The regime has escalated a campaign of information and legal warfare to attack a faith group outside its borders, experts say.
WASHINGTON—Experts and advocates on June 6 spotlighted the Chinese regime’s invisible war to manipulate the West and suppress dissidents outside China’s borders.
The panel, hosted by The Epoch Times at the U.S. Capitol, focused on Beijing’s escalating suppression of dissent in the United States, particularly targeting faith group Falun Gong.
The spiritual practice, which includes meditative exercises and teaches the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, has been a major target of the Chinese communist regime since Beijing launched an extensive persecution 26 years ago. Millions have been put in Chinese jails, where they went through forced labor or various other forms of torture.
Even outside of China, Falun Gong practitioners have experienced pressure and harassment from the regime over the years. In late 2022, the campaign heightened under the direction of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who instructed the use of disinformation and lawfare to smear and discredit Falun Gong in the West, The Epoch Times reported in 2024.
‘Strike on All Fronts’
The communist regime is deploying information and legal warfare to attack Falun Gong and entities affiliated with the group in the United States, said panelists.
The goal, they said, is to disrupt Falun Gong’s influence in the international community and its calls to end the 26-year-long persecution in China.
Yuan Hongbing, a legal scholar who has high-level contacts in the Chinese state apparatus, first disclosed the Chinese regime’s campaign to The Epoch Times in December 2024.
Speaking virtually at the panel, Yuan broke the regime’s efforts down to “one central focus and two directives.”
According to Yuan, the campaign is focused on character assassination of Falun Gong’s founder, Li Hongzhi, in a bid to shake the foundation of the spiritual group. Then the party uses information and legal warfare by mobilizing Western mainstream media, deploying disinformation, and other tactics to diminish Falun Gong’s influence.
The regime will “strike on all fronts,” Yuan said.
The Epoch Times’ CEO Janice Trey described the campaign as a “silent war.”
By co-opting the Western legal system, regulatory agencies, and legacy media outlets in the West to reshape global opinion, she said, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is directly challenging the foundation of a democratic society.
“This tactic threatens free speech, religious liberty, and national security,” Trey said.
By Eva Fu
