How CCP Infiltration Undermines Free Societies’ Values

(Minghui.org) As its economic power grew over the past decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deepened its infiltration into other countries, including the United States. Some Westerners have not recognized the CCP’s detrimental impact and may consider it insignificant. However, evidence shows that the CCP has been manipulating Western systems to target certain groups, such as Falun Gong practitioners and dissidents, thereby threatening free society’s values.

The harm will expand to every corner of society unless concrete action is taken to address it. If we examine history, this is how the CCP gained control of China after seizing power in 1949. By targeting selected groups, one at a time—landlords, capitalists, intellectuals, and so on—it gradually tightened its grip over the entire nation. In the end, no one and no system was able to withstand the barrage of brutality and lies.

From Domestic Suppression to Overseas Dominance

The CCP perpetrates violence in China because of its ideology of “class struggle,” and it hides its human rights abuses in the name of “maintaining stability.” It exported this tight control to underdeveloped countries in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Even developed countries and regions such as Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan have been infiltrated.

The scale, methods, and depth of the CCP’s infiltration have reached appalling levels. The reasons are complex, but they can mainly be attributed to two aspects.

The first is economic power. Globalization has made China “the world’s factory,” and vast amounts of capital and technology have poured into China. Many countries’ markets are fully open to China, and the long-term foreign trade surplus accumulated huge wealth for the CCP. But the average Chinese is far from rich. For example, 600 million people are reported to earn 1,000 yuan (or US $139) a month, and 940 million people earn less than 2,000 yuan a month. In contrast, the CCP authorities and vested interest groups have made a fortune and provided the regime with vast amounts of capital to fund overseas infiltration efforts.

Second, the CCP exploits free society’s loopholes, including freedom of speech, to carry out its own agenda. The United States does not plant agents in Zhongnanhai (the CCP’s central compound) or voice opinions in the People’s Daily. But the CCP is able to openly operate in the United States: It buys politicians, supports pro-communist forces, manipulates public opinion, and exports its propaganda. If the U.S. House of Representatives had not recently announced a ban on the distribution of the China Daily (English version) in Capitol buildings, many Americans and even Chinese probably would not have known that this CCP mouthpiece had been circulating in Congress for 42 years.

The suspension of China Daily shows that Western society has begun to be alert to the CCP’s infiltration. The government and think tanks have also released a number of investigative reports on the CCP’s overseas infiltration. In 2024, the U.S. Congress held three hearings on “Defending America from the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Warfare” to discuss the CCP’s comprehensive infiltration of American society.

Penetrating Everywhere and Changing Basic Values

The CCP’s overseas infiltration is very comprehensive. It includes:- embassies and consulates in more than 200 countries and regions that serve as the frontline headquarters for infiltration- branches of the United Front system established overseas that have been deeply rooted in local areas for a long time- national overseas projects such as the “Thousand Talents Plan,” the “Belt and Road Initiative,” and the “Confucius Institutes” have been widely deployed in the economic, academic and cultural fields- information and media warfare led by the Central Propaganda Department, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of State Security, and so on to manipulate public opinion overseas- transnational suppression led by specialized agencies such as the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Security, including the establishment of the Chinese police overseas service stations (“Overseas 110”) and the suppression of specific groups such as Falun Gong through the “610 Office”- use of state-owned enterprises and technology giants (such as Huawei) to exert economic pressure and expand political influence- engaging deeply with universities, research institutes and communities through cultural exchanges, academic cooperation, international forums, and so on.

The CCP’s specific actions include:- mobilizing overseas Chinese leaders and activists to take the lead in attacks- dividing the Chinese community, fostering pro-communist forces, and suppressing anti-communist groups.- bribing officials from other countries, especially Chinese elites, and developing agents within the system.- buying off and controlling Chinese-language media while infiltrating Western mainstream media- interfering with education, promoting the CCP’s narrative, and suppressing dissidents- Bribing business groups and politicians to cultivate pro-communist forces- using economic interests to coerce governments to cooperate in suppressing dissidents

We can see that the CCP has widely applied the tricks it accumulated and perfected for decades in China to the international community. For example, it uses class struggle tactics to stir up hatred and confrontation in the Chinese community; it uses the “Fengqiao experience” of “man-to-man monitoring,” a strategy it used during the Cultural Revolution, to maintain its influence in overseas Chinese communities through grassroots control.

The CCP also manipulates public opinion through “mobilizing the masses,” “human sea tactics” and the “internet army.” In addition, it “kills with a borrowed knife” by coercing other governments and exporting political intimidation to the world. These seemingly isolated means actually constitute a set of systematic strategies for changing the speech and value standards in the international community.

Sowing Division

In contrast to the political pressure it exerts in China, the CCP’s overseas infiltration relies more on economic interests and financial inducement, which are more concealed and have a wider scope. This kind of “soft infiltration” combines with local political, commercial, media and other forces to build up large yet invisible networks of influence.

