CCP’s Transnational Repression Weaponizes Freedoms in Democratic Countries, Professor Says

In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, Feng Chongyi, an associate professor of China studies at the University of Technology Sydney, said it’s unsurprising that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong—launched in 1999 and ongoing for more than two decades—has now extended overseas.

“Since the moment it seized power, the CCP has consistently used any method [to suppress Chinese people] it deems effective,” Feng said.

Feng described the CCP as a totalitarian regime that claims a monopoly on truth, seeking to dominate all areas of political, economic, and organizational life.

“Its essence is control. It views any group with public influence as a threat, whether spiritual, material, or political,” he said.

He said that Falun Gong, rooted in ancient Chinese Buddha school and Tao school traditions, represents a belief system entirely different from Marxist ideology.

“The CCP sees Falun Gong not only as a faith, but as a competing worldview that challenges the legitimacy of the regime. That’s why its leaders believe the movement must be eradicated,” he said.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline centered on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It grew rapidly in the 1990s, reaching an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners in China before the regime banned the practice in 1999. Since then, millions of practitioners have faced arbitrary detention, torture, forced labor, and forced organ harvesting.

“It is a state operation carried out at any cost,” he said. He stressed that the CCP’s infiltration of U.S. institutions—including government, media, academia, and business—is extensive and deliberate. “They are acting with clear hostility, so they should be treated as such.”

Feng said that he believes that recent media articles attacking Shen Yun and Falun Gong demonstrate a deeper ideological contest.

“These reports, from wording to tone, carry clear traces of CCP propaganda. They portray a top-tier performing arts group—one that promotes faith and hope to millions—as an exploitative, oppressive institution,” he said.

He pointed out that left-leaning outlets often target faith groups and conservative values because the modern left shares philosophical roots with communist ideology, such as class struggle, division based on race and gender, and the concept of victimhood.

He noted that the current conservative resurgence brings a renewed focus on tradition and faith. This is perceived as a threat by the left, which has held sway for many years and believed it could dominate society and dismiss religion as superstition.

“The boundary between public governance and private belief must be respected. When the media crosses that line and interferes with religious freedom, it violates constitutional principles,” he said.

Feng further stated that, in recent years, the CCP has exploited the legal systems and freedoms of other countries to undermine and erode those very same freedoms. Free societies must fight back and treat this as a battle to defend universal values and fundamental human rights, he said.

Awareness of the CCP’s cross-border repression is growing internationally.

Beyond tariffs and economic pressure, Feng called on the U.S. government to confront the Chinese Communist Party.

“If the CCP isn’t stopped, we risk a third world war,” he said. “The costs we face today are far smaller than what such a future would bring.”

“There’s now a clear distinction being made between the Chinese people, Chinese culture, and the CCP,” he said. “The present task, therefore, is to awaken the Chinese people so that more Chinese will choose to cut ties with the CCP.”

Feng said after decades of CCP indoctrination that severely distorted the Chinese people’s moral compass, Falun Gong represents a return to integrity, conscience, and moral clarity.

“It’s a profoundly meaningful social and cultural movement aimed at rebuilding a healthy society,” he said.