US lawmakers condemn new transnational repression campaign against Falun Gong that spreads disinformation in Western media and co-opts the American legal system
In October 2022, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a secret meeting instructing top state officials—overseeing political, intelligence, and influence operations—on a new strategy to target the Falun Gong religious group internationally, The Epoch Times has learned.
At the core of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s new anti-Falun Gong strategy is 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 2022 secret meeting 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 from an insider with knowledge speaking out for reasons of conscience.
The meeting took place right before the 20th National Congress, which saw Xi secure an unprecedented third term as Party leader. Xi told officials at the meeting that the regime’s previous efforts to suppress Falun Gong overseas had essentially failed.
In the early ‘90s, Falun Gong was the fastest growing spiritual group in China. Based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, and meditative exercises, Falun Gong teaches practitioners to improve their moral character. In 1999, the CCP saw its growing popularity as a threat and launched a persecution campaign vowing to eliminate it. Since then, the group has been severely persecuted by the CCP, including through widespread forced organ harvesting.
Xi’s instructions, which have not been previously reported, appear to have quickly led to an escalation in the long-running operation against Falun Gong practitioners abroad—a campaign that has cast a shadow over the lives of those who’ve sought refuge in America and elsewhere.
By Eva Fu
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