A direct consequence is that the CCP’s infiltration often causes divisions and conflicts in democratic societies. This includes indirect interference with elections, conflicts between ethnic groups, and political issues, which weakens democratic systems. For example, the pro-CCP forces in Taiwan and South Korea have substantially influenced politics in those countries. Similarly, the CCP’s infiltration into Europe and the United States often fuels disputes on key issues, creates chaos, and causes social divisions.

This “chaos” in democratic countries is then used by the CCP as propaganda to reinforce the narrative “chaos in the West and stability in China,” thus justifying its agenda of totalitarian rule.

Disrupting Shen Yun Performances

The CCP tries to silence all voices that do not follow its agenda. As a result, Shen Yun Performing Arts, which promotes traditional values that the CCP destroyed after taking over China, has become a thorn in the regime’s side. Faced with Shen Yun’s success and ability to reconnect people with their spiritual roots, the CCP has used despicable means such as coercing theaters and governments into canceling scheduled shows, spreading falsehoods to incite hatred, threatening physical harm, and instigating groundless lawsuits in its attempts to suppress the performing arts group.

Chinese embassies and consulates around the world have been trying to stop and sabotage Shen Yun’s performances, but many have failed. For example, in Seoul, South Korea, the Chinese embassy repeatedly pressured the theater to cancel performances.

While Shen Yun has performed at other venues in South Korea, such as the National Theater in Seoul, it has never performed at the KBS Hall in Seoul, which is owned by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS). After the local presenter that hosted Shen Yun signed rental contracts with KBS Hall in 2006, 2008 and 2016, the Chinese embassy pressured the venue into canceling the contract.

In 2016, after the host sued KBS in court and won, KBS raised an objection to the court and submitted the slanderous and threatening letter sent by the Chinese Embassy. In the end, the court rescinded the original judgment, causing significant losses to the hosting organization and those who had already purchased tickets.

The hosting organization obtained a copy of a four-page fax that the Chinese Embassy had sent to KBS. In addition to repeating the CCP’s lies that slander Falun Gong and Shen Yun, the CCP used China-South Korea economic relations to coerce the South Korean government to make concessions on cultural sovereignty to cater to the CCP.

A photocopy of the four-page fax sent by the Chinese Embassy to KBS. This is the upper half of the first page.

In a more recent case, the CCP tried but failed to disrupt Shen Yun performances at Kangwon National University in Chuncheon, South Korea.

On April 1, 2025, Kangwon National University approved the Shen Yun Performing Arts Company to perform at the Parkling Arts Center on campus from May 6 to 7, hosted by Epoch Media Korea. In response, the Chinese Embassy in South Korea pressured the school by expressing the CCP’s opposition to the performance, which led to Kangwon University canceling the venue permit on April 16 on the grounds that it “may cause protests from Chinese students.” It was reported that the Korean Ministry of Education might also intervene to increase pressure.

The local presenter for Shen Yun, the Korean Falun Dafa Association, said the cancellation was illegal and applied for a temporary injunction with the Chuncheon District Court, naming the Republic of Korea, which owns Kangwon National University, as the defendant.

On the afternoon of April 30, the court pointed out that Shen Yun had performed in South Korea many times since 2007, including in 2017, at the same venue every year without causing any conflicts. In addition, about 62% of the seats had been sold, and with only 20 days left before the performance, canceling the show would cause significant losses to the organizer. The court ruled that Kangwon University abused its discretion and that its decision to cancel the performances lacked evidentiary support and thus violated the law. In the end, the Shen Yun performances at Kangwon University were held successfully.

Wu Shilie, secretary general of the Korean Falun Dafa Association, said that the court’s ruling should be a wake-up call to the South Korean government, which has been succumbing to pressure from the Chinese Embassy and abandoning its cultural sovereignty.

Battle Between the CCP and Universal Values

The CCP’s suppression of Shen Yun is just a microcosm of its global infiltration operations. From suppressing dissidents in China and manipulating overseas narratives to carrying out transnational repression and coercing other governments to cooperate, it is clear that the CCP’s “stability maintenance” operations have long transcended China’s borders. Only by firmly safeguarding freedom of speech, belief, and cultural expression can free societies effectively curb the CCP’s infiltration.

From the removal of China Daily in the U.S. Capitol and think tanks publishing research reports exposing the CCP's infiltration, to the South Korean court ruling that a venue’s cancellation of Shen Yun performances at the CCP’s demand was illegal, we have seen that more governments, institutions, and civil society are beginning to refuse to remain silent and compromise with the CCP.

This shift in global consciousness is an important step in standing up to and exposing the CCP’s infiltration and defending the foundation of free societies. This is not merely a Chinese issue; rather, it is a battle between universal values and the totalitarian CCP regime.