%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Editorial Board of CBS Incident Committee %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Thursday, August 11, 1994 (No. 12) ============================================================================== Contents # of Lines ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. New Developments........................................................ 15 2. The Letter From Lin Huang, National Coordinator ........................ 15 3. Report on Fund Raising ................................................. 21 4. Brief Recollection of the Conversation With US CCR (Aug. 2) ........... 157 5. CBS-IC's letter to US Commission on Civil Rights ...................... 114 6. A letter from a reader................................................. ============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. New Developments........................................................ 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ a. US Commission of Civil Rights is looking into the case and is going to make contact with CBS. Since there is little can be done with the news media due to the First Amendment, US CCR is going to contact Defense Department to look at the status of the author, his authority of writing and publishing such a book, and who allowed him to make TV interviews to go to the air. CBSIC has faxed a package to Director Charles Rivera. CBSIC National Coordinator Mr. Lin Huang received a call from Mr. Rivera afterwards. The text of the call is in section 4. b. VOA has reported our CNN campaign. It was aired 7/27-7/28, 9:00pm Beijing Time. The reporter promised me a cassette of that broadcasting. His points were that a group of Chinese students participated in mainstream media and corrected a major media's erroneous broadcasting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. The Letter From Lin Huang, National Coordinator ........................ 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear netters, CBS-IC's letter to CCR and Working Report 3 (background study) will be sent today. Letters to CIA, DIA, FBI, FCC, White House and Congress Sub-committees are being weighted and composed. Those letters will be sent once the circulation in CBS-IC is completed and consent is reached. CBS-IC is expecting to reimburse the huge cost incurred to her members by the letter campaign and communication campaign. All the financial reports will be prepared by our fundraising team and carried by our NR. Since many donors wish to keep anonymous, we will not publish their name list. Concerned donors may request such a copy through mail. With more fund is available, CBS-IC is considering to hire a legal consultant so the campaign to combat biased CBS report and some government officials can be more effective and decisive. CBS-IC expresses her sincere thanks to her supporters in North America and from Japan. And we wish all our readers to reach out to strengthen our financial backing. The conversation with US CCR shows that, there is only one group who cares the name of CSS the most. It is CSS. It is our name. If we do not care, who cares? And the questions put by US CCR do show that the constant display of biased view expressed by some so called spy experts do have a profound negative impact on the image of ordinary Chinese. With all of you stand firmly with us, we will right this wrong and make another difference! Mr. Lin Huang National Coordinator CBS Incident Committee ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Report on Fund Raising .................................................. 21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear netters, Thanks to their generous contribution, we have so far collected $1285 donation for the short period of fund raising campaign from 60 donors over North America and Japan. The largest amount of donation is $50. We would like to express our thanks to their kind support and warm hearts. We expect a fair amount of donation will go for mail cost and long distance telephone fee. The money will be used carefully and responsively. Those who want more information about donation and expenses, please send your request to this account. Thanks for your attention. Frank Cheng Member of CBS-IC fund raising committee ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Brief Recollection of the Conversation With US CCR (Aug. 2) ............ 157 -----------------------------------------------------------------------.------- Director Charles Rivera of US Commission of Civil Rights just called me, Mi Mi Sr., the National Coordinator of CBS Incident Committee and we talked for nearly two hours. The following is a very brief recollection of this conversation, and all of the inaccuracies which may occur are all mine and the content is to the best of my knowledge. The recollection in no way means completed and accurate to its original conversation. It is written down just for your information and no responsibility of any kind is assumed by the typist and the parties of the conversation. Charles Rivera (CR): We Federal Commission of Civil Rights do not intent to step over the line of First Amendment. We are checking the violations in the employment and other area concerning the minority groups and keep government agencies and other groups in line. The commissioners believe that as Connie Chung is up there acting as a minority in the news media, she is in a better position to present minorities in the mainstream and we do not want to see she is not there instead. Mi Mi Sr. (MM): We are not against Connie Chung personally. We are disappointed by this particular news segment instead. CR: The Commission has eight