The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has launched a new wave of transnational repression on U.S. soil. This time, it’s targeting the Falun Gong religious group. |
Based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, Falun Gong teaches practitioners to improve their moral character. The faith, which includes a set of meditative exercises, is rooted in traditional Chinese culture and does not align with communist ideology. |
In 1999, the CCP launched a nationwide persecution when it perceived Falun Gong as a threat to the Party’s control of the Chinese populace. Before the persecution, an estimated 70 million to 100 million people, a significant portion of China’s mainstream society, had taken up the spiritual practice. |
An untold number of practitioners in China have been killed, tortured, or harassed as a result of the sweeping campaign. The efforts to target Falun Gong have also extended far beyond China’s boundaries, reaching the shores of free societies like America. |
The Epoch Times has learned that, at a secret meeting in October 2022, Party leader Xi Jinping instructed top state security officials to intensify attacks on Falun Gong practitioners in the United States. The conclave occurred right before the 20th National Congress, which saw Xi secure an unprecedented third term as Party leader. |
Xi’s instructions, which have not been previously reported, focused on launching disinformation campaigns via social media influencers and Western media outlets and using the American legal system to go after companies started by Falun Gong practitioners. |
Details of the secret gathering were provided by Yuan Hongbing, a Chinese legal scholar living in exile in Australia who has maintained connections within China’s top political circles. His account is based on information he received from two sources: an individual from a veteran CCP family who now opposes Xi and an insider with knowledge speaking out for reasons of conscience. |
The meeting convened top leaders overseeing political, intelligence, and influence operations, according to Yuan. |
Yuan said one of the main reasons Xi deemed international efforts against Falun Gong to be a failure was the growth of media organizations started by Falun Gong practitioners. The Party leader considered that the media outlets, both the Chinese and English versions, had become the main “hostile force” against the CCP. |
Media founded by Falun Gong practitioners include The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD), which began in the early 2000s in Chinese and is now in many languages with branches worldwide. |
On top of that, Xi considered the existing CCP suppression tactics against Falun Gong as too “reserved, conservative, and not creative enough.” While the country had poured significant resources toward the effort, a large portion of that, upon disciplinary inspection, turned out to be wasted through corruption. |
To reverse the perceived failure, Xi sought to pivot the Party’s persecution strategy. |
He told the attendees to start “cultivating anti-Falun Gong forces afresh.” He also wanted an evaluation of existing overseas staff responsible for targeting Falun Gong and purges for underperformance. |
Xi told the senior officials present to focus on attacking the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, and Mr. Li’s wife via public opinion and legal warfare. Both are communist tactics that seek to use disinformation and the legal system to target an adversary, respectively. |
The communist leader designated the Ministry of Public Security, with its roughly 2 million law enforcement officers, to be in charge of persecution efforts in China. |
Meanwhile, the Ministry of State Security, China’s top spy agency, was tasked with attacking Falun Gong overseas. The United Front Work Department, the CCP overseas influence operation arm, and the relevant department from the foreign affairs ministry would play a supporting role. |
The new strategies appear to have quickly led to an escalation in the long-running operation against Falun Gong practitioners abroad. |
In 2023, the FBI arrested two CCP agents who operated a secret police station in Manhattan under the cover of a pro-Chinese civil organization. |
Dozens of social media accounts have sprung up, specifically targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts. This classical Chinese dance and music company, founded by Falun Gong practitioners, depicts traditional China as it existed before communism. |
In September and November, U.S. authorities sentenced two Chinese agents who conspired to bribe an Internal Revenue Service agent with $50,000 to open an audit into Shen Yun. The money was obtained from CCP officials during trips to China. |
The Western press has long been used in propaganda wars by communist countries. |
The New York Times has launched several attack pieces targeting Shen Yun. The latest piece attempted to smear Shen Yun by misrepresenting a practicum program that allows a limited number of talented students at two affiliated religious arts schools, Fei Tian Academy and Fei Tian College, to tour with Shen Yun. The publication of its recent articles coincided with the launch of a civil lawsuit filed by a former student alleging labor violations. |
The escalating transnational repression against Falun Gong has alarmed U.S. lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). |
He sponsored the Falun Gong Protection Act, which was passed by the House and now sits with the Senate. The bill aims to hold the CCP accountable for killing Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience for their organs. |
“The Communist Party of China is essentially a criminal organization running a country,” Perry told The Epoch Times, adding that since the United States doesn’t allow criminal organizations to use government systems to persecute adversaries or violate fundamental human rights, “we certainly shouldn’t let the CCP do it either.” |
By Eva Fu and Terri Wu |
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To dig deeper into the subject, read the following original reporting by our journalists: | |
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