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The Chinese government arrested Yang Hengjun (杨恒均), a China-born Australian citizen on January 19, 2019. On April 8, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation aired an interview with his wife who appeared (on the show) in tears, asking the Australian government to rescue her husband.

This news created some heated discussions among some Chinese media for the following reasons:

First, Yang has been writing articles promoting democracy after he began living outside of China. He built up a large reader base. In January, he flew, with his wife and daughter, from New York to Guangzhou where he was arrested at the Guangzhou airport. On the surface, his arrest appeared to be the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) retaliation against a democracy promoter.

Second, Yang’s wife, Yuan Xiaoqian (袁小靓) has the pen name of “Ran Xiang (染香).” “Ran Xiang” is one of the biggest “fifty cents” writers. “Fifty cents” people refers to Chinese who copy and paste government-fed materials on the Internet to praise the CCP or to echo the party’s position. At the beginning, they were paid 50 cents for every posting  and therefore obtained the name of “50 cents.” Now some die-hard party supporters do that even if they are not paid. In China, there are a few super-big “fifty cents” writers who frequently write their own articles to brown-nose the CCP. “Ran Xiang” is one of them. She used to attack Western democracy and freedom, claiming that the CCP’s dictatorship is the best democracy or that “democracy will not succeed in Asia.”

These super-big “fifty cents” writers are supposed to be the favorites of the CCP, but there is a bit of irony here. Even the biggest “fifty cents” writer cannot protest about her husband and has to go to a Western country that she belittled to ask for help on the grounds of human rights.

The third is the most controversial one: Yang is actually not a democracy promoter but rather the main executor of the CCP’s “Big Global Propaganda (大外宣)” strategy. His position of promoting democracy is just a disguise.

Some evidence includes that, despite the fact that Yang had been talking about democracy for a decade, he was invited to attend Beijing’s celebration of National Day (October 1) at the Great Hall of the People in 2014. Only high-ranking government officials and people with an extremely high status can attend that gathering. In addition, 35 owners/managers of overseas Chinese media (the CCP’s Propaganda Department has directly controlled or invested in most of them) formed the International New Media Cooperation Organization in Beijing on December 11, 2014. Yang was elected as the Chairman.

If Yang was indeed working for the CCP, why did the CCP arrest him? One theory is that he may belong to the faction of Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong. After Xi Jinping cleansed Jiang’s loyalists from the State Security Ministry, Yang was abandoned and eventually arrested.

Yang’s being a CCP spy is also a better explanation of why a democracy promoter (which Yang appeared to be) would marry a big “fifty cents” writer who was totally anti-democracy.

Yang, 53, graduated from the Department of International Politics of Fudan University (students from this department normally work in the state security or diplomat areas). He worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hainan Provincial government, and at China’s state-owned enterprise in Hong Kong. In 2000, he became a naturalized citizen of Australia. He has been living with his family in the U.S. for the past few years.

Sources:

1. The Epoch Times, April 11, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/4/11/n11179710.htm
2. Twitter

杨恒均不是小贩角色，他实际是大外宣战略中海外中共媒体的直接总老板：2014年12月11日晚，位于北京后海的庆云楼饭庄3层承志阁，35位来自世界各地的海外华文媒体社长协同成立了国际新媒体合作组织，杨恒均被任命为主席；此组织成员单位多为中宣部投资或者直接控制的海外华文媒体。

— 郭宝胜 Baosheng Guo (@milpitas95035) March 27, 2017

3. YouTube

Chinese Epoch Times published a few official documents from Liaoning Province that gave instructions on intensifying the work of “attacking” Falun Gong.

Yu Ming, a Falun Gong practitioner who recently escaped from China brought these documents out with him. Falun Gong is a mind-body exercise in the Buddhist school. It was introduced to the public in 1992 and, by the late 1990s had widely spread in China due to its teaching of the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” and its effectiveness in healing illnesses and aiding fitness. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned it in 1999. The Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions (Central LGPDHR) is the leading CCP organ that manages the work against Falun Gong. The “610 Office,” so named because it formed on June 10, 1999, is the execution arm of this leading group.

These documents include:

1. “Pertaining to the Request for Instructions on Recent Work Arrangements on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions,” by the Liaoning Provincial LGPDHR, on July 23, 2013. The document mentioned that Li Dongsheng (李东生), the Director of the CCP Central LGPDHR, instructed, during his visit to Liaoning, that Liaoning needed to increase the intensity of its work on preventing and dealing with (Falun Gong) and to take all necessary measures to intensify the education and transformation of (Falun Gong practitioners), to dig deeper to (find and) attack them, and to contain the resurgence of the Falun Gong issue.

It stated that the Provincial LGPDHR would call for a work coordination meeting on July 24, 2013, with top officials from the Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau, the Provincial Procuratorate, the Provincial Court, Provincial Judicial Bureau, Provincial State Security Bureau, Provincial Internet Management Bureau, and also the corresponding offices in Dalian (the capital city of Liaoning).

The request was sent to Su Hongzheng (苏宏章), Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Liaoning Provincial Committee, and Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee; Pan Liguo (潘利国), Deputy Governor of Liaoning; and Wang Dawei (王大伟), head of Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau.

2. A notice without title, from the Liaoning Provincial LGPDHR, dated July 23, 2013. It was sent to secretary Qi to ask him to submit the drafted leader’s instructions on preventing and dealing with (Falun Gong).

3. “Comrade Liguo’s Instruction,” signed by Pan Liguo. It stated that each locality and each department must implement Li Dongsheng’s important instructions. The Public Security and State Security organs needed to maintain the high pressure (against Falun Gong), intensify intelligence collection, and intensify the struggle’s strength by adhering to the principles of “taking care of it early, or while it is small and attacking it whenever there is a sign.” Each local office must gather the information about stubborn Falun Gong practitioners and members of the “Quan Neng Shen” (another religion that the CCP called heretical) and fully utilize the current forced labor camp and resources, to push forward the intensified “transformation” work against them.

Source: Epoch Times, April 4, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/4/3/n11159391.htm