Highlight: Two Incidents of Transnational Repression of Falun Gong - Falun Gong Bulletin Ep 5

International repression is when a government goes to another foreign country and suppresses its diaspora. Freedom House named the Chinese regime as one of the biggest perpetrators of this. They said the Chinese regime engages in the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign in the world, and among its targets are Falun Gong. We've seen this happen numerous times over the years. The most recent one was in New York City. It's unclear if this is transnational repression because there's no clear ties to the Chinese consulate, but it is transnational persecution. On February 18th and in the days prior, an individual named Zhongping Qi physically attacked Falun Gong volunteers at an informational booth in Flushing, Queens, which is in New York City. This individual actually has a history of verbally abusing Falun Gong volunteers and also cursing towards volunteers when he passes by the booth. This is the first time that he's physically assaulted an individual. Police arrested him and he was charged with third degree assault and taken to Queens County Criminal Court. And that wasn't the only the only recent incident of transnational repression. There was another one in Australia's capital. In Canberra, actually, on October 2022, Falun Gong practitioner Nancy Dong was attacked by a 30-year-old named Kang Zhao and two accomplices. At first, Kang approached her car and ripped off the sign on her hood, which read, the CCP does not equate to China, and end the evil CCP. Nancy, the Falun Gong practitioner, attempted to take her phone and she said, quote, this young man then grabbed my neck with his elbow, lifted me up, and threw me to the ground. He then started to kick and punch me. I almost fainted from the fall and I lost the ability to resist his attack. Nancy is an older practitioner. She was actually persecuted pretty severely within China for her belief in Falun Gong. She flees China, gets to Australia, where she's able to live in a free country and express her ideas and her beliefs freely, especially expressing the idea that the CCP does not equal China. She has personal experience with how evil the Chinese Communist Party is. After trying to deface her property and this sign, she picks this older woman up and slams her to the ground and then kicks and punches her in Australia. So I think we have to pause and understand, even if there's no direct evidence that the Chinese Communist Party paid this individual or something to go do this, there is evidence that they've done that internationally, but why is it that they're happening? Why is it that a 30-year-old man would pick up an elderly woman who's probably the age of his mother and slam her to the ground and kick and punch her? What kind of country produces men like that? What kind of mentality does it take for you to believe that is so normal and okay, and you have such hatred that you will go to a free country where it's clearly against the law and do that? What do we think is happening in China? Of course, if you watch the show, you know what's happening. But the fact that that person has been so indoctrinated with the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda campaign against Falun Gong and seen such violence that's just an okay part of their society against Falun Gong, where people are being beaten, defaced on TV, thrown into prisons and being killed, that that spills over internationally. And the same with the individual who was in the 70s that was assaulting people in New York City. And this is happening again and again. But we have to understand that this is a direct result of the Chinese Communist Party persecution campaign. And it doesn't just end in China. This is the scary part that these individuals are coming abroad and performing violence as a result of what the Chinese Communist Party is telling them and if they believe it or whatever. And so I think we just have to highlight how abnormal that is and that does not happen with other countries. I wanted to also mention the people that the Chinese Communist Party are producing and their ideas are also flowing. Most of, if not over 90% of the Chinese language newspapers in the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union are actually state-run media. Or directly financed and controlled somehow by the Chinese Communist Party. So like People's Daily, China Daily, all of those are mouthpieces, basically. Yeah, Xinhua, all that. Yeah. So they repeat the propaganda abroad. And so we've seen how they can make, you know, physical impact and actually... Yeah, they have real world consequences. Exactly. I think it's really interesting. Maybe you could share what she read in her impact statement, like how she was affected by this. Yeah, she said in court in early March this year that, quote, the violent attack that happened to me in public in Canberra is a shocking and horrifying experience. Five months have passed. My injured leg has not fully recovered. It still hurts and I even feel it hard to lift my leg. Back in China, I suffered from brutal persecution for practicing Falun Gong. I was arrested on many occasions. And during the last time, more than a dozen policemen broke into my home at midnight, seized our belongings, including cash, and took both me and my husband away. Our nine-year-old daughter was left alone at home with no one to take care of her. Because of not giving up my practice, I was illegally sentenced to the labor camp for one year and my husband for one and a half years. We were forced to do 12 to 14 hours of hard labor work a day, making plastic flowers, handmade products, lighters, etc. She said that Kang Zhao had injured her physically and mentally. When you talk to these victims or you hear from these victims, it's so traumatic, right? I mean, her experience, she's talking about the forced labor camps, hard labor that's still going on today or torture. And this obviously leaves a really deep physical and mental scars on practitioners and they have what you might call a PTSD, of course. So for you to be in a free country and have this happen is just so unacceptable and shocking. But I think what's really interesting about this is, despite her background and despite what happened to her, she also read another section, which I want to read out of court. And I think this really goes to show who are Falun Gong practitioners. We hear a lot about the persecution, but really deep down, what do they believe in and how do they act? And she said, However, if you can realize your wrongdoing and sincerely apologize, I will forgive you, because Falun Gong teaches me to practice truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance and treat all people with kindness and forgiveness under any circumstances. And then she goes on to say, I hope that you can understand that the CCP is not China. Please do not hurt others again in the name of patriotism and please respect others' freedom of expression. She was beaten. She has every right to be upset, have anger, but she chooses to have forgiveness. And she chooses to sort of have a lot of compassion for this person and say, you've obviously been fooled. You need to really understand the CCP is not China. And I think that's really incredible. It kind of shows in the worst circumstances that this person is really acting in her faith. Her faith believes in truthfulness, compassion, tolerance, and she's acting that way, even in this circumstance. I think it's pretty remarkable. Yeah, that she still has hope and optimism, even after all of that. These two incidents in New York and Australia actually are part of a larger trend, like we said earlier. In London, San Francisco, Houston, Australia, and South Africa, and other regions with any CCP influence or presence, these incidents are numerous over the past two decades. And so what's being done? One, like in these cases, the local police has helped and arrested and taken to court some of these suspects. Second, the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense have been involved with tracking down whether or not they have ties with the Chinese Communist Party. And also there's a bill that's been introduced in the United States called the Falun Gong Protection Act, and it hasn't gotten to the house yet. We'll also update with new developments if that does come up.