(Minghui.org) During a recent forum at the Asian Community Service Center in Annandale, Virginia, candidates running for congress met with voters and discussed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence on U.S. society, politics, and culture. During media interviews these candidates also condemned the CCP’s transnational repression of Shen Yun Performing Arts and Falun Gong (Falun Dafa). They recommended that legal and diplomatic means be enacted to hold the CCP accountable.
Falun Dafa Information Center: 171 Cases of Transnational Repression
Mark Yang from the Falun Dafa Information Center addressed the forum.
According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, as of August 28, 2025, there have been 171 documented cases of violence against Shen Yun and Falun Gong since April 2024. These threats directly targeted performing arts theaters and the campus where Shen Yun artists train. These include threats of bombings, shootings, and arson.
Although these violent incidents have not happened, they show the CCP’s continued attempts to threaten and defame Shen Yun as well as Falun Gong, explained Mark Yang from the Falun Dafa Information Center. He said such transnational repression is serious because it endangers, “America’s national security, sovereignty, and way of life.”
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is dedicated to reviving authentic Chinese culture through classical dance and music, and showcases “China before communism.” By touring the globe every year, Shen Yun brings pure, compassionate, and beautiful performances to millions of people, and has earned widespread acclaim. However, the company has been subject to persistent and malicious attacks from the CCP.
Yuan Hongbing, a well-known legal scholar and former professor of the Law Department of Beijing University, previously told The Epoch Times that CCP leader Xi Jinping ordered the escalation of the transnational persecution of Falun Gong in 2022, mainly through media and legal warfare.
Data from the Falun Dafa Information Center shows that since March 2024, The New York Times published 12 articles attacking Falun Gong and Shen Yun. These articles were widely forwarded on social media platform X by programs controlled by the CCP.
Young said that the CCP’s transnational repression through media warfare and legal warfare shows that it utilizes “our own systems and institutions to undermine our First Amendment freedoms, and also to silence critics that ever dare to challenge its abuses.”
He pointed out that as the repression escalates, many groups in the United States continue to live “under constant pressure from the CCP.” They include Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Chinese human rights activists, and the broader Chinese community.
Republican Candidate: Counter the CCP Threat with Strength
Republican congressional candidate Stuart Whitson addressed the forum on August 31.
Stewart Whitson, a Republican congressional candidate from Virginia and a retired U.S. Army officer and former FBI agent, emphasized in his speech that the threat from China is the greatest national security challenge facing the United States.
“We finally have strength, and so that is the key. If you want to stand up to an adversary like China, you do it through strength, period,” he explained.
In an interview with the media, Whitson said that the CCP not only steals intellectual property, but also harms people overseas. As a Catholic, he noticed the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, and he felt deep sympathy and concern for all religious groups persecuted by the CCP in China.
At the same time, he called on the United States to severely fight back against the CCP’s transnational repression in the United States. Whitson pointed that bringing this threat to the United States and threatening American people is absolutely intolerable, and we must take action.
Democratic Candidate: Prosecute the Perpetrators and Include Them in Diplomatic Negotiations
Democratic congressional candidate James Walkenshaw
James Walkenshaw, a Democratic congressional candidate from Virginia, said that the CCP’s transnational suppression of Shen Yun and Falun Gong is real, and it is happening in our community and across the United States. He served as chief of staff to the late Congressman Gerry Connolly for more than a decade.
In response to an audience member’s question about how to deal with the CCP’s legal and media warfare that suppressed Falun Gong and Shen Yun in the United States, Walkenshaw suggested filing a lawsuit against the perpetrators.
He explained that this is a powerful tool to identify individuals acting in the United States on behalf of foreign governments. When they violate the law, they should be dealt with accordingly.
Every American citizen and resident here deserves the protections of the law. In addition to equipping the FBI and intelligence agencies to identify these instances, we should use technology, tactics, and tools to counter them, and when possible, prosecute the offenders, he added.
Walkenshaw also suggested incorporating the issue of the CCP’s transnational suppression of Falun Gong and Shen Yun into U.S.-China diplomatic negotiations. Transnational repression must be part of the diplomatic strategy in diplomatic engagement with the CCP, he said in an interview.
When discussing military-to-military relations, trade issues, and Indo-Pacific affairs, he said we must include the CCP’s persecution and transnational repression on the agenda to drive progress and reach agreements. If the CCP refuses to stop these actions, we need to propose further punitive measures and engage in tough dialogue.
Background: Virginia Congressional By-election
Virginia will hold a congressional by-election in early September following the sudden death of Virginia Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly in May 2025. Democratic candidate James Walkenshaw and Republican candidate Stuart Whitson will compete for the seat.
Forum at the Asian American Community Service Center on August 31
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