(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners were invited to attend the International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF Summit) in Washington D.C. held February 4 – 5, 2025. With over 1,500 attendees from 41 countries, the summit is one of the world’s largest gatherings of religious freedom advocates.

Through a series of panel discussions, presentations, and social events, practitioners informed attendees about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing persecution of Falun Gong. More specifically, how the CCP’s transnational repression threatens practitioners outside China.

Falun Gong was a popular topic at the IRF Summit, with the story of Cheng Peiming being featured by the organizers in their opening reception. A five-minute animated short video created by the organizers illustrated how Cheng had parts of his liver and lung extracted by Chinese authorities without his consent, as well as his harrowing escape to freedom. To date, he is the only survivor of the CCP’s forced organ harvesting operations.

Several religious freedom thought leaders expressed support for Falun Gong practitioners’ efforts and their hope that the situation in China improves.

America’s Commitment to Religious Freedom

J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States, spoke on the last day of the event on the main stage about the United States’ dedication to protecting religious freedom.

“Our administration believes we must stand for religious freedom – not just as a legal principle, as important as that is, but as a lived reality, both within our own borders and especially outside,” said Vance. “You shouldn’t have to leave your faith at the door of your people’s government, and under President Trump’s leadership, you won’t have to.”

He also mentioned that the administration under President Donald Trump will expand on the work he has done in this regard, and “have much more to do to more fully secure religious liberty for all people of faith.” In his first term, President Trump declared the persecution of Uyghurs a genocide, sanctioned a CCP official due to his persecution of Falun Gong, and personally met with over two dozen victims of religious persecution in the White House to hear their stories.

Persecution in China: Police Harassment, Arbitrary Arrests, and Death

Lydia Wang, a Falun Gong practitioner, spoke at a February 5 panel on the importance of protecting survivors of religious persecution. She explained how the CCP systematically threatened and abused her family for their faith, and because her brother, Steven, works with Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Lydia Wang speaks during a panel discussion

Shen Yun Performing Arts, a company started by Falun Gong practitioners in the United States, seeks to show audiences China Before Communism and raise awareness of the brutality Falun Gong practitioners endure in China. Shen Yun has been a target of the CCP’s overseas repression since its founding, with over 130 incidents of suspected CCP disruption recorded in 38 countries.

Over the past 25 years, Lydia’s mother, Ms. Liu Aihua, was arrested 11 times. Her father passed away in 2009 after enduring years of cruel torture at the hands of the CCP authorities. Her mother is currently serving a four-year sentence in Hubei Women’s Prison because she practices Falun Gong.

After Steven began performing with Shen Yun as a dancer in 2008, this harassment was further intensified: Lydia’s wedding was interrupted by police who barged in and demanded to know Steven’s whereabouts. After the birth of her first child in 2011, police officers forced their way into her home and threatened to arrest her if she did not reveal her brother’s whereabouts.

Officials pressured Lydia’s husband to get her to renounce her faith. He eventually divorced her due to the unrelenting harassment. Lydia escaped to the U.S. in 2012 while pregnant with her second child and gave birth. She has not seen her oldest child or her mother since she fled China. The CCP continues to harass her and her family.

“In the past year, [my brother’s workplace, Shen Yun,] received a large number of death threats. They describe in explicit detail acts of terror against the organization, including bomb threats, mass shootings, and sexual violence. Just last month, there were at least five such threats, including threats against U.S. Congress members who support Falun Gong. Though these threats have not been acted upon yet, the terror they evoke is real,” she said.

IRF Summit attendees take photographs with Lydia. Congressman Gus Bilirakis (left), former Congresswoman and current USCIRF Commissioner Vicky Hartzler (middle), and IRF Summit Co-Chair Katrina Lantos-Swett (right).

Overseas Repression: Weaponizing Western Institutions

Falun Gong practitioner Levi Browde spoke at a different panel on the afternoon of February 4, and described the CCP’s transnational repression targeting faith systems.

Browde is an American and has always lived outside of China. Yet, due to his efforts to investigate, research, and speak out against the persecution of his fellow practitioners in China, he and his family recently received numerous death threats.

“The title of this is called ‘You Will Meet God,’” he told the audience while holding up a printout of a threatening email he received, “and it proceeds to threaten me, my life, my family members, and other people who have worked at the non-profit Falun Dafa Information Center.”

Levi Browde holds a threatening email he received, which includes a photo of a bullet.

The images attached to the email depict bullets as well as the barrel of a shotgun. Browde explained, this is just one “of about 60 emails of mostly bomb threats, threats of violence, threats to rape female employees” that has been sent to Falun Gong practitioners and their businesses over the past year.

He said that these threats are part of the CCP’s greater strategy to “eliminate Falun Gong globally.” This new action, launched by the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Public Security, weaponized Western societies’ institutions, including legal institutions, media outlets, and social media to spread disinformation about Falun Gong and encourage prejudice.

“They have found a way to weaponize our own institutions against ourselves,” said Browde, “and I think that’s something we need to take a look at with transnational repression.”

Young Practitioners Take a Stand

Many young practitioners joined the effort to raise awareness and call for action against the persecution in China. These students and young professionals traveled from Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Montreal to attend the summit. During the two-day event, they attended sessions and also staffed a booth to introduce the practice and the human rights crisis Falun Gong faces to attendees.

Young Falun Gong practitioners speak to conference attendees.

The young practitioners were interviewed by news outlets as well as the Religious Freedom Institute.

Heru Lawrence speaks to a television station and the Religious Freedom Institute.

“Jiang Zemin, at that time, saw the practice and its spiritual teachings as a threat to the communist rule, and so they ordered a crackdown on it in July 20 of 1999,” said Heru Lawrence, during his interview with a national television station.

Cynthia Sun, another young practitioner urged television viewers to “fact-check everything that’s coming out about Falun Gong.

“What scares me and what is the most chilling is that we’ve seen the exact same media misinformation talking points [which] happened in China when the persecution began 25 years ago,” she said.

Growing Voices of Support

For many IRF Summit attendees, the persecution was a topic that they were already very familiar with. David Curry, a former member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, said that he was shocked by the extent that the CCP would go to attack Chinese people, even overseas.

“The CCP’s transnational repression against Chinese people is getting worse by the day. It’s appalling,” he said. “In the past few years, the CCP’s attacks on overseas Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs seem to have gotten more brazen.”

He added that the CCP’s transnational efforts to eliminate Falun Gong are a violation of international law, and that the global community should hold the CCP accountable for these illegal behaviors.

“The attacks of the CCP against American citizens must stop. The State Department needs to speak out for these victimized groups,” Curry said.

Pari Ibrahim, the founder and Executive Director of the Free Yazidi Foundation, spoke on behalf of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in a panel session.

“As a member of the Yazidi community, I stand in solidarity with the Falun Gong practitioners because the struggle for religious freedom and human dignity is universal,” she said. She noted that despite the CCP’s transnational efforts, there has been “a surge in international support for the Falun Gong community through legislation, prosecutions, and public statements.

“We call upon the United States and the international community to take decisive action to end the persecution of Falun Gong,” said Ibrahim. “Together, we must uphold the principles of justice, freedom, and human rights for all."