Activists, Falun Gong Practitioners Demand CCP Leader End Human Rights Abuses

Falun Gong practitioners hold up a banner calling on the Chinese regime to end its state-sanctioned practice of forced organ harvesting, in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023. Zhou Rong/The Epoch Times

SAN FRANCISCO—The arrival of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping for a high-stakes meeting with his American counterpart has turned the Golden State into a beacon for protests.

Dozens of activists and Falun Gong practitioners on Nov. 14 gathered near the Moscone Center, the venue where many Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings are being held, calling for an end to human rights abuses in China.

In front of San Francisco’s St. Regis hotel, where Mr. Xi will be staying through the week, several Chinese petitioners briefly got into a shouting match with throngs of red-capped, communist flag-waving Beijing supporters, with chants of “Welcome” and “Give me back my property!” heard in turn.

“They were paid to be here,” Qiao Jie, a petitioner from central China’s Wuhan city, said about the pro-Beijing supporters in an interview with NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

Another petitioner, Jin Yuehua, told NTD that she was a victim of land expropriation. Originally from Shanghai, Ms. Jin said she had been seeking redress since Chinese authorities seized her properties 23 years ago. Instead of helping Ms. Jin with her grievances, Chinese authorities decided to silence and persecute her.

“They threw me into a hospital, poisoned me, and injected me with poisonous drugs. They nearly killed me. I had no choice but to escape to the United States,” said Ms. Jin, who made the long trip from New York so that she could seek justice from Mr. Xi.

The CCP leader, who arrived in San Francisco on Nov. 14, is scheduled to meet President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the APEC summit on Nov. 15. It marks their first meeting in a year, since the pair met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Reports stated that the two leaders will meet at Filoli, a historic country estate about 25 miles south of San Francisco. However, when asked on Nov. 14, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to confirm the location.

Cruz Fairfield in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023. Eva Fu/The Epoch Times

Cruz Fairfield, 18, from Central Valley, California, came to San Francisco to raise awareness, holding a sign with the words “China has concentration camps” and a drawing of a Uyghur woman with a red hand over her mouth, representing the suppression of the Uyghur people by the communist regime.

“I’m just here to spread awareness. And I hope when people see this, being that it is an economic summit, they think, ‘I don’t want to buy Chinese-made products,’” Mr. Fairfield told The Epoch Times.

“It’s not right that you should be born in captivity, like some animal, and be medically tested upon and kept there and brainwashed and taught to hate people that look like you.”

Mr. Fairfield said he wants people to know that “China has a dictator.”

The U.S. government has formally declared China’s treatment of Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang as “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” More than 1 million Uyghurs are locked up in internment camps, where detainees are subjected to forced labor, torture, political indoctrination, forced abortion, and other inhuman treatments.

‘Stop the Persecution’

Many Falun Gong practitioners of the San Francisco Bay Area had a simple message: Their spiritual practice is good for everyone and the world, and the CCP has absolutely no justification for its 24-year persecution of the faith.

“My message to Xi Jinping is stop the persecution,” Asaf Markovitz from Israel told The Epoch Times. “Why persecute people for being good people?”

Asaf Markovitz in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023. Eva Fu/The Epoch Times

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline involving meditative exercises and moral teachings based on three core principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The practice gained popularity in China during the 1990s, with 70 million to 100 million adherents by the end of the decade, according to official estimates at the time. The Chinese regime had initially supported the practice, but in 1999, it changed its tune and launched a brutal campaign to eradicate it.

For 24 years, millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained inside prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. Many have become victims of China’s state-sanctioned practice of live organ harvesting, with their vital organs extracted by Chinese hospitals to fuel a booming organ transplantation industry in China.

Ahead of the Biden–Xi meeting, the center issued a statement requesting the “immediate release” of all Falun Gong practitioners in China, including 10 who have family members in the United States. One of the 10 practitioners is Zhou Deyong, whose wife and son currently reside in Florida. In April, Mr. Zhou was sentenced to an eight-year jail term.

Mr. Zhou is one of 40 people on a list of political prisoners that the Congressional-Executive Commission on China has prepared for President Biden, asking him to hand the list to Mr. Xi when the two meet on Nov. 15. Others on the list include Chinese human rights lawyers, Uyghurs, Hongkongers, Tibetans, and Christians.

Dean Tsaggaris, an engineer from Silicon Valley, told NTD that the human rights situation in China has an impact on the world.

“If people inside China cannot practice truth, compassion, [and] forbearance freely, that doesn’t show that the future [of the country] is going to be very good,” Mr. Tsaggaris said. “So I think the people of the world should care because these are principles that are universal; they relate to all people. And if we can change the situation in China, then I think that will impact the whole world for the better.”

‘Take Firm Action’

Also taking part in the Nov. 14 protest was Jenny Zhang, who started practicing Falun Gong in 1994 and left China for the United States in 2012. In an interview with The Epoch Times, she recalled how her mother was persecuted before leaving China.

Ms. Zhang said her mother, a college professor, had experienced torture while in police custody. Later, her mother was forced to retire from the college, and her retirement pension was withheld—a policy of the Chinese regime to intentionally deprive Falun Gong practitioners of their sources of income.

She had a message for those so-called Chinese patriots welcoming Mr. Xi to San Francisco: “Go read the ’Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,' published by The Epoch Times.

“If you go read it, you will know the Chinese regime has hurt countless numbers of Chinese people during its reign. You will know that the regime has never truly cared about its people.”

Jenny Zhang in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023. Eva Fu/The Epoch Times

Abraham Thompson, a senior manager for a construction company who lives in San Jose, called on the Biden administration to take action.

“My message to the Biden administration is to take action, take firm action, and speak strongly about freedom and human rights with the Chinese government,” Mr. Thompson told NTD.

“The persecution of Falun Gong has gone on for over 24 years. It’s just as savage and brutal as it’s ever been, taking innocent people, putting them in labor camps, and torturing them for their beliefs. We can’t stand for this, and the Biden administration should take action and speak strongly about this. This is a priority number one, in my opinion.”