The CCP is ‘likely behind the scenes trying to expand the persecution against Falun Gong beyond China’s borders,’ a human right group said.
Malaysia’s decision to detain dozens of Falun Gong practitioners before and during a visit from Chinese leader Xi Jinping has drawn alarm from the U.S. State Department and human rights advocates.
Two days before Xi’s arrival in mid-April in the country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, around two dozen police officers appeared at a private venue where nearly 80 Falun Gong practitioners had gathered for a routine study of spiritual texts. The officers demanded their identification documents and forcibly detained them, despite the practitioners stressing that their faith is peaceful and poses no threat to anyone.
Those arrested include a woman over 80 and a 10-year-old child. Among the group were also 29 people originally from China who are seeking protection from the sweeping persecution targeting their beliefs in China. Several are United Nations refugees. The 47 Malaysian citizens were released hours after Xi left, and the Chinese nationals were freed during the two weeks that followed.
The mass arrest marked the first of its kind in Malaysia, taking place as Xi toured Southeast Asia to promote the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a reliable trading partner amid a tariff war with the United States.
The U.S. State Department expressed concern about the reports.
“We call on the Chinese Communist Party to end its nearly 26-year campaign to eradicate Falun Gong and to cease its attempts to pressure other governments to repress the practice of Falun Gong,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
“We call on Malaysia to respect the principle of non-refoulement and to not return Falun Gong practitioners to China where they reportedly have been subjected to torture and imprisonment for their beliefs.”
After detaining the practitioners, Malaysian police had initially promised to let them go home once they finished some procedural paperwork, but reversed course in the early hours of the following morning, seizing all phones and sending some detainees to a magistrate court to extend their detention. The police also confiscated Falun Gong books. Some local practitioners reported additional home searches during the period, with one additional person taken to the police station for questioning.
Levi Browde, the executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, said he finds the incident to raise “serious questions about the Chinese regime’s ability to export its religious persecution abroad.”
“It is clear that the CCP is likely behind the scenes trying to expand the persecution against Falun Gong beyond China’s borders,” he told The Epoch Times. “We have seen these tactics before.”
Officers at the detention site said they acted under “pressure from the above,” The Epoch Times has learned. Local sources said Chinese agents were surveilling Falun Gong exercise sites and information booths during the weeks prior to Xi’s visit. Some agents also went to Chinese Falun Gong practitioners’ residences to harass them, the sources said.
Xi departed Kuala Lumpur on April 17 for Cambodia, with the Malaysian king affirming support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative—the China-led infrastructure project critics said can trap participating countries in debt—along with further collaboration with China on trade, culture, and education.
Similar preemptive arrests also occurred in Russia and Serbia last year in anticipation of similar visits by Xi.
The incident also happened after Thailand, at Beijing’s demand, deported 40 Uyghurs to China, drawing condemnation from world leaders and sanctions from the United States.
Since 1999, Chinese authorities have subjected Falun Gong practitioners to mass arrests, torture, sexual abuses, and forced organ harvesting in a bid to eliminate the belief. Incomplete statistics from China have confirmed thousands of deaths, but experts say the number is a vast undercount.
Falun Gong practitioners have practiced freely in Malaysia for more than three decades. In 2022, however, the Malaysian government revoked a local Falun Gong association’s registration, ostensibly under Chinese influence.
Browde urged Malaysian authorities to protect religious freedom and “ensure that Chinese Falun Gong practitioners can stay in Malaysia as refugees or move on safely to other countries.”
“For 30 years, Falun Gong practitioners in Malaysia have been able to practice freely and share the beauty of the practice with the Malaysian people. That is to Malaysia’s credit,” he said.
‘The global Falun Dafa community appreciates that openness and urges the current authorities to rebuff any CCP pressure to change that situation.”