[영상뉴스] 문화대혁명에서 살아남아 진실을 전하다…에포크타임스 CEO 재니스 트레이(2부)

In what way is the Epoch Times being censored? So we have our websites being attacked all the time. Like cyber attacks? Cyber attacks. And we also have our journalists being harassed. And my family members have received death threats. Our ties were punched. Our vehicles were smashed on the windshields. In China? No, here in America. In the United States? Yes. And not only to me and my family, but even some members of Congress and their staffers, who are supportive of this cause, have received similar messages, which I had the chance to help them translate. And we actually compared notes to say it's the same type of message. And so it's systematic. And there are also many unregistered Chinese agents in the U.S. How big is the Epoch Times that the Chinese Communist Party finds you as a threat? Epoch Times is published in 36 countries, 23 languages. And we have over 3 million registered users that receive our newsletters. We have a million-plus paid digital subscribers. And that puts us in the top four of the major brands. So we are actually ahead of the Financial Times, the Economics, and the Guardian, the Japan case, the Germany's bill, and so on and so forth. And we are the only media that the Chinese Communist Party is most afraid of because in 2004, we published the nine commentaries of the Chinese Communist Party to show how the Chinese Communist Party systematically, through propaganda, through power struggles, and through all the controls that destroyed the traditional Chinese cultures for 5,000 years. And in 2018, we published The Specter of Communism, showing that the communist elements, even after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and the change in Eastern Europe, the specter of communism is still visible in every facet in the Western societies. So the infiltration to education system, to judicial system, using different names, whether environmental and also through the so-called globalization, to create a global totalitarian regime to control people. And because of our unwavering commitment to speak up the truth and expose the evil, they hate your guts. But we are responsible for our readers, and we are not afraid because we believe good will triumph over evil. And it's more important to speak up. And just think of like a light, small candles can light up the whole world. I believe six million Jews would not have been perished if everyone spoke up during that time. When we think about Never Again, it is happening with the persecution of Falun Gong, and there are too many bystanders who have not spoken up. So everybody has a chance, in particular with the Falun Gong protection act that is right now in Senate. Everyone can call the senators and say, hey, please co-sponsor, support the Falun Gong protection act, such that this type of persecution and the forced organ harvesting will stop. And it's really, communism is against humanity, and it's about destroying the culture. But in many different forms, as you described, like, for example, creating the chaos, destroy the statues and history, and it's pretty much the playbook of the cultural revolution. Yeah. How do you react to what you're seeing here in the United States now? You know, you've lived all over the world, particularly in China, and you saw, you know, the communism coming over there, and now you're coming here, you're seeing the removal of the statutes, the rewriting of the history, the creation of chaos, the coercing of politicians as well as celebrities. I mean, how much of what we're seeing right now in the United States looks and sounds familiar to you from what you saw in China? It was almost the exact cultural revolutions playback, but in a different forms, in a more sophisticated form, because of subversive, the different business, you know, threatens. For example, our business who advertise with us, you know, got a call from the Chinese embassies, you know, to threaten them. So it's a matter of, like, stand up for what is right. China is in communication with American advertisers and getting threats from China? Yes. Explain that to me, because I think that's very important. So we're talking about American advertisers that were advertising on Epoch Times that received a phone call from China to not do business with you? From Chinese embassy and from its agents, you know, threats to the American business that they need to withdraw their advertisements with the Epoch Times or else they will suffer their consequences. So we have a lot of contract signs and then get revoked because of that. I give you another example in education. The Confucius Institutes, in the name of teaching Chinese, but none of their teachers were from freedom-loving Chinese-speaking people. For example, if I apply for teaching at Chinese Confucius Institute, they won't take me. They exported the Chinese from China to teach because they can control the textbooks and the curriculum. So the Confucius Institute, in the name of teaching Chinese, but actually spreading communist ideologies. Is that why we're seeing what we're seeing on college campuses, partially? Partially, yes. Because the Confucius Institute also trying to influence the campus so that human rights activists, freedom-loving people, who may not be the favorite ones from the eyes of Chinese Communist Party, their events were pulled. For example, David Matus and David Kugel, when they have events in major universities, they were canceled. And even more recently, even this month, we hosted the martial arts competitions and the vocal competitions. And the two venues, one in Manhattan, one in New Jersey, both of these two venues received a bomb threat trying to cancel our events. What kind of impact do they have on U.S. politics? You talk about the honey