans.
This week, The Epoch Times reported it had obtained a recording of Mr. Liu’s speech, an excerpt of which was posted on the newspaper’s website.
In the recording, Liu says the embassy is covering hotels, food, travel, and clothing for what he estimated would be 3,000 people who would welcome Hu Wednesday through Friday. The students were coming from as far away as Waterloo, Ont.
The goal of the pro-Beijing rally is to overshadow human rights protesters. Liu mentioned Tibetan, Uyghur, and democracy groups but focused mostly in his talk on Falun Gong, a spiritual group persecuted by the regime in China.
Last time Hu visited Canada, he was met with protesters, Liu says, which angered authorities in Beijing.
“This is a battle that relates to defending the reputation of our motherland. The embassy and authorities inside China have a very high requirement,” Liu says.
Liu refers to Mr. Yuan in his talk. He tells the students on state scholarships they are required to attend the pro-Beijing rallies. If they need a short leave, even less than four hours, from the three-day event, he directs them to talk to “teacher Yuan.” For longer leave, the students are required to ask Liu directly.
Listen to an excerpt from the speech given by Yuan Pinghua, in Chinese, to students at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa on June 18, 2010 here: [mp3remote]http://epoch-utils.com/web/podcast/download.php?filename=Yuan_Pinghua_Recording_Excerpt.mp3[/mp3remote]
For the previous recording of Mr. Liu Shaohua, the first secretary of the education at the Chinese embassy Ottawa, click HERE.
Mr. Yuan appears to be heading up the association of visiting Chinese students and scholars on state scholarships, under the embassy’s direction.
Yuan’s name has been posted along with an e-mail address on Chinese student and community bulletin boards in the lead up to Hu’s arrival as a contact for those registering for the pro-Beijing rally. The same e-mail address appears on the website of the Chinese embassy.
The embassy requires all students and scholars on Chinese government scholarships to send their personal info to that e-mail address, including their name, gender, work unit in China, email address, instant message address, institution in Canada, time of arrival and departure in Canada, home address and phone number.
Yuan Pinghua does not appear on the Department of Foreign Affairs database of registered foreign representatives in Canada.
The same is true for two other organizers mentioned by Mr. Liu in his talk, Li Ban and Cui Ge, whom Liu said were responsible for logistics for the rally.
In his talk, Yuan suggested dividing the students into groups based on where they studied—Carleton University, University of Ottawa, and a combined group with visiting scholars at the National Research Council and Agriculture Canada.
“After each team is established,” Yuan said. “We will establish a leadership team. We'll have three people, each of whom have a sense of political responsibility, the capability to direct, and can organize.”
He also said the organizers should not stop at rallying students.
“We need to coordinate well with overseas Chinese community groups. Our activity, to say generally, is a large-scale activity and should be done together with overseas Chinese community groups.”
The issue of foreign influence on Canadian universities and community groups was thrown into the media spotlight this week following a rare CBC interview with Richard Fadden, director of Canada’s spy agency CSIS.
Fadden said foreign regimes were recruiting political prospects at universities. He singled out China as the most aggressive in a recent speech to police chiefs and security experts in Toronto, CBC said.
Fadden added that Chinese authorities organize demonstrations in respect to some of Canada’s policies concerning China, according to CBC.
“A number of countries take the view that if they can develop influence with people relatively early in their careers, they'll follow them through,” Fadden was quoted. “Before you know it, a country is providing them with money, there’s some sort of covert guidance.”
As with Mr. Liu’s speech to students, Mr. Yuan makes no secret that the embassy was quietly pulling the strings with the pro-Beijing rally for Hu.
“Since it is a highly sensitive time politically, don’t openly discuss the political aspects on QQ [an online chat program]. Right now, silence wins over noise . . . we ourselves are manipulating things secretly, which will make us more productive.”
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[xtypo_dropcap]T[/xtypo_dropcap]he pro-Beijing rallies this week were not limited to cheerleading for bilateral ties with China. Some in the crowd could be heard chanting in support of the Chinese communist party’s more controversial policies: “Down with Falun Gong!” and “Eliminate Falun Gong! Eliminate Falun Gong!”
According to Lucy Zhou, a spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association, which organized a rally on the opposite side of the Hill to protest human rights abuses against Falun Gong, it was a sign that the embassy had gone too far.
Liu said in his speech that embassy staff had been working late into the night preparing for the rallies welcoming Hu. And it was noticeable.
The embassy closed its doors to visa applicants this week. A notice on the embassy website said it had closed for “computer repairs.” Phone calls as early as Wednesday this week were met with a voicemail message saying the office would not reopen until Monday, the day after Hu’s departure.
But while the pro-Beijing theme of the rallies was palpable, Yuan makes clear that the embassy did not want to be seen as the organizer.
“When you go out this door, wash your minds and forget what we’ve said,” says Yuan. “Don’t go out and talk about this. We'll find another time to tell the other personnel the same things, and we can tell them. Because we are the national team, teacher Liu has specially chosen us to be here to give us our marching orders for war. It’s a prelude for the beginning of our activities.”
Listen to an excerpt from the speech given by Yuan Pinghua, in Chinese, to students at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa on June 18, 2010 here: [mp3remote]http://epoch-utils.com/web/podcast/download.php?filename=Yuan_Pinghua_Recording_Excerpt.mp3[/mp3remote]
For the previous recording of Mr. Liu Shaohua, the first secretary of the education at the Chinese embassy Ottawa, click HERE.
He added, “Doing is doing. Don’t talk. Do. Don’t talk. If people ask you where you are going, then tell them something else.”
In his speech, Mr. Yuan explained that even the Ottawa-based students would be put up in hotels, and that they should be on call for organized rallies at all hours.
“Because the circumstance is clear, when we go to occupy a place, the other side will come,” Yuan said. “So when you are sleeping, everyone should pay attention and keep their guard up. At any time you could be called on to give support.”
He added, “We are travelling, but we are also going into combat. At the same time, you need to bring your clothes and other things. For male students, if you are arranged to do the night shift, you need to bring some thicker clothes.”
Close to 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, a few hundred Hu supporters indeed showed up outside Hu’s hotel after a handful of protesters had gathered there, a full day before Hu’s arrival. Ms. Zhou says it was one of three cases where hundreds from the pro-Beijing crowd showed up in the middle of the night to confront a small number of protesters for their space.
“It was like a military action,” says Zhou. “Hundreds of people confronting you with red flags in the middle of the night. It’s intimidating. I felt like I was in China.”
The rallies Thursday bore clear signs of central organization. The Epoch Times found many pro-Beijing rally participants wearing T-shirts with similar designs but different colours, each marked with a different school, including the universities of Concordia, McGill, Laval, Carleton, and the Montreal Confucius Institute.
The streets near parliament were lined with numbered school buses, each bearing a sign for which organization was on the bus and who was the team leader. A driver with Transport St. Leonard bus company said his company had sent 26 buses, each loaded with 72 passengers.
A number of student organizers roamed with matching walkie-talkies and earpieces, directing participants on where to gather and when to eat.
One woman was overheard boasting that she and her husband and child had been put up in a suite.
Hu’s entourage entered Parliament Hill through the east gate at about 2:30 p.m., bypassing both the protesters and the welcome crowd.
At about 3:30 p.m., organizers distributed boxed lunches to the crowd. A woman in her thirties, whose six-year-old daughter was wearing an oversized Concordia University T-shirt, said she‘d been outside since 6 a.m., standing through the rain. She was disappointed that Hu’s motorcade had not passed by where they’d gathered.
Additional reporting by Anna Yang and Matthew Little.