commissioners and all of us have read through the spy book and your package to CBS. The commissioners have asked many Asian-American groups and many of them are concerned but not willing to stir this spy report further. So it is particularly what the commission wants to hear from you. MM: We had same concern before we went in-depth background study of this spy book. We have ordered numerous original US government documentation, and wrote a 200+ page report on this incident, before we came to realize that this report is not true. It was until then we proceeded to write our formal protesting letter to the CBS VP. CR: May I ask you this question, which has been addressed in your letter to CBS, and it is particularly important for the commission to make decisions. Is there any routine procedure described in that news segment that all Chinese who applies exist visa to the United States? Is there any agreement which must be reached to spy on U.S. before you can get an existing visa from PRC government? Can you explain to me your own experience? MM: The so-called procedure that every one of ordinary Chinese who applies visa to the United States is requested by MSS to spy on United States is not true and is a lie. In Chinese culture, "spy" is a dirty word, and certainly means danger. I am not defending the PRC government. But trying to recruit spies in this way is simply insane. For me, if I accept the spy work, that means I am endangering myself and my family here. If I do spy on America, somewhere somehow FBI will get hold on me. We all know the Ames's case and the execution of a Soviet General who spied for U.S. but got caught by KGB because of Ames. If I had to spy on U.S. in order to get permit to go to the United State, I would rather stay home, in China. The procedure as I followed, was as this. First of all, I went through Perteson's Guidance to locate some universities which offer the program I was interested in. Then I wrote letters to those universities, submit all the documentation they asked. Then I got acceptance letter and immigration forms from a couple of U.S. universities. From this point on then I had to contact PRC government. The procedure was I had to apply for a passport, since the passport is not a regular ID we Chinese have. We had residence IDs, not passport. I had to show PRC government officials why should I apply for a passport, what was the purpose of my traveling, and all the required documentation which showed my request was legitimate. Then within three weeks, I got my passport. Then I went to the US Consulate General to apply for a visa. When the visa was approved, I booked an airline ticket. It took longer to get a passport in summer because of the sheer volume of the students who are going abroad. It could be quicker during other time. It is impossible to handle all that ten thousand applicant by MSS in such short a period. CR: Did you encounter anything like MSS in the process? MM: No. I knew MSS will run some background check on some of the applicants, to see if the applicants possess state secrets, such as the employees who work for government, military agencies and secret agencies. But for most of us, it is not necessary. For me, as I was in hard science, mathematics in particular, I had nothing secrete which will endanger the state. So I had no trouble at all. Beside, I am from a very prestigious university in China, and many of my colleagues and fellow students came to the United States, and I personally know many of them. No body had experience other than mine. CR: So it sounds to me that you have undertaken a procedure that all the other countries would have, and all the other people would have gone through as tourists and business people, right? MM: Exactly. CR: Now, do you know how many individuals and organizations have protested CBS? MM: We have contacted many Chinese, Chinese-American organizations. To the best of my knowledge, over a thousand protest letters had been sent to CBS before middle June. Our organization was founded after that incident. Many of our members had sent in their own protesting letters to CBS. Our official letter which I enclosed to you was the first letter our organization has written, based on our two month background studies. CR: Please tell me what will happen when you go back to China? Will you be asked by MSS? Will you be requested by PRC to present something you acquired in the US? MM: First of all, if I go back to China, I have to look for a job. I have to present my credentials, diplomas to the employment departments. As I went back in 1992, I went to my former university to check if there was any opportunities for me to get a job. My supervisors showed me the projects he had, and benefits he could offer me. That is all. CR: It sounds like a routine job application procedure. MM: Right. CR: Please tell me what is your feelings about this news segment, and how you are hurt? MM: First of all, we are not spies. We are the group of people who are covered by this particular news segment, as it said "Chinese student, scientist, and business people". Before 1989, we were required to go back to China, because of the agreement between the governments. It is known as "two year home residence requirement". It was impossible to plant future spies this way. PRC could have planted spies some other way but not this. Our document from U.S. government shows only dozens each year were exempted this requirement prior to 1989. It was not until 1989 and shortly after that this requirement was waived by President Bush. The CSPA grants the same group of people permanent residency in 1993. 