US Department of State Sanctions Two CCP Officials Responsible for Persecuting Falun Gong

Two top Chinese Communist Party officials, Deputy Director Tang Yong and former Party Secretary Wu Yingjie, were among the 65 individuals and entities sanctioned by the United States Department of State on December 9, 2022 for engaging in corruption and human rights abuses, one day before United Nation’s Human Rights Day.

Tang Yong— Former Deputy Director of the Chongqing Area Prisons

Tang Yong (Tang) was sanctioned “pursuant to Section 7031(c), the Department of State is designating Tang for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners, which also amount to particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” [1]

Tang is now designated as a gross human rights violator, which bars him and his immediate family from entering the United States.

Wu Yingjie— Former Party Secretary of Tibetan Autonomous Region (2016-2021)

During Wu’s tenure as Party Secretary, Falun Gong practitioners in the region were severely persecuted for their belief. Wu Yingjie was listed as a key perpetrator in several cases published on Minghui. [2] [3] The State Department did not explicitly sanction him for the persecution of Falun Gong, but Wu was the head responsible for of Tibet, so he can be seen as responsible for FG cases during his tenure.

“We applaud the U.S. sanction of the CCP official who is involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and we encourage others in the international community to follow this lead,” Erping Zhang, a spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center, said following the U.S. action.

This is the second time the Biden administration U.S. Department of State has sanctioned a CCP official for gross violations of human rights against Falun Gong. They sanctioned Yu Hui, former Office Director of the so-called “Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions” of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, under section 7031(c) last year.​

On Human Rights Day in 2020, the DOS designated 17 foreign officials and their immediate family members as human rights violators, including Huang Yuanxiong from the Wucun Police Station of the Xiamen Public Security Bureau, Fujian Province. 

“Huang is associated with particularly severe violations of religious freedom of Falun Gong practitioners, namely his involvement in the detention and interrogation of Falun Gong practitioners for practicing their beliefs,” the DOS stated in 2020. The sanctions against Huang also applied to his spouse. 

“The world cannot stand idly by as the PRC government perpetrates horrific and systematic abuses against people in China, including violating the internationally recognized right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief,” emphasized the DOS press release. 

Based on an original Minghui.org article.