CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong a ‘Top Priority’ Amid Renewed Focus on Safeguarding Political Power: Report

Falun Gong adherents gather at a candlelight vigil in memory of Falun Gong practitioners who passed away due to the Chinese Communist Party's ongoing 24-year persecution of the spiritual discipline, at the National Mall in Washington on July 20, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A new research report reveals that the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong has been a “top priority” for authorities since 2017 amid a renewed focus on maintaining political power.

According to a Chinese lawyer, this has made it more difficult for legal professionals to defend the victims compared to the early years when the regime first launched its persecution campaign against the spiritual practice.

“Amid a renewed Chinese Communist Party focus on safeguarding regime security, the crackdown on Falun Gong is cited as a top priority for the central leadership and local authorities as suggested by work reports, speeches, and directives from at least 12 provinces dated since 2017,” the Falun Dafa Information Center states in a press release on Dec. 6.

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 atheist communist regime, under then-Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, initiated a sweeping campaign on July 20, 1999, aimed at eradicating Falun Gong, as it perceived the growing number of adherents as a threat to its authoritarian control. Since then, millions have been detained in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated, according to the center.

‘Intensified Persecution’

Citing over 20 sources, “the violent campaign to eradicate Falun Gong is viewed within the party as a central component of the regime’s efforts to control the population, maintain political power, and retain ideological supremacy,” the press release reads.

The study notes that public acknowledgments by top security and judicial officials targeting Falun Gong, as recently as January 2023, stand out as a “departure from years of silence.” This shift is particularly notable given the ongoing persecution across the country.

“Such official rhetoric elevating Falun Gong as a target for repressive security operations has correlated to intensified persecution observed by the Falun Dafa Information Center since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, including large-scale arbitrary detention, torture, and deaths from abuse in custody,” the release reads.

Furthermore, “Maintaining its hold on power under the guise of upholding ‘national security’ has long been a hallmark of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule. Nevertheless, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, there has been a renewed focus on this effort and an elevation of its importance in the regime’s approach to governance, a trend that has further accelerated in recent years.”

Rights Lawyers Face More Challenges

Ming Tian (pseudonym), a human rights lawyer in mainland China, shared his firsthand experience with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Dec. 12.

Unlike the early stages of the nationwide persecution campaign, when lawyers faced various challenges but could still assist in the legal process, “very few lawyers can now get involved,” said Mr. Ming.

He explained that in the past, lawyers dealt with limitations, such as restricted meetings with clients and judges refusing to consider defense statements. However, at present, authorities make it difficult for lawyers to take on cases involving Falun Gong adherents.

“When law firms refuse to accept a case involving Falun Gong, lawyers can’t do anything about it,” he said.

According to Mr. Ming, the CCP employs covert strategies. First, it discreetly orders judicial authorities to issue unofficial notices to law firms, hindering lawyers from receiving case assignments and effectively handling legal proceedings. Second, even if lawyers complete the required procedures, judges ignore them by “neglecting to inform lawyers of court hearings and withholding crucial documents,” he said.

He pointed out that when efforts to obstruct lawyers fail, local authorities will refuse to acknowledge the status of a case. “Consequently, the number of lawyers who can actually take on Falun Gong cases is quite limited,” said Mr. Ming.

Falun Gong practitioners walk in a parade highlighting the Chinese regime's persecution of their faith, in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Oct. 15, 2023. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times

Public Plays a Role

“In my observation, the suppression of Falun Gong in China has been steadily intensifying over the years, with continually evolving methods,” said former mainland lawyer Lai Jianping.

It is the CCP’s “atheistic indoctrination and fabricated propaganda” within the “oppressive domestic environment” that caused the public to stay away from the Falun Gong issue. “This reluctance from the populace adds to the challenges faced by Falun Gong practitioners,” Mr. Lai told The Epoch Times.

He pointed out that the international community, especially the West, isn’t doing enough to hold the CCP accountable for the persecution despite evidence of forced organ harvesting among Falun Gong adherents.

“The international community has not fulfilled its responsibilities in this regard. To some extent, this issue [forced organ harvesting] is still being covered up, and that is very alarming,” Mr. Lai stated.

On Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, experts who attended a virtual conference hosted by the Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), a Washington-based medical ethics advocacy group, showed evidence that the Chinese regime has been secretly killing prisoners of conscience on a mass scale to supply its transplant industry.

That practice continues unabated to this day, panel participants noted, and the primary victims are detained adherents of Falun Gong.

‘CCP Will Soon Fall’

Li Yuanhua, a Chinese historian residing in Australia, said that when Falun Gong adherents and rights activists raise awareness of the brutality of the persecution campaign, it frightens the CCP because it also exposes the atrocities of the ruling party.

Moreover, the CCP’s fear is “primarily driven by the publication of the ‘Nine Commentaries,’” added Mr. Li.

The “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,“ an editorial series first published in the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times in 2004, exposes the CCP’s true nature. Furthermore, the series has triggered a grassroots movement—known as the ”Tuidang Movement“ or ”Quitting the CCP Movement"—in which over 423 million Chinese have withdrawn from the Communist Party and affiliated organizations, according to the U.S.-based Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP (“Tuidang Center”).

Mr. Li believes the movement could destabilize the regime.

“The reality is that China’s stock market continues to decline. The CCP is not only faced with an economic problem but also other serious issues at home and abroad, such as political infighting and international diplomacy. The CCP will soon fall from power.”

Haizhong Ning and Luo Ya contributed to this report.