US Calls on Chinese Regime to End Its 25-Year Persecution of Falun Gong

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller speaks during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington on July 24, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—The United States has called upon the Chinese communist regime to end its persecution of Falun Gong and release practitioners who have been detained for their beliefs.

The statement was made on July 20, marking the 25th anniversary of the start of the regime’s sweeping suppression of the spiritual practice, which has resulted in an untold number of practitioners being detained, tortured, and killed for their faith.

“We solemnly mark 25 years today since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began a campaign of repression against practitioners of Falun Gong,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, using the official name for the Chinese regime.

“For two and a half decades, PRC authorities have targeted Falun Gong practitioners and their families in a campaign of abuses and rights violations.”

The United States will continue to speak out for freedom of belief and hold human rights abusers accountable, the spokesman said.

“We call upon the PRC to cease its repressive campaign and release all who have been imprisoned for their beliefs,” Mr. Miller said.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice rooted in traditional Chinese beliefs in the divine. The practice includes moral teachings centered on the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance, and a set of meditative exercises.

The practice quickly gained popularity in China after its introduction in 1992, with an estimated 70 million to 100 million people taking up the practice by the end of the decade. Deeming that popularity a threat to its authoritarian control, the communist regime unleashed a whole-of-society campaign aimed at eliminating the faith group.

Falun Gong practitioners in China have suffered detention, brainwashing, torture, and forced organ harvesting. An untold number have perished.

In 2019, an independent people’s tribunal concluded beyond reasonable doubt that Chinese authorities had been killing prisoners of conscience for their organs “on a significant scale,” with Falun Gong practitioners as the main source of organs.

U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain joined in supporting the spiritual group.

“For 25 years, the PRC has repressed and abused practitioners of Falun Gong—a peaceful meditation practice—because of their beliefs,” he said in a post on X.

“We stand in solidarity with the Falun Gong community in the PRC and around the world.”

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a group representing lawmakers from various countries, said the anniversary marked “a quarter of a century of protracted and profound suffering.”

“No minority, irrespective of their beliefs, deserves to be stripped of fundamental rights,” the group said in a statement on X.

“We call upon our governments to insist that Beijing immediately cease their persecution of religious minorities, and uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which China is a signatory.”

Miriam Lexmann, a member of the European Parliament and of the IPAC, said the group will continue to stand with and defend Falun Gong.

“We will not stand idly by as the CCP continues to violate all fundamental human rights,” she said on X, using the acronym for the Chinese Communist Party.

Ahead of July 20, U.S. lawmakers from both parties condemned communist China’s gross human rights abuses, while saluting Falun Gong practitioners’ efforts to counter the persecution.

The House of Representatives in June approved a measure to sanction those involved in Beijing’s forced organ harvesting and called for an end to the persecution.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who sponsored the legislation, stood in solidarity with practitioners.

“I want to let you know that I stand with you, and the United States stands with you, and we want to offer a light of hope to all of those who are persecuted—the long suffering of the Falun Gong—and to let you know that hope is alive,” he said in a statement.

Another co-sponsor, Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), recently told a rally in Washington that “the United States, in a bipartisan way, stands with Falun Gong.”

Recognizing the anniversary in a post on X on July 20, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) said she “will always stand for religious liberty and human rights against oppressive regimes like the CCP.”

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) said the communist regime’s actions can’t continue.

“Day in and day out, we see the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal persecution of religious communities who seek nothing more than to freely practice their religion and express themselves. This repression must end,” he said in a statement.

“The Chinese dictatorship’s oppression of Falun Gong and other religious groups is a stain on their country.”

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) has met with Falun Gong practitioners and heard the stories of repression they or their families experienced in China. He wrote in a letter that he has “unwavering support” for their advocacy.

“Finally, I hope that this will be the year in which we see significant progress in your cause and improvements of the human rights situation in China,” he wrote.

Catherine Yang contributed to this report.