50,000 Chinese students and scholars have been granted permanent residency here because of that Act. We are the people who had hold the highest degrees in China, and many had faculty positions in Chinese academic institutions. We are the group of elite of our generation back in China. We choose to stay here because we love democracy and freedom. We choose to stay here to promote friendship between the two peoples, to promote democracy and freedom in China, the offer our expertise and experience to serve this great nation, because we love both countries. Now we are portrayed as potential spies who want to subvert this great nation. That is why we are angered the most. CR: Oh, I am glad you have offered your feelings towards this news segment. You choose to stay here to contribute to this country, and ironically, you're portrayed as potential spies. The Commission is concerned of those kind of TV coverage. The Commission is going to write letter to CBS. CBS has to have some kind of guidelines on how to make a report. In the eighties there were some incidents like this, which had wrongfully stereotyped some groups and caused some unintentional damages. We will certainly look into this. But we are not going to step over the First Amendment. Certainly we could make a decree, or a statement on this, but it has to be decided by our next meeting in September. In this news segment, it was not presented objectively, from its announcement, its main body, and its conclusion. None of the argument were challenged, that is what we are concerned. And your organization wants a balanced report and an open apology, right? I can see it is in the line. MM: Yes. We want an open apology from CBS, and no more this kind of ungrounded report in the future. CR: That is reasonable. Thank you so much to share with me your group's concerns and ideas. Your letter to CBS is very important to this commission. It offers us many important facts and points we will use in our letter to CBS. I really appreciate that. I will alert you if anything comes up, okay? Please keep in touch. I have two people waiting for me to a meeting. Good-bye now. MM: Thank you for calling. Good-bye. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. CBS-IC's letter to US Commission on Civil Rights ....................... 114 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _From: Mr. Lin Huang, National Coordinator, CBS Incident Committee To: Mr. Charles Rivera, Director of Public Affairs, US Commission on Civil Rights Dear Mr. Rivera, I enjoyed our telephone conversation last week. Our Committee members and I are very grateful that the American government takes an interest in our fight for civil rights and justice. We believe that your ideas and insights can benefit us a great deal, and we earnestly hope that we will have your continuing support in the weeks and months ahead. We are prepared to address all your concerns and questions in a written statement. It will be very helpful to us if you can send us a list of the questions that you put to me in our conversation, along with any other questions you might have. Any extra effort that you might take in doing so will be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, I am sending you excerpts of some of our background studies on the allegations about Chinese spies in the US. They are part of our working report presented to the 6th National Congress of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars on July 23. While the research is an on-going project, we think that it does show that the CBS story was no accident, but rather reflected some paranoia among some individuals who, in the name of U.S. government, hold biased views against ethnic minorities and their civil rights. Please note that most of the allegations were really variations of the same claim. Few, if any, of them present any substantial evidence except citing a few very rare cases such as that of Larry W. T. Chin over and over again. Although Mr. Chin and his likes obviously do not fall under the label of "ordinary" Chinese, there have been a series of imaginary theories to victimize ordinary Chinese. Examples of such theories include: 1) "Grain of Sand" Theory. The metaphor goes like this: in order to steal a pail of sand from an U.S. beach, the Chinese government will send 1000 innocent Chinese individuals to collect one grain of sand each person, instead of sending one individual to collect the whole together. This theory suggests that, any Chinese individual, no matter how harmless he behaves, can be one vital part of the large espionage scheme, even though he can not be convicted for spying! 2) "Payment by Legitimate Business Opportunities" Theory. This theory tells that there is no obvious payment detectable in any way for spying for the Chinese government, but only "legitimate business opportunities". This theory suggests that no matter how strictly one obeys the laws, a Chinese having a business can be an indication that he or she is paid by the Chinese spy agencies. 3) "Future Spy" Theory. It means that any Chinese could wait patiently for more than ten years to get security clearances, then to activate themselves to steal U.S. national secrets. According to this theory, no one can be spared of suspicion, even if they have done nothing wrong in their life time. They might just be unlucky in not having a chance to steal, but they are spies nonetheless! 