trap, and I think that's a very important point where I know that we are constantly sending politicians to China, and they seem to come back with a perspective that, mostly what I'm hearing is that, well, you know, China is complicated, it's a complicated thing, but mostly we don't need to worry too much about China because their population is in decline. That's mostly what we hear about when I think our elected officials come back from China. What's your reaction to that? Yeah, I give you an example. There was a very senior staffer working for a very reputable congressman. And this staffer had the highest security clearance, a former U.S. Army, and had top degrees at Yale University and had worked on the Hill for a long time, played a very critical role. So he was offered girls to sleep with, and then he declined. And so what they did with him was, the driver who was supposed to pick him up was purposely late and then put a girl in the car. And so when he arrived late, the wife of the congressman accompanied the congressman in a trip and had the impression something happened. So this is the extent. Imagine those who actually fell into the honey trap and they used photos and all those to harass and to threaten them. And so it's pretty widespread, all sorts of harassment. I'll give you an example. In Hong Kong, because of the British colonial status, there were many laws. They were created under the British rule. So to influence the judge, they gave death threats to the members, family members of the judge, in order to influence. You know, the same way how The Epoch Times report about the democracy movement in Hong Kong and the umbrella movement and the white paper movement. You know, we're trying to give a voice to the voiceless everywhere. And it is a constant pressure. And threats. And even Hong Kong people who have left China, left Hong Kong, and they're trying to search them and trying to persecute them, even overseas. So the infiltrations and the manipulations and the maneuvers, all this, unfortunately, many of the other media have not really reported timely. To me, as an executive with three decades of experience in corporate America, making an informed decision for business is crucially important. And many of the business leaders were not well informed because the information that they were provided were one-sided. And the analysis and the information we collected, and that's why some of the reporters and even contributors to our newspapers, they have, you know, sacrificed their freedoms because information is so critical. And so despite all the challenges, it actually makes us even more determined because only truth will stand. And in history, people will know. You know, you mentioned the parallels between China and communism in the United States. So I don't know if you've followed this, but now even in California, they're trying to push for the government to pay for breakfast in schools, in government schools or public schools, which, you know, many parents, they say, oh, this is so generous. The government is feeding kids who need more food. But if you notice what they're actually doing is they're feeding our children breakfast, they're feeding our children lunch. If they could, they would feed them dinner as well and just continue to signal to these children that it's the government who's taking care of them, not the parents. And if they could have them in there for more hours, they probably would. And I wonder how familiar that sounds to you. So back in the Cultural Revolution days, they actually have students turn against parents, students turn against teachers. And that's how they try to indoctrinate and spread communism. And so I see as very dangerous because parents have the most vested interest in their own children. You know, you and I are parents, we take care of kids, and that's our priority. And parents will do the very best for their kids. And parents should be the one who make the choices rather than letting others make the choice for our own kids. And that's something that the Epoch Times has been exposing. You know, not only the Confucius schools that are implanted in many schools, but also we provide a lot of resources, you know, for homeschooling parents who want alternatives. And so our publications include a lot of arts and culture, lifestyle and education information. To us, providing uncensored information. And as I told you earlier, when I compared the textbooks of the same historical periods of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, they were totally different. And so it's so important that we provide the truth to our children. Yeah, and parents need to be warned that whenever they're hearing that the government is just offering them more, it's really in the return of taking their children away from them. And so anybody that studies communism or comes from communism probably has a little bit of a red flag when they're hearing, oh, well, let's start children at school at an earlier age, right? Let's get them in as early as possible. Let's keep them as late as possible. Let's keep them away from their parents' control as long as possible. Let's feed them as much as possible. What do you think that means? What do you think you're giving away when you're getting that little meal for the kid or that extra hour of supervision of your children? What you're giving away is the sovereignty of your family and really the life of your child. And also the moral values that parents instill on our children. God forbid the children will learn that from their parents. They need to learn that from the government, right? And it's so important that children are the pillars of the future of the society. So we need to protect the children and we need to give them truthful information. And we also need