Think Tank Expert: Two Major Measures to Counter the CCP’s Transnational Repression

On September 25, 2024, Michael Sobolik, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and Indo-Pacific Studies Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC), speaks at the China Forum in Washington, D.C. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Dajiyuan English Edition)

[People News] Michael Sobolik, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., told The Dajiyuan on November 5 that the United States should take strong countermeasures against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) suppression of Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts in America—such as expelling CCP diplomats and prosecuting CCP agents.

The CCP Seeks to Eliminate Dissenting Voices Worldwide

Sobolik stated in an interview that the CCP’s repression of Falun Gong and other religious groups aims to silence them.

He said, “The Chinese Communist Party tries to silence those individuals and groups it feels most threatened by. The CCP is an atheistic political organization, so any faith in God—any belief in a higher power outside the CCP or Xi Jinping—threatens it.

“For any genuine believers whose faith the CCP cannot control, it will attempt to silence or even eliminate them.

“The CCP recently imprisoned Pastor Ezra Jin. You can see its persecution of Uyghurs, its persecution of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, such as the persecution of Uyghur Rushan Abbas’s family.

“And for decades, Falun Gong practitioners have also suffered persecution,” he said.

In July 1999, then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin launched the campaign to eradicate Falun Gong, implementing genocidal policies such as “ruin their reputations, cut them off financially, destroy them physically” and “beating them to death is nothing, if beaten to death, count it as suicide.” This illegal persecution has continued for 26 years to this day.

Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback stated on October 28, 2025, at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s “China Forum” in Washington, D.C., that “the persecution of Falun Gong is the most severe.”

Over 26 years, the number of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death has continued to grow.

Zhang Fengxia, a Falun Gong practitioner from Saertu District, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, was abducted by local police on August 11, 2025. On August 17, seven days after being detained, she was persecuted to death at Daqing No. 2 Detention Center at age 52.

Sobolik continued, “This (religious persecution) is not limited to inside China—it is global, because the CCP tries to control all speech about itself worldwide and suppresses religious groups it deems threatening.”

The CCP has exported its persecution of Falun Gong to the United States and around the world, aiming to eradicate Falun Gong globally. Earlier, renowned legal scholar and former Peking University law professor Yuan Hongbing told The Dajiyuan that in 2022, Xi Jinping ordered an escalation of the transnational persecution of Falun Gong, mainly through ‘public opinion warfare’ and ‘lawfare.’

According to the latest statistics from the Falun Dafa Information Center, from March 2024 to October 16, 2025, there have been 193 anonymous death threats targeting Falun Gong practitioners or impersonating them. Many occurred in the United States and targeted Shen Yun Performing Arts. The Falun Dafa Information Center stated that although no violent incidents have occurred, these threats reveal ongoing intimidation and smear attempts against Falun Gong.

Founded in New York in 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts is dedicated to reviving traditional Chinese culture and “presenting China before communism.” Each year, Shen Yun tours globally, bringing pure, truthful, and beautiful performances to millions of viewers—terrifying the CCP. For years, it has been a prime target of CCP attacks.

Regarding these violent threats by the CCP against Falun Gong, Shen Yun, and other groups, Sobolik told The Dajiyuan that the United States should respond strongly at both the diplomatic and law-enforcement levels to the CCP’s acts of transnational repression.

He said, “I believe policymakers should set higher standards for diplomatic conduct and for what happens within the United States regarding CCP transnational repression.

“We (the United States) have not taken the issue of transnational repression seriously enough—we must take it seriously.”

Expel CCP Diplomats Involved in Transnational Repression

Sobolik said, “We need to set a standard: if you are on U.S. soil and enjoy certain protections, no foreign government should try to deprive anyone in the United States of those rights.

“If diplomats participate in transnational repression, we should expel them. Any diplomat who tries to threaten American citizens should not remain in the United States.

“If CCP diplomats are involved in transnational repression, we should send them back to China.”

Prosecute CCP Agents Involved in Transnational Repression

Regarding agents assisting the CCP’s transnational repression inside the U.S., Sobolik said their actions are illegal and should be investigated and prosecuted.

He said, “Title 18 of the United States Code contains many enforceable provisions that the Department of Justice (DOJ) should especially prioritize. Under Title 18, depriving others of rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution is a crime. So, if CCP agents engage in such acts, they have likely violated U.S. law.

“I think we should take these cases seriously, investigate, and prosecute when necessary.”

Sobolik stated that the CCP’s transnational repression violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, whose core protects fundamental freedoms—especially of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition—and is regarded as a cornerstone of American democracy and the rule of law.

Sobolik said, “As an American, to have religious freedom means that here in the United States, one can freely practice their faith, follow their conscience, and live freely without fear of threats from anyone.

“Any attempt by a foreign government to strip people within our borders of their freedom of speech or religion violates the American spirit. This truly threatens America’s core principles.”

The DOJ and FBI Can Play a Greater Role

Sobolik said, “Many acts of transnational repression are, in fact, illegal under U.S. law. The problem is, we haven’t done a good job enforcing those laws. I think the Department of Justice should play a greater role in combating transnational repression. This is not only a diplomatic issue for the State Department—it is a law enforcement issue. Therefore, the DOJ and FBI can play bigger roles.”

In recent years, the DOJ and FBI have uncovered several cases of the CCP’s transnational repression. But experts note these are only the tip of the iceberg.

On November 19, 2024, 71-year-old pro-CCP “community leader” John Chen in California was sentenced to 20 months in prison by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The federal indictment charged that between January and May 2023, Chen and his bodyguard, acting under CCP government instructions, furthered plans to suppress and harass Falun Gong practitioners in the U.S. They manipulated an IRS whistleblower program, seeking to revoke Shen Yun Performing Arts’ nonprofit status, bribed an undercover FBI agent posing as an IRS official, and promised to split the reward afterward.

In recorded calls, Chen explicitly stated that the bribe’s purpose was to achieve the CCP’s goal of “overthrowing Falun Gong.”

On April 17, 2024, U.S. citizens Lu Jianwang (Harry Lu) and Chen Jinping were arrested by the FBI in New York City.

The DOJ stated the two worked with China’s Ministry of Public Security to establish the first overseas “police station” in the United States.

According to the indictment, since at least 2015 they had assisted the CCP regime in harassing Falun Gong protesters in Washington, D.C., and locating individuals of interest to Beijing.

Investigations showed Lu Jianwang had “maintained a relationship of trust” with the CCP government—particularly with the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the United Front Work Department (UFWD). The MPS and the “610 Office,” which persecutes Falun Gong, repeatedly directed Lu to disrupt Falun Gong activities, collect practitioners’ information, and publish anti-Falun Gong articles.

Sobolik commented that the CCP’s establishment of transnational “police stations” in the U.S. is “simply absurd.”

He said, “The U.S. government still has much to expose—for example, the CCP’s operating methods for setting up these ‘police stations’ and its covert actions.”

“We must send a clear message to the world: the United States will never tolerate such behavior of transnational repression—it is absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

(Reported by Li Chen, Washington, D.C., The Dajiyuan)
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