4) "Information Theft" Theory. It means that any Chinese who can access computer network can be stealing information for China. This was actually mentioned in the CBS May 19 report. As the Internet's tentacles are actually penetrating each and every office and home, we Chinese will never be able to clear our names even if we stay away from computers, since our jobs may require using computers and our children may sit at home learning and playing through CompuServ or America Online, which can also be accused as stealing information. Ironically, according to this theory, it is not up to the government agencies and businesses to lock up their secrets more tightly, but to us, the alleged "Chinese spy" suspects, to stay away from computers! 5) "Forced by MSS on Relatives Left in China", which was dramatized by the CBS May 19 show. It suggests that even if you refuse to steal for a foreign government, the MSS will hold hostage family members or relatives that you might have in China to force you into submission. Everyone knows that Chinese culture values family bounds and is proud of this tradition. An extended Chinese family may go back several generations and covers sometimes hundreds of kin members. To exploit this vast family bondage actually puts every Chinese-American on the trial. We would never have imaged that our strong family values could be our curse in this great country where the majority of the people embraces and promotes family values. However, those who invented this theory totally ignore and fail to explain why those brave Chinese still took to Tiananmen Square in millions even when their family members were under the threat of MSS in China. As you can see, such sweeping attacks on our integrity by association, innuendo, or pure speculation are usually impossible to disprove, as no one can definitively prove the non-existence of anything. But, unless they are rebutted, we are in a no-win situation, in which we can be persecuted even if we do nothing wrong. The very fact that we are engaged in legal and legitimate pursuits can be used to incriminate us not only threatens the livelihood of many Chinese individuals, but also violates the founding principles of this great nation -- the unalienable personal liberty and freedom. These absurd allegations endanger the civil rights of the entire Chinese community, since they invite the general public to be suspicious of their Chinese employees, job applicants, business partners, and even neighbors! This image of sinister Chinese, and the subtle discrimination caused by subliminal suspicion can be overwhelming. Such attacks on us hurt not only the meek Chinese. Unwarranted attacks on the minority, if unchecked, almost always endanger the interests of the majority. The internment of the Japanese Americans during the Second World War was certainly more than unjust for the Japanese Americans. The Red Scare engendered by McCarthyism in the 1950s has certainly hurt more than just the left-wingers. The specter of paranoia can haunt everybody once it is set loose. Today, the flames of defamation can certainly scar the Chinese, but they will burn others, too, if they are allowed to flare out of control. When the principles of justice are not upheld for everyone, we, whether Chinese or Caucasians or African Americans, are all in for a rough ride together. However, we have faith in the decency of the American people and the American government. It is with such belief and such faith that we have resolved to clear our name in the eyes of the American public. There is no doubt that the support from the Civil Rights Commission strengthens our resolve, because we take your support and cooperation as proof that our belief and faith are not mistaken. We are confident that, together, we can right the wrongs and contribute to this great nation. Sincerely Yours Lin Huang ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. A Letter from a Reader .................................................. 20 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _From: Haisheng Wang To CBS Incident Committee: Thank you for your effort on against the unfair incident towards Chinese community. We do respect other people and organizations in terms of free speech. However, CBS aired this interview right before the MFN announcement, they got their plot to against us. My personal opinion (after our community here cooled down, we felt we have to take the logic step to against any incidents like this) is we need attack the source of this nonsense and put the emotion against individual reporter aside. It is the reporter's job, of course the news reflect their opinions. But the damage from CBS is far smaller than the author they interviewed. His book is very serious damaging to all of us with advanced degree. The author has also been interviewed by other organizations and his opinions have been posted technical journals. As the attorney in NY suggested (posted in CND US regional News) the author is the target. "New Technology Week" published by King Communications Group, Inc, on March 28 1994(way early than CBS), put headline on "China Tech Spying in US Massive, Analyst Finds". It is very damaging since it has been circulated among upper levels of companies and universities. ################################################################### # Please support our common cause by making your contributions # # payable to IFCSS/CBS Incident Fund, and mail it to # # Mr. Frank Chen / CBSIC # # 361 Ogden Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07307 # # Thank you for your pledge, and we will make a difference! # ################################################################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Editor of CBS Incident Committee: Xiangdong Shi % % Miao Ye % % Sign on/off at listserv@ifcss.org, with mailbody as: % % sub fcbs-l Firstname Lastname, or signoff fcbs-l % % Post at fcbs-l@ifcss.org % % Anonymous ftp at ifcss.org:/ifcss/Legal/cbs % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%