Dear Honorable Premier Zhu:
As a Chinese citizen living in America, I hope that concern for the kind-hearted Falun Gong practitioners facing persecution will move you to take time out from your busy schedule to stop the unconstitutional behavior of Jiang Zemin and others.
Overstepping his own legal authority, Jiang Zemin initiated a large-scale political persecution against Falun Gong in July 1999. In the past fifteen months of the persecution, sixty-four people have died. More than a thousand people have been sent to mental hospitals. More than ten thousand people have been sent to labor camps, and/or sentenced to jails and prisons. Countless numbers of people have been harassed, detained, and tortured. Many people's homes have been ransacked and their possessions were confiscated. Many have lost their jobs or have been expelled from schools. This is the largest scale of unconstitutional persecution against good-hearted people since the Cultural Revolution.
While the Chinese people and most government officials are working diligently on campaigns that promote China's society and economy, Jiang Zemin's "smash campaign" is as socially destructive as the Cultural Revolution and the "Anti-Right Movement" [a political campaign in the mid 50's similar to the Cultural Revolution]. The motives of Jiang Zemin's group are entirely unconstitutional, against the will of the Chinese people and arise from personal political interests. As a premier working faithfully to develop China's economy, and as an intellectual who was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, you must not allow more persecutions to occur.
I sincerely hope that you can step forward to help and speak out for your own people. The Chinese people will remember you! History will remember you!
I wish you well,
A Chinese citizen living overseas
October 25, 2000
