Chinese Prez Xi Jinping’s crackdown on Falun Gong, a growing spiritual movement, reflects a broader political agenda. The global drive to eliminate its followers signals a fierce stance against perceived threats to China’s control and ideology. by Gopal Misra
Despite the substantial and growing influence of Chinese proxies in American media and prestigious Ivy League universities, the recent decision by China’s leader, President Xi Jinping—often seen as a strongman, if not a ruthless dictator—to arrest and kill followers of the spiritual movement Falun Gong, has drawn global attention. However, the decision has amused some in New Delhi.
In 2022, Xi Jinping tasked officials with eliminating the followers of Falun Gong, a spiritual group active for the past 26 years. But with the final phase of the Joe Biden administration, he has suddenly intensified efforts against the group. To the authorities in Beijing, Falun Gong’s opposition to organ harvesting is seen as a conspiracy against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CPC) broader agenda to develop a successful capitalist infrastructure underpinned by repressive Marxism ideology.
Falun Gong has become the fastest-growing spiritual movement in China, founded on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, along with meditative exercises that encourage moral development. Two years ago, Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting attended by senior officials from the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, as well as ministers from National Security and State Security, the secretary and several deputy secretaries of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives from the United Work Front Department, the Chinese agency responsible for overseas influence operations.
Beijing has been surprised by the inability of its assigned officials to stop the international campaign against Chinese human rights abuses. US-based media outlets such as the Epoch Times and several private television channels have successfully countered Beijing’s well-planned misinformation efforts. Chinese proxies have cunningly infiltrated major American newspapers like the Washington Post, New York Times, and even CNN, but their efforts have largely failed to silence the truth.
Over the past four years, the Biden Administration has been investigating the substantial purchase of shares in American media by CPC-linked companies, as well as the millions of US dollars being pumped into media outlets as advertisements by companies owned by the Red Army or the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). However, no substantial action has been taken.
According to a recently published report by the Washington-based organization Freedom House, Chinese proxies have not only succeeded in gaining support from major outlets like Time, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, CNN, and Foreign Policy, but have also resorted to bullying journalists and media personnel through covert use of social media and the internet.
The reluctance of the outgoing president, Joe Biden, to take corrective action may be explained by the disinformation spread by CNN and USA Today during the presidential election campaign. These so-called representatives of the free press were projecting Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris as having a clear advantage over Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Xi Jinping’s growing anger
The exposure of Chinese atrocities by Chinese-owned private channels has angered Jinping. Their journalists, who have access to a section of the ruling elite in Beijing, have forced him to eliminate these elements. Previously, they had successfully exposed Jinping’s conspiracy to secure a third term, overturning the party’s two-term limit for a sitting president. Therefore, Beijing’s decision to eliminate the followers of Falun Gong without delay may also be influenced by Trump’s potential second term in Washington. He is not expected to be as friendly to China as his predecessor was. Jinping cannot forgive his countrymen abroad for undermining his ambition to project himself as a greater leader than Chairman Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader who spent a month in the US to secure technology and investments.
Earlier, successive US Presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama genuinely believed that deepening economic ties with the West might eventually lead to democracy in China. However, their hopes have been dashed by Jinping. For China watchers, the situation in the country is far from normal, as is being presented. The removal of Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu signals significant resentment against Jinping’s anti-democratic policies. It’s worth noting that Shangfu had disappeared from the political scene in August 2024, but his removal was only announced in the last week of October.
Drive against Falun Gong
It is not surprising that Beijing considers Falun Gong, an innocent spiritual practice that has become a household meditation movement in both the West and China, a political threat. Therefore, the movement must be crushed immediately.
The mandarins in Beijing, perhaps rightly, believe that the harvesting of human organs is not a new phenomenon; it has been a business norm for the Communist regime for over 50 years. Even the West, which prides itself on being a guardian of human rights, has never raised objections to this practice, which involves harvesting vital organs for wealthy patients in the West. It is understandable that Jinping’s cronies, who share power with him, view the followers of Falun Gong with suspicion. This group has managed to awaken the conscience of ordinary Chinese citizens against this inhumane practice under the so-called proletariat government in Beijing.
Xi Jinping’s recent directive includes a global manhunt for the followers of this spiritual movement, with orders to arrest, prosecute, and, if necessary, execute them through Chinese proxies. However, his regime has no intention of ending this brutal practice, which ensures that before a person is executed, buyers for their body parts—such as kidneys and hearts—are already identified.
Meanwhile, Falun Gong represents the Falun, or Dharma wheel. It symbolises the universe. It preaches the virtues of truth, benevolence, and forbearance to achieve enlightenment. It is a spiritual practice that is translated to “law wheel practice” in Chinese. It involves meditation and qigong exercises to align the body’s life energy. It was founded by Li Hongzhi, a former trumpet player, in 1992.
Earlier, in October 2022, Jinping had held a secret meeting in Beijing, instructing top state officials—overseeing political, intelligence, and influence operations—on a new strategy to target the Falun Gong religious group internationally, but during the past two years, its influence has increased manifold. In a bid to destroy this spiritual movement, the CCP has established a core group for initiating worldwide disinformation campaigns using social media, and specially targeting the various media platforms of the West. Its strategy includes triggering the American legal system to target companies founded by Falun Gong practitioners.
Yuan Hongbing, a Chinese legal scholar in exile in Australia with close ties to China’s top political circles, recently revealed the conspiracies Beijing had been orchestrating over the past two years. His account, according to a Chinese media outlet in the US, is based on the information he received from a few knowledgeable sources within the senior members of the CCP, who continue to disapprove policies of Xi Jinping; and also, those who are not prepared to compromise their conscience.
