Dear Reader,

EVEN CHINESE STUDENTS ABROAD ARE NOT SPARED from the Chinese regime’s plans to sway public opinion and harass Falun Gong practitioners around the world. In fact, over 3,000 Chinese students in the Ottawa, Quebec and Toronto area were paid $150,000 and pressured by the local embassies to clear out Falun Gong protesters from Capitol Hill before Hu Jintao’s arrival in 2010. These tactics were among those uncovered in a recent ground-breaking report by the French Ministry of Armed Forces.

Today’s collection of articles detail these pervasive overseas influence operations by the Chinese Communist Party in Argentina, Lithuania, Germany, Canada and more. Additionally, nearly 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners in China have been reportedly sentenced for their faith in 2021. 

Lastly, we provide a succinct video overview of the recent corruption scandals inside the 610 Office, “China’s Gestapo”.

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

French Ministry of Armed Forces: CCP’s Extensive Overseas Influence Operations Target Falun Gong

“Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian Moment” is a 646-page report by the French Military School Strategic Research Institute, which details the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration and influence of international governments through overseas Chinese, media, diplomacy, economy, politics, education, think tanks, and culture. According to the report, the CCP’s first goal is silencing overseas Chinese, including dissidents with different opinions and those who grew up in the free world.

The report also highlights 79 instances of the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. These includes concrete examples of how the CCP bought off overseas Chinese media and Chinese organizations to spread fake information that demonizes Falun Gong and incites hatred. 

Evidence #1: The 610 “Gestapo” Office has 15,000 agents stationed globally, both inside and outside China. Their sole mission is to eradicate Falun Gong.
Evidence #2: In 2020, El Cronista Comercial, Diario Popular, and online platform Infobae were paid by a 610 Office agent to publish anti-Falun Gong propaganda in Argentina. This is only one of scores of incidents where the CCP attempted to pay foreign journalists to run their propaganda.
Evidence #3: In 2010, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa paid over 3,000 Chinese students to welcome Hu Jintao to Canada by battling and defending “the motherland’s reputation” against Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans and Uyghurs who may protest at Capitol Hill.

Make no mistake about it, the Chinese regime’s global stake in influence operations is strategic and sure because these tactics have already succeeded in China. For the past 23 years, misinformation and repeated propaganda have given Beijing the perfect excuse to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in broad daylight. The CCP wishes to implement this Orwellian norm in Hong Kong too.

A reign of terror began in Hong Kong—the once-vibrant international city—after the implementation of China’s National Security Law last year. The law is harsh and vaguely defined, carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Watch how the National Security Law alters the lives of Falun Gong practitioner and independent journalist Sarah Liang in Hong Kong today.

OVERALL PERSECUTION TREND

A total of 928 sentencing cases have been reported to Minghui between January and September 2021, averaging 103 cases per month. Due to strict censorship in China, reports may be delayed or incomplete. A case in point: the 101 sentencing reports received in September include 78 cases from August and September, 5 cases from July, 16 cases from the first half of 2021, and 2 cases from 2020.

In 2021, the Chinese regime redoubled efforts against families and senior citizens who practice Falun Gong. Mr. Li Guoqing, his wife and daughter were all arrested and sentenced 12, 10 and 7 years respectively for their faith. Mr. Wu Huaxin, an 82-year-old resident of Suzhou City, was sentenced to three months for attending the court trial of Falun Gong practitioners. To justify the elderly man’s arrest, officers ransacked his house and took a picture of him next to Falun Gong related materials.

CENSORSHIP VIA TECHNOLOGY

On September 21, Lithuania’s National Cyber Security Centre released an assessment of three phones available in the country made by China-based manufacturers—Huawei, Xiaomi, and OnePlus—and recommended consumers dispose of them “as fast as reasonably possible.” 

Lithuania’s Deputy Defence Minister Margiris Abukevicius “found that the blacklist for the filters contained only politically motivated terms.” The restricted terms included “CCP,” “Taiwan country,” “June 4 student movement,” “Falun Dafa,” and “Free Tibet.” Following Lithuania’s announcement, the Germany Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) also began a technical investigation into Xiaomi.

Officials From China’s ‘Gestapo’ Facing Corruption Investigation |
NTD Talking Points ft. Levi Browde from Falun Dafa Information Center

The 610 Office—the “Gestapo” of China—was created by former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin solely for persecuting Falun Gong. The director of the 610 Office oversees this extra-legal organization and commands the vast resources of the public security, state security, propaganda, and education ministries in China. Yet, it is precisely this director position that is known in China as the “death” position for a person’s political career in the Communist Party.

Former directors of the 610 Office were brought down during the “anti-corruption campaign” by current leader Xi Jinping. In this episode, we focus on Fu Zhenghua—who worked as the 610 director from 2015 to 2018—as well as Sun Lijun—who also worked in the 610 Office and was recently double-terminated from Party membership and his Party position. Before them, there was Zhou Yongkang, a notoriously powerful CCP Politburo member who once commanded the law enforcement system. And Li Dong Sheng and Peng Bo also served in the roles within the 610 Office.