Breaking With the Communist Party — Espionage Officer Says ‘My Heart Became Very Peaceful’
A new wave of PRC officials renouncing membership are using their real identities
Created: March 18, 2009
Former communist agent Li Fengzhi, celebrates with 50 million other Chinese his quitting the Chinese Communist Party. (Lisa Fan/Epoch Times)
WASHINGTON—On March 11, Mr. Li Fengzhi, a former officer of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), openly announced his break from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), making his case the first public resignation from the CCP’s espionage system. Mr. Li thereby joined 51 million other Chinese who have quit the CCP or one of its affiliated associations. In recent years, Mr. Li had been gradually freeing himself of the Party’s influence by moving to the United States and not pursuing his career as a spy, but that was not enough, and only by renouncing the Party publicly and using his real identity could he achieve peace of mind.
On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Li, 41, was present in Washington to speak at two rallies where he was the guest of honor. He explained his reasons for taking the action he did, and made a plea for his colleagues in the China State Security System to follow his example “before it is too late.”
Communist Party is "fearful and scared"
Mr. Li stated that he knows that people quitting the Communist Party have made the Party “fearful and scared” and gives hope and encouragement to the Chinese people. As a former intelligence officer, Mr. Li has the qualifications to know the impact of the massive quitting of Chinese from the Party.
The first rally was in front of the Chinese Embassy, where some of his former colleagues were possibly listening from within the walls of the building that sits at 2300 Connecticut Avenue. Mr. Li was given a certificate of resignation from Dr. David Gao, president of the “Global Service Center for Quitting CCP,” who flew in from San Diego to present the document to Mr. Li. The embassy rally was soon followed by a second rally across town at McPherson Square, close to the White House, where he was joined by other Chinese human rights and democracy advocates.
“As a man of conscience, as a former intelligence officer for the China State Security Department, I didn’t have a choice. The only thing I could do was publicly renounce the CCP,” said Li, speaking in Mandarin, followed by a spontaneous translation into English. His father had quit earlier and urged his son to do the same. Li has been living in the United States with his wife, two children, and father.
Li explained that in his youth, he was active in the democracy movement that was crushed at Tiananmen Square in 1989. When police were rounding up the students advocating democracy, he was protected by two of his teachers. Later he was offered a job in the MSS and took it because he said he was patriotic and believed the MSS was protecting the country.
Li Fengzhi, former Chinese regime spy, tells why he left the Chinese Communist Party. (Xi Ming/NTDTV)
Later he came to realize “The police in the State Security Department do not protect the country, but rather the safety of the Communist Party. Massive resources are spent by the Security Department to target dissidents and spiritual belief groups … and that has already damaged the true interest of the Chinese people.”
Li explained that many of his colleagues at the MSS could not tolerate it either. “Many of them are waiting for the right opportunity [to leave the Party],” Li said.
Li used Falun Gong as an example. Li has a relative he knew whose poor health was improved dramatically. “I couldn’t see how [Falun Gong practitioners] were a threat … others too couldn’t understand why they were persecuted,” he said. He observed that the 610 Office, which was formed in June 1999 to persecute Falun Gong adherents outside China’s judicial system, has no limits on its budget. It exists, said Li “to serve the interests of a few people of the CCP and not the Chinese people at all.”
“Those crimes of the CCP and suffering of innocent Chinese people broke my heart and my conscience would not let me stay anymore,” Li said. He said he also worried that his thoughts, or something he might blurt out revealing his true feelings, would be putting not only himself, but his family, in danger.
At first, Mr. Li struggled with his “hopes, resentments, fears, and even hatred.” He resolved the tension by moving to the United States, so as to distance himself from his previous job as a spy and the Party. “I hoped to lead a free life,” he said. But even this separation was not acceptable to the CCP. Mr. Li said his distancing himself was considered a “betrayal to his country and to the Party” by the CCP. His colleagues and friends were persecuted as a result.
The climax of Li’s remarks in front of the Chinese Embassy came when he said: “After renouncing the CCP, my heart became very peaceful.”
Emphasis on Patriotism
In trying to explain his renunciation of the CCP, Mr. Li said, “actually, the Communist Party is not China. The CCP damages China and destroys Chinese traditions and culture.” Therefore, quitting the Party was the patriotic thing to do, to “save China.”
“I know that the CCP is a true impediment to China’s development and also a poisonous root damaging the whole world and the Chinese nation.” Li said he had great hope for those people who are still deceived by the CCP, but “I also want to warn those people who are still following the CCP and being their accompanists. … You should solemnly consider your future and it is still not too late [to severe the ties]. Otherwise, everything you do will come back to you.”
Using Their Real Identities
At the rally near the White House, Mr. Gao observed a trend in the way people are quitting the Party who worked for the State, like Mr. Li Fengzhi did for the MSS. They are increasingly using their real names rather than aliases. Mr. Gao mentioned Jia Jia, Hao Fengjin, Chen Yonglin, Zheng Enchong, and Gao Zhisheng, whose resignations have been widely reported, and publicized in The Epoch Times in recent years.
It takes a lot of courage to use one’s real identity, even when the individual renounces in the safety of a free country like Australia or the United States. Mr. Li Fengzhi told this reporter that he could not disclose where he and his family live in the United States for fear of what might happen to them if their location were discovered.
Spies Can Know the True Nature of Their Employer
A topic that was mentioned at these rallies for former espionage agent Li was how vulnerable the CCP is to its own police security. The very nature of working for the Ministry of State Security enables its agents to be exposed to materials, such as The Epoch Times and other media as well as human rights reports, which ordinary Chinese are not allowed to view. The State Security agents’ information is not censored or blocked, and, moreover, they know how the state propaganda works.
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