Ex-CCP Agent (Part 4): 15 Years Inside China’s Security System — My Escape to Australia

So, I'd like to ask again, you worked for them, the CCP State Security Police, for about 15 years, right? During those 15 years, were you always physically working for them but emotionally siding with the other side? Or was there a period when you were really working for them, and then one day suddenly decided to defect? What was your inner process like? Actually, the number of times I wanted to escape, it's not just the ones that have publicly reported. For example, the ones I've openly disclosed, three times. The first time I went to the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong. The second time I went to Hong Kong to contact a legislative council member. The third time was coming to Australia. But in reality, there were other attempts as well. Some of them inside China I simply haven't disclosed yet. After they recruited me, I was never truly willing. I was never reconciled to being driven by them. In fact, I made many attempts to escape. But after those attempts to contact the Americans, and then the second time in Hong Kong, contacting the Hong Kong legislative council member, after those several attempts all failed, I realized that escaping requires a long-term, very meticulous plan. And the fact that the previous attempts weren't discovered can really be attributed to luck. One reason is that I handled the follow-up very carefully and considered things quite thoroughly. Another is that I was indeed quite lucky. But luck is something you can't count on. You might get lucky the first few times, but the next time you try, your luck might run out, and it could all be over. The risk is enormous. So after considering the risks, I felt that since the previous attempts had failed, I should temporarily stop trying. After that, I no longer attempted it for the time being and waited for another opportunity. So I continued working for them, slowly building up trust. And later, I was sent abroad. At that time, there wasn't anything particularly dangerous involved. So I kept working that way, familiarizing myself with their repression system. At the same time, I also kept some insurance. I consciously prepared and stored certain things and materials. I always had this idea and a long-term plan. For example, when I was in Thailand studying, I was already thinking about it. I thought that after finishing my studies, I might have a plan to defect at that point, because I clearly understood my ideology. What were you studying in Thailand? I generally don't reveal those specific details. This was during the period when you were already working for state security, right? Yes. At that time, getting a student visa in Thailand was relatively cost-effective and offered good value for money. I already had a related plan at that point because I knew sooner or later I would have to break with them completely and tear off the mask. After all, in their eyes, my thinking, my politics, my ideology, using their terminology, was impure. I was never one of them. Sooner or later, we were bound to part ways. So I had this long-term plan. But some unexpected events accelerated it. For example, the V-Brigade incident drew attention in an investigation from Beijing, which caused some things to spiral beyond the control of the Chongqing authorities. At that time, they really thought your group was an armed resistance organization, right? They didn't know it was fake? At that time, they really wanted to arrest me. They somehow managed to investigate and trace it back to my identity. They were definitely going to arrest me. They may have issued a notice nationwide to hunt me down. When Chongqing received the message, they then had to explain the situation, and only then did Beijing understand the situation. Some people might wonder why Beijing didn't know about it. That's actually quite normal. Because in many cases, each provincial department is the main force behind secret operations. They have thousands of threads and countless lines of work. It's impossible for them to report every single project in detail up to Beijing. That's unrealistic. Many things are handled and directed at the local level. Only when something goes wrong down below do they realize it, and then perhaps report upward to explain to Beijing. So after this incident, I gradually felt that I was starting to lose trust within the system. For me, that situation was quite dangerous. I couldn't rule out the possibility that someone was secretly digging into my past, reviewing my old records, and investigating me covertly. What if they uncovered the truth about my earlier contact with the Americans? That would be extremely dangerous for me. I couldn't just sit and wait for them to investigate everything clearly and then come knocking on my door. So at that point, I had no choice but to bring forward the defection plan. That's why I eventually came to Australia. I still want to ask about your family background, if it's convenient to share. What kind of family were you born into? A worker cadre family. Right now, are your family members, parents, and so on still in China? I generally don't talk much about that. Anyway, I don't have much contact with them now. So what do you mainly devote yourself to these days? Is it your V-Brigade group or something else? Broadly speaking, aside from handling personal matters in terms of public and political engagement, broadly speaking, I devote myself to one big direction, ending the dictatorial rule of the Communist Party group.