The Global Litmus Test

Shen Yun Performing Arts World Company’s curtain call at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 17, 2023. Kim Guk-hwan/The Epoch Times

Commentary

These days, governments all over the world face an increasingly stark choice between aligning with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and having a real future.

It isn’t a choice between China and the United States. Neither is it some regular power struggle between two powerful countries, one the incumbent and one the challenger.

Would anyone really like to live in a world in which the CCP is the hegemon? Not only in which all the rights and freedoms we’re used to—freedom of faith, of expression, of speech, and so on—would be abolished, but also in which a culture of lies, viciousness, and endless struggle would permeate everywhere. In which the only loyalty would be to the regime and its ever-changing “truths,” and children would even rat out their parents for “wrong thoughts” and vice versa.

How many people are right now trying to enter the United States legally and illegally for a better future? How many are trying to enter China? Actually, the rich and powerful in China are sending their families and money abroad and trying to get foreign passports.

Of course, no man and no country is perfect, and all carry the burden of past wrongs in history, including this union of the United States. Yet more and more so in recent decades, Marxism has entered through the back door and is now striving for dominance here and in other Western countries, as evidenced by the support for Hamas immediately after the massacre it carried out on Oct. 7 from groups that have been “struggling against racism and oppression,” and many people have been duped. Actually, children are starting to rat out their parents for “wrong thoughts” here, too.

The real economic decoupling happening now between China and the world, and the ever-growing polarization of global alliances, makes it harder and harder for governments, businesses, and individuals to sit on the fence, “having a foot in two boats,” to paraphrase a Chinese proverb.

Governments can and do express their intentions through actions, not just words. It can be through positive defense alliances, such as AUKUS. Or it can be in the abandoning of negative alliances, such as Italy’s recent withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative, the faltering CCP infrastructure debt trap program. In my eyes, these are all positive developments.

The Korean Case

A recent Epoch Times investigation revealed that the Chinese Embassy in South Korea used financial and diplomatic leverage to pressure theaters not to host Shen Yun, a U.S.-based performing arts company.

Han Minho, the former director-general of South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, said in an interview that whether Shen Yun can ultimately perform in South Korea is a “litmus test” for “whether Korea is truly an ally to the United States.”

Shen Yun Performing Arts is dedicated to bringing back the beauty of authentic Chinese culture as it existed before communist rule.

According to the company’s website, Shen Yun’s artists, including dancers, musicians, and choreographers, draw their inspiration from the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which is rooted in traditional Chinese culture.

I agree with the former director-general that this is a litmus test—maybe the litmus test. Arms deals and economic deals have positives and negatives, with greed and power involved. But, as is being discovered in the United States and other Western cultures, the traditions of culture and universal values provide the basis for our way of life, and when these are undermined, the political and economic spheres become vulnerable.

So this is actually a distillation of the core difference between life under CCP rule and normal life. Being able to make a clear choice in this matter, backed by consistent actions, is a clear statement of one’s position.

Otherwise, why the enormous efforts by the CCP to block and defame Shen Yun—a cultural show that no one has to go to, attendance at which is a voluntary choice?

So since it’s a priority for the CCP, and an issue that goes to the core of the choice facing all governments, a positive decision to support or host Shen Yun would send the clearest signal to all those watching—from informed citizens to all the intelligence agencies, the U.S. government, and the CCP.

Editor’s note: The Epoch Times has been a media sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts since 2006.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.