to educate them in a way that they are not afraid. My son's school, he was forced to get daily emails from another publication. And I asked him to delete it. And he said, I cannot because it's through the school system. So there are media controls through that. And as parents, we should be able to say whether I want my kids to have, you know, what my kids should read or not read. You know, when it's optional, it's not part of the curriculum, but it is very dangerous. How concerned do you think Americans should be about China? I mean, part of me is saying America has become fat and lazy and China is hungrier than ever. And then part of me is trying to understand exactly what should America even do? I mean, we saw that balloon coming in all over Montana. We heard recently that, you know, China fired a rocket into the ocean during the UN Council meeting here in the United States. And so, you know, are these things that we should get concerned about? And if so, what is it that we should expect our leaders to do with regards to China? You mentioned the media, you mentioned the advertisers, you mentioned the universities, you mentioned, you know, even when we were walking in here, just the erasing of history and the revisionist history that they're pushing on us. And so it seems to be coming from different angles. What is it that our leaders are supposed to do? Well, the U.S. does not need as much of China than China needs the U.S. However, the Communist China has been painting a picture as if, you know, we are at the mercy of the Chinese because of the debts, the bonds that they purchase. Actually, the Chinese economy is extremely fragile. So let me give you an example how GDPs in China were provided. So each province, kind of like a state, they have to provide the numbers. And if the numbers were not good, they no longer keep their governorship's equivalence. And so what would they do? They would inflate the numbers. So even when they consolidated numbers, they lowered because they knew they were strong. You know, they were all inflated. So it's the systematic, the structure will not provide truthful information. So for American investors, you know, it's very important to know the truth. And many people say, well, I don't invest in China. Well, actually, your 401K investments or 413 investments, a lot of those are invested in China directly or indirectly. And with that, we need the accountability. You know, for example, they should follow the U.S. accounting principles, the GAAP standards, but they don't. We could hold the Chinese companies in American stock exchange, you know, to the same standards, right? So there are lots of things that we could do. But first and foremost, I would say, be informed and also, you know, get information from independent sources. So Epoch Times is independent. It's not funded by any billionaires, anybody with agendas. Who funds you? Who funds the Epoch Times? Our subscribers. You know, the great majority of our funding is from paid subscriptions. And we are a non-profit, so we also take some donations and then a little bit of advertisements. And so the independence and bias and the courageous reporting, you know, keep us be the trusted source of information in China and beyond. What do you think the Chinese citizens think about America, given that you have a finger on the pulse of what the truth is over there? Actually, Chinese people love USA. Think of how many of those send their children to U.S., send their money to U.S. The majority of the Chinese do not believe in the Communist Party because for 5,000 years, there were no Chinese Communist Parties. And in Chinese history, the dynasty changed overnight. So they are preparing for the change. And that's why 436.5 million Chinese Communist members and other affiliated organizations of the Chinese Communist Party have withdrew from the Chinese Communist Party and its memberships because they see it as a sinking Titanic. And actually, many of them were inspired by the nine commentaries published by Epoch Times editorial series. And it's actually the transformation of China to a new communist state is underway. And you can check on our Epoch Times website, the Chinese editions, we report the figures every day. So yesterday, 46,371 people withdrew from the party and its affiliates. Oh, that's incredible. Have they been punished? Is there a consequence for that? Well, it's not so easy, but people know that it's a sinking Titanic, so they don't want to be sinking with the Titanic. So they take some risks. Think of any applicants to U.S. citizenship. That's one of the questions. Are you affiliated with the Communist Party? And if they are, then they cannot become U.S. citizens. So they're betting on the U.S. and not betting on China. And one clear distinction is we love the Chinese people. And actually, the Chinese people love the American democracy. That's what they really want. So I applaud your programs and your message because you are truly aligned with the billions of Chinese citizens and help leadership in all countries also engage with the Chinese people. How do you think we get Chinese citizens who move here to not vote for what they fled? I think be open-minded and not to continue to use the tools, for example, like WeChat and TikTok that those are censored information. And for example, the recent actions on TikTok exposing the risks. So the more we do that, the more people are awakened to look at the sources beyond what they were familiar from China. Yeah, well, what's so surprising is that so many Chinese parents, and I can relate to that very much as a Jewish parent, we are very focused on sending our kids to colleges. And I know that's what Chinese parents do as well. And ironically, these are the colleges that are really being taken over