The TV hijacking has severely affected the "TV signals to every village" program of CCTV, the leading national television station in China, the transmission of signals from China Education TV Station (CETV) and of some provincial-level TV stations. It made viewers in some remote rural and mountainous areas unable to watch TV programs as usual.

"We've utilized a wide range of technical means to monitor and analyze the hijacking signals and made an accurate positioning of the hijacking source. Specialists are completely certain about the positioning result," said Liu Lihua, director of the radio bureau of the Ministry of Information Industry.

Manipulated and commanded by the headquarters of the Falun Gong cult and its leader Li Hongzhi, the hijacking willfully trampled upon international code, disrupted the public order and committed a serious crime by sabotaging the transmissions of radio and TV programs, Liu added.

At 10:39 a.m. on September 9, Wu Feng, a technician on duty in the long-distance education center of CETV, noted that signals of all programs on the station's wide-band transmission network, which were transmitted by the SINOSAT 6A transmitter, turned abnormal and that some TV screens in the center blackened.

Technicians found in the ensuing checks that illegal TV signals, promoting the Falun Gong cult, flashed for some moments on five TV channels. Related departments took measures to counteract the TV hijacking, which monitoring data show ran for one hour and eight minutes that day.

The satellite TV programs of CETV have been affected several times since Sept. 9.

According to Min Changning, chief engineer of the SINOSAT telecommunications company, apart from the 2A and 3A SINOSAT transmitters, its 6A transmitter has also been hijacked by the Falun Gong cult members for a long period of time. As a result, programs on five channels of CETV and its 25 IP data radio programs have been severely affected.

Zhang Tianlin, CETV vice president, was indignant.

"TV programs and IP data radio programs of CETV were forced to suspend because of the hijacking," he said. "This seriously damaged the rights and interests of the audience and affected the normal education order of schools and as well as the learning activities of students."

"Our normal education plan has been interrupted, and some students might have to graduate later than scheduled," said Wang Wenyan, a teacher at the long-distance education office of Beijing University, one of the most prestigious universities in China.

He said that more than 20,000 people from remote regions such as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have received long-distance education provided by Beijing University.

Wang Xiuli, a student of Weichang No. 1 Middle School in Hebei Province, using Beijing's technology, was angered by the disturbance.

"My classmates and I waited all day for our chemistry lecture," she recalled. "But there was no TV image at all."

"The long-distance education is quite helpful. What right does Li Hongzhi have to deprive us of our right to study? We all feel very disgusted with it," said Wang.

"Hijacking and jamming telecommunication satellites is a severe crime," said Chen Ruming, a permanent director of the China Institute of Telecommunications.

Chen noted the great importance of satellite communications to human civilization. Currently more than 200 telecommunication satellites are in operation, making up some 3,000 satellite networks which transmit information all over the world and therefore shorten the distance between people.

The international community has set strict requirements for the normal operation of satellite telecommunications.

Both the United Nations and international telecommunications organizations have adopted international conventions and public principles to ensure that the telecommunications satellites would not be hijacked, said Chen.

"The Falun Gong cult is doomed to be condemned by the international community for trampling on the conventions and public principles with despicable means," he said.

An official with the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said his office and relevant departments have told Taiwan authorities and the local business departments that it was a severe crime for the Falun Gong addicts to hijack SINOSAT by transmitting illegal signals from an area of Taipei City.

He said the act has treaded on established principles, seriously violated people's legal rights and interests, and deeply hurt the feelings of compatriots across the Taiwan Straits.

"It is extremely unpopular, and the Taiwan side is responsible for stopping the criminal activity immediately," said the official.

He stressed that those who support or indulge in the Falun Gong cult may lift a rock but will eventually drop it on their own feet.

While compatriots across the straits were celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, which fell on September 21 this year, the illegalTV signals were transmitted again from Taipei by Falun Gong, which disturbed TV programs transmitted by SINOSAT.

Du Baichuan, a deputy chief engineer of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said that the Falun Gong cult took advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival and launched a hijacking marathon, from 19:00 on the festival until the next morning.

"Audiences in remote, rural and mountainous areas could not watch the Moon Festival Party on TV," Du said. "It has roused people's indignation that they missed an opportunity to share the happiness of the traditional Chinese festival."

Xinhua OpEd on Falun Gong's TV hijacking
"Whoever plays with fire gets burnt"
Beijing - Sep 24, 2002 - In recent years, the Falun Gong cult has repeatedly sabotaged various public communication systems and even hijacked national satellite broadcasts, resulting in serious damage to the public order on the Chinese mainland.

By employing advanced technologies, the Falun Gong addicts have frequently cut into the cable television network to broadcast their propaganda, disseminated their heresy through the Internet, and made direct phone calls, anonymously, from overseas to harass innocent residents.

Why do some Falun Gong diehards dare to blemish modern civilization in such a barefaced manner?

It is because of Li Hongzhi, the cult's ringleader at its headquarters overseas, that so many shameful acts against people's legal rights and interests have been carried out.

Throughout the year, Li has issued a series of so-called " instructions," aiming to incite Falun Gong followers to carry out a new round of attacks on the communication systems on the Chinese mainland.

Just recently, Li gave a direct "instruction," which clearly instructs the Falun Gong organizations in Taiwan to attack certain "targets," especially on the Chinese mainland.

The "Minghui" website, one of Falun Gong's major propaganda tools, has played a leading role in deluding the cult's followers to act against the law and the people.

This year, the "Minghui" website has continually posted a "how-to" for cutting into cable television networks and publicized detailed technological parameters of the Sinosat satellite, giving hints and guidance to those Falun Gong followers who are ready to attack.

More notably, a "black hand" behind the scene has been observed.

According to experts, the source beams that hacked into the national satellite system proved to be sent from the Taipei area in Taiwan Province.

In the past several years, some people in Taiwan have always stood behind the scenes, harboring and even supporting the Falun Gong's disgraceful behavior, with an eye to split China by disrupting peaceful reunification with the mainland.

In December 2000, the Falun Gong organizations in Taiwan held a "candlelight evening for the Falun Dafa," which was attended by Lu Hsiu-lien, notorious for propagating the policy of an independent Taiwan. Lu even expressed her blessing to the cult's followers, saying she wished them great success in their practice of Falun Gong.

Whoever plays with fire will finally perish by fire. The fact that the Falun Gong organizations in Taipei illegally hijacked the SINOSAT satellite beams has not only breached people's lawful interests, but also has hurt the feelings of people across the Taiwan Straits. Falun Gong will never gain popular support and is doomed to be spurned by people on both sides of the straits.

We believe our Taiwan compatriots will see through the vicious purpose of Falun Gong organizations and keep alert against their sabotage activities.

The Taiwan authorities and relative departments are obligated to immediately stop such illegal activities by Falun Gong.

Finally, we also formally inform those who shield or support the evil cult that they should halt at the brink of the precipice, or they will suffer from their actions in the end.

Editor's Note: This is an unedited Xinhua News Agency report, and is provided here without additional comment.

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