Former U.S. Ambassador: Take Multiple Measures to Stop the CCP’s Transnational Repression of Shen Yun

Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback (Samira Bouaou/The Dajiyuan)

[People News] Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback told The Dajiyuan that the United States needs to employ multiple approaches—including exposure, investigation, prosecution, legislation, and diplomacy—to stop the Chinese Communist Party’s transnational repression of Shen Yun Performing Arts and Falun Gong.

U.S. prosecutors and the FBI need to open cases and prosecute

According to reporter Li Chen in Washington, D.C., regarding the CCP’s escalating persecution of Shen Yun Performing Arts and Falun Gong in the United States, Brownback told the reporter, “We need to use a variety of means to confront the issue of (CCP) transnational repression head-on—such as attacks on others, stalking, using drones to surveil them, and so on.”

According to the Falun Dafa Information Center’s latest update on November 25, 2025, since March 2024, the total number of anonymous death threats targeting or impersonating Falun Gong practitioners has reached 198.

These threats have included bomb threats, shootings, arson, and more. Many were aimed at Shen Yun Performing Arts, Falun Gong practitioners, and The Dajiyuan, and some targeted public officials or individuals who support Falun Gong.

The CCP has also used drones to surveil the Shen Yun campus where performers are trained and Longquan Temple, Shen Yun’s headquarters in New York.

According to Shen Yun campus staff and nearby residents, the drones surveilling Shen Yun are not toys—they are about two feet wide and appear to be a type used by professional videographers, costing several thousand dollars. These small drones can fly slowly and carry high-performance cameras capable of capturing close-up, detailed images and videos sufficient to identify individuals.

As for the CCP’s weaponization of the U.S. legal and media systems to launch “lawfare” and “media warfare” against Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts, Ambassador Brownback said these malicious activities must be exposed, investigated, and stopped.

He said, “If the legal system is being abused, or the media system is being abused, then these things need to be exposed and stopped. And we need to investigate these issues.”

At the end of 2022, CCP leader Xi Jinping instructed top officials to “use the U.S. legal system” to attack Falun Gong and simultaneously launched a disinformation campaign. Subsequently, CCP agents in the U.S. attempted to bribe an IRS employee in an effort to revoke Shen Yun’s nonprofit status.

In 2023, New Yorker Alex Scilla filed a baseless environmental lawsuit against Shen Yun’s headquarters at Longquan Temple. A federal judge in New York dismissed the lawsuit, finding his accusations groundless, and barred him from further appeals. Scilla has sued Longquan Temple at least four times.

Scilla also used drones to surveil Falun Gong practitioners at Longquan Temple. The Dajiyuan previously interviewed two residents in the community who confirmed that between January and May 2020, they saw a drone at least four times flying from a property near the Shen Yun campus. That property is owned by a neighbor who joined Scilla’s lawsuit. Although the interviewees could not capture the exact moment of takeoff each time, they saw the drone in the air over the Shen Yun campus and then landing on the property. One witness recognized Scilla as the drone operator in several photographs.

Brownback said, “Our country’s judicial system needs to investigate our legal system and investigate these issues. We should not allow our system to be turned against us to persecute American freedoms.”

Brownback called on U.S. prosecutors and the FBI to open cases and prosecute CCP transnational repression of Falun Gong and Shen Yun.

He said, “These matters truly deserve more attention—the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI should both take these issues more seriously. These agencies should launch investigations and bring charges when they can.”

Congress needs to pass new legislation to systematically address CCP transnational repression

Brownback stated that the U.S. Congress needs to pass new laws to comprehensively address the CCP’s transnational repression.

He said, “We need to pass new laws targeting transnational repression. Congress is reviewing such legislation, and we clearly need to use these tools.”

The U.S. Capitol with the national flag flying. (Li Chen/The Dajiyuan)

Among the bills under review in Congress, at least two can be directly applied to countering CCP transnational repression.

On July 31, 2025, bipartisan members of the House and Senate jointly introduced the Transnational Repression Policy Act (H.R.4829, S.2525) to counter the CCP’s escalating transnational repression.

Pictured from left to right: Republican Congressman Chris Smith, Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC); Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, Chair of the CECC; Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern, CECC Commissioner. (The Dajiyuan)

On September 18, 2024, Senator Jeff Merkley (D–Oregon) spoke at a congressional hearing regarding Americans detained in China. (Chen Lei/The Dajiyuan)

Co-sponsors of the bill include: Republican Senator Dan Sullivan (CECC Chair), Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, Republican Congressman Chris Smith (CECC Co-Chair), and Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern (CECC Commissioner).

On March 14, 2025, Representative August Pfluger, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, introduced the Countering Transnational Repression Act of 2025. Under this bill, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would establish a dedicated office for transnational repression to ensure that the federal government identifies, assesses, and combats threats posed by foreign authoritarian regimes or government agents against U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Brownback said, “I think it would be very helpful for Congress to conduct a systematic study of how all these acts of (CCP) transnational repression are happening. That way we can get a full picture, understand how they are being carried out, and then break down each part for study. That would be very beneficial.”

He added, “During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the U.S. did not have this problem of (CCP-like) transnational repression because our economies and societies were not so integrated. The Soviet Union was over there; America was here. The economies were not intertwined.”

“Today, the U.S. and Chinese economies are highly intertwined, and in the hybrid warfare we are now facing, that integration is being torn apart.”

“We must respond with new tools, which is why I believe Congress needs to pass anti-transnational-repression legislation to give the government corresponding tools to counter it,” he said.

Economic sanctions and diplomatic measures

Brownback said the United States also needs to impose economic sanctions and take diplomatic measures to counter CCP transnational repression.

He said, “These issues need to be raised diplomatically. But you know, unless you hurt the CCP’s wallet or threaten its power, the CCP won’t respond.”

“We have to hit the CCP where it cares—one of those two things has to be targeted.” △