(Minghui.org) Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949, it has killed over 80 million people in numerous political campaigns, making it a major human rights abuser. This death toll during peacetime exceeds the number killed in the two world wars.
The CCP also suppressed freedom of thought in China (Anti-Rightist Campaign, 1957-1959), destroyed culture (Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976), and crushed democracy (Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989). Now, the regime is attempting to wipe out freedom of belief by persecuting Falun Gong since 1999.
Many people have been misled by the CCP’s propaganda and developed misunderstandings of Falun Gong. Some feel the persecution is just a human rights issue. But when one reads practitioners’ accounts and first-hand experiences published on Minghui.org, it becomes clear that the root cause of the persecution is the fundamental clash between the CCP’s ideology and humanity.
The CCP’s philosophy of class struggle and brutality contradicts mankind’s traditional values, including the universal principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as taught by Falun Gong. The persecution of Falun Gong is a continuation of the CCP’s decades-long history to wipe out traditional values.
This persecution is also the CCP’s longest campaign and the only one that has not succeeded. If the CCP continues to challenge the values innate to mankind and ramps up its global influence, will any society stay free?
27 Years of Perseverance
According to a recent Minghui article, “Ten Things You May Not Know That Led to the CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong,” the CCP tried to suppress Falun Gong as early as 1996. But it failed because the benefits of the practice were well known among the general public, including high-ranking CCP officials.
But the CCP continued to look for ways to defame Falun Gong, including publishing a slanderous magazine article in April 1999. When practitioners in Tianjin tried to clarify the facts to the editor, dozens were arrested. Other practitioners went to Beijing on April 25, 1999, to appeal peacefully to the central government. Although their concerns were addressed by the premier, former CCP leader Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide persecution three months later, in July 1999.
The peaceful appeal in April 1999 is noteworthy because it demonstrates practitioners’ determination to practice their faith even though they live in a society run by a totalitarian regime—the CCP. The suppression continues, and practitioners around the world hold events every year to commemorate the peaceful appeal 27 years ago and raise awareness of the ongoing human rights abuses in China.
According to Minghui.org reports, Falun Gong practitioners around the world held rallies, marches, and candlelight vigils around April 25 this year in nearly 100 cities in more than 30 countries. These activities were held across North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America. Practitioners urged the CCP to end the 27-year-long persecution and asked people to sign petitions to counter the CCP’s transnational repression.
In North America, practitioners held a grand march on April 25 in Flushing, home to New York City’s largest Chinese community. Some who watched the parade said the event helped awaken Chinese people and the general public to the atrocities happening in China. The event in Washington, DC was supported by U.S. Congressmen such as Michael McCaul and Chris Smith. “The CCP's brutal effort to stamp out the Falun Gong will be remembered as one of the worst crimes of the 21st century,” Rep. Smith said.
Similar events were held in Taiwan, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the UK, France, and northern Europe.
Efforts to Curb the Persecution and Transnational Repression
In addition to exposing the persecution in China, practitioners’ events in 2026 shed light on the CCP’s efforts to export its persecution of Falun Gong worldwide, as well as efforts by other governments to curb the CCP’s transnational repression. Agents acting on behalf of the CCP continue to harass and intimidate Shen Yun Performing Arts, its artists, hosting venues, and Falun Gong practitioners working to raise awareness of the persecution of their faith.
The U.S. Congress is advancing a bill known as the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act, which would sanction CCP officials involved in forced organ harvesting by freezing their assets in the US and denying them entry.
These acts of transnational suppression should be a wake-up call for the international community. “The PRC is thus more than simply a strategic rival to the United States and the rest of the free world, as it is a systemic rival which seeks to undo the stable international order to which the United States has been guarantor since the end of the Second World War,” said CECC Co-Chair Chris Smith when the CECC published its annual report on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2025.
“How can a predatory, mercantilist nation that utilizes forced labor, steals intellectual property and massively subsidizes state-owned enterprises be a member of the World Trade Organization or any rules-based order? The answer is that it cannot be, so long as the Communist Party maintains its monopoly on power,” Rep. Smith said.
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Category: News Commentary