and are teaching Marxism and communism. And so you have the first generation Chinese parents who come here, who flee for freedom and then send their kids to what I call the washers where they learn to not want freedom. And how do you break that vicious cycle? Well, at the end of the day is making informed decisions. So I will call on donors who make huge contributions to elite universities around the world to pay close attention who influence the curriculums. The curriculums focus on the traditional values. The university teaching our children on important topics in uncensored, unfiltered ways or they've been swayed from whatever I call the invisible black cats. And I am hopeful that people will wake up to the importance of the education. And our children are the pillars of the future society. And it's critically important that they are informed and not self-censored because of the need to be politically correct. And we just need more like the PragerU and yourself and Dennis to continue to carry out the work and give a voice to the voiceless and give people the opportunity to expose what's really going on because people sometimes don't know. And I am hopeful. I mean, even at Epoch Times, we have our own journalism school because many institutions have abandoned the traditional journalism that have high ethical and moral standards and focus on unbiased objective reporting, accurate reporting. And that's so crucial. And that's how the public trusts. And I believe readers and viewers will eventually find out maybe some of the media outlet they used to trust have truly abandoned the journalism standards and they should really look for outlets who are truly courageous. And that's why truth, tradition and hope are models and guide us every day. And we also give stories on human stories that inspire people. So it's not just like seeing all the atrocities and crimes, murders, but also how people overcome and provide hope and inspire hope. And I do think that there is a demand for that. And that's why I have been putting a few new programs, including profile of services to really showcase the leadership qualities and the balance of work and life and family, faith. I put a veteran series, I put an ambassador series, I put a women leadership series and also personal finance and career development and survival guide and all sorts of programs that I feel people need that very much. At the end of the day, it's just about making informed decision timely for ourselves and for our families. Yeah, I love that you do that. I love that you have some positive programming and mostly I love that you stand for truth. And I think specifically what is so interesting to me with the Falun Gong practice is that you all are so committed to truth that you're actually willing to put your life at stake. One of the things that our mutual friend Yan taught me was that some people are taken into labor camps, Falun Gong labor camps, when they're simply asked whether they're Falun Gong and they can't lie because they stand for truth and so they won't lie about it. And then they get sent to the camps where they could have just lied about it. And I remember I just like grabbed my head and I was just like, wow, it's incredible to me how committed you all are to truth. But I guess you have lived the life of what happens when you don't stand for truth, when you think it's a little thing and then it really grows into this huge evil behemoth if you don't. And so I wanna end with this final question and it really is about how do you do this Janice? I mean, you have one of the scariest jobs I think in the world. I remember visiting you at your offices and having to go through just the secrecy of your location and all the, I guess, guards that you have to have there in order to protect you and your employees and just having to travel with your name in your face and knowing what you stand for and still having family back in China. And so it just requires so much tenacity and so much courage and how do you not wake up every morning looking at that black pill versus the white pill and the black pill saying to you, you know what, I just can't do this. How do you choose that white pill over the black pill? How do you choose the do not despair, keep fighting? So I could have died during the Cultural Revolution. I could have died during the Tiananmen Square Massacre. I could have died through the persecution. The fact that I am alive in front of you Marisa is my duty and responsibility to give a voice to the voiceless. And if everybody puts some efforts to speak up, evil will be eliminated and there's too many bystanders that let the evil continue. So the unwavering commitments to provide truth, to provide information, to help people reconnect with the traditional values because those are the fundamental values that connect us with divinities. And we believe we're created by the creator and we cannot let the Communist Party, its threats to stop us because there will be a final judgment day and it's not just by how much money, how much power, how famous, none of that. It's really by your actions and what have we utilized our talents to make a difference in this world. And I'm very fortunate that I have a team of talented staff who have the perseverance and the commitment to unbiased, objective reporting. And despite all the sacrifices and all the risks, if we could bring the truthful information to our readers and viewers such that they can make an informed decision timely, it's all worth it. Janice, you all are incredible. Thank you for everything that you're doing for our country, for the world. And I hope this warning really goes out to everybody and they engage in whatever way they can. Be the light, right? Be the light in that darkness. Thank you so much, Marisa. Thank you.