Mr. Yang said persecuted entrepreneurs like him are too numerous in his home province and country. The common characteristic of attacks is that they begin with heavy, underhanded threats and intimidation, and evidence is manufactured; this soon escalates into a fictitious crime.
Arrests soon follow; the case is then made public to intimidate the public; relatives are targeted, implicated, and arrested. Company accounts are frozen; all real estate assets are frozen; freezing of personal bank accounts and family accounts; the confiscation of all other purchases; and then imprisonment to top it all off.
Company shake-down
In the summer of 2022, the authorities suddenly arrested dozens of top company officials, all at the management level of more than 20 branches, including general managers, company shareholders, and managers, and hundreds of stores were sealed up.
At that time, Mr. Yang’s company had millions of ready cash in the frozen accounts. The following day, it was announced over the state media networks that the public was required to report any information on the matter.
The authorities confiscated more than 500 million RMB (US$68.70M) of Mr. Yang’s property and assets in the names of his wife and children.
Lawless regime: No evidence from beginning to end
Ms. Yin, Mr. Yang’s cousin, said that Mr. Yang’s case did not have any supporting evidence from beginning to end, which is typical of a “judgment without trial.”
Ms. Yin growled: “When the state security suspects that he is guilty and decides that he is guilty, then he is guilty, so the law is a blank piece of paper, and those in power can write it as they want. People don’t have any power to resist at all!”
She said that since last summer, all relatives had been implicated, and their bank accounts were frozen to prevent relatives from supporting Mr. Yang in hiring a lawyer. Ultimately, he could not hire a lawyer from outside the country to defend him, and no local lawyer dared to take up the case.
Mr. Yang said that he has a co-shareholder whose assets were confiscated, he was tortured, and his ribs broken to extract confessions; he was later sentenced to more than three years in prison.
Mr. Yang continued that there are many examples of successful entrepreneurs with assets of more than 100 million RMB (US$13.74M) in his province being persecuted and confiscated, family members sentenced to imprisonment, company and personal assets seized, with some escaping overseas.
Road to freedom
Mr. Yang revealed that he was fortunate to have a Hong Kong identity. In early 2019, he went to Hong Kong to appeal to the city government, but without success, and then he moved to Canada, where he finally set foot on the land of freedom.
Mr. Yang joined the Canada branch of the Federation for a Democratic China in September 2022 and has actively participated in various protests. He said his greatest wish is to see the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fall soon.
Mr. Yang told Look at China how he changed his thinking from being a “pink,” which supported the CCP, to a staunch anti-communist.
Brainwashed since childhood
During the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, Mr. Yang, who had just come of age, watched TV daily. “On TV, they talked about thugs, which I did not understand. I was brainwashed since I was a child. Even if I have an opinion about the government, I still felt that the government was not responsible for it”.
In 2013, Mr. Yang read the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in Hong Kong, and at that time, he thought what was said in the book was a joke and did not take it seriously.
“It wasn’t until I went abroad (to Canada) that I sobered up. After seeing so many people being persecuted by the Communist Party, I realized that the root of the problem lies in the one-party authoritarian system of the Communist Party. I had been taught since childhood that loving the Party means being patriotic. I believe that everyone loves China. We are all Chinese, and I know the Communist Party does not represent China.”
Learning the facts in Canada
After coming to Canada, Mr. Yang learned a lot of natural history: “We have talked about the Communist Party’s anti-Japanese resistance since childhood, but in fact, it was the Kuomintang’s anti-Japanese resistance and the Communist Party that stole the fruits behind the scenes. We didn’t know about it”.
“Most people in the country (China) do not know. We didn’t know until now that so many people died of starvation in three years of disasters; 30 million people died! People ate people! We didn’t know! How dare we show this news in the country? Impossible!”
Mr. Yang gave an example: “There is also the case of injustice suffered by Falun Gong practitioners. It turns out that Falun Gong is practiced by so many people abroad, and the self-immolation in Tiananmen Square is faked.
“So, if the Communist Party continues like this, it will be doomed.”
Mr. Yang also said: “My feeling [after experiencing so much] is that I suddenly woke up after being deceived for so many years. I have nothing left now, and they ruined me”.
The downfall of the Chinese Communist Party is inevitable
Mr. Yang believes that the failure of the Communist Party of China is a historical inevitability. Especially in the recent sharp deterioration of China’s economy, the people’s dissatisfaction with society has soared, highlighting the CCP’s crisis in power.
Mr. Yang said China is now on the eve of significant social changes. As a member of the Federation for a Democratic China, he hopes to do his best to bring about substantial changes in China and soon see democracy and the rule of law in China one day. The Chinese people can live free life like Canadians.
See Part 1 here.
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