CCP Runs Global Campaign Targeting Shen Yun: Expert

And joining me now to discuss the most recent series of incidents targeting Shen Yun is the Executive Director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, Levi Braude. Levi Braude, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Steve. Of course, Levi. There's a lot of concerning news coming out of multiple incidents targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts. If you could, tell us about this most recent series of bomb threats that were targeting theaters and also where Shen Yun trains, and who might be behind these as well as a possible motive. Sure. So the first email that we saw came to the headquarters in upstate New York where Shen Yun trains. And that was essentially a bomb threat. We immediately notified the authorities. The FBI got involved. Just a few days later, however, Shen Yun has multiple troops that tour the world simultaneously. Two of those troops, one was in San Francisco—sorry, one was in Santa Barbara, California, and the other was in Vancouver, Canada. Both theaters there received bomb threat over email. And obviously, that was very alarming. They had to bring in authorities and check out the theater and beef up security. So this is a disturbing escalation of something which, unfortunately, is a global campaign that has been targeting Shen Yun for more than a dozen years. Now, the concerning thing is not just what you're reporting, but also the fact that Shen Yun is an American-based company. We just heard from NTD's Jack Bradley, who gave us an update on an incident regarding a United States custom agent of Chinese descent who targeted Shen Yun performers coming back into the country. You've identified this individual. Tell us more about this incident. Sure. So this was a Shen Yun troop that was in Europe for a couple months. They were coming into the United States, returning from their tour, landing in Chicago. Several individuals that were coming through customs, they were stopped by this particular individual, this Chinese customs officer, ethnic Chinese custom officer. And he was saying very strange things, things that I think are probably illegal, asking them if they're Falun Gong, telling them to their face they're illegal to be here in the United States, even though some of them are United States citizens. So this was very troubling that was happening. But again, it's particularly troubling in the context, because we have to understand, we just put out a report a couple months ago on, again, for a dozen years, there's been a global campaign for the CCP to silence Shen Yun performing arts, to get their shows canceled, to target them in a myriad of number of ways. The diplomatic corps are involved. We have over 130 cases of this. And so this was sort of the latest in a long string of events targeting Shen Yun in an illicit and probably illegal manner right here in the United States. Levi, why do you think Shen Yun is being targeted? Yeah. So this is, I think, something that's really important to understand, is that it's just a dance troupe. So a lot of people look at that and go, why is that so important? Well, there are two reasons. One is, you have to understand that Shen Yun puts on stage authentic Chinese culture, very beautiful spiritual culture, as it was before the communists seized power. And the communists have been trying to destroy this culture so they can impose Marxism on people. And along comes this performing arts company and says, actually, this is the real culture of China, not what the CCP is trying to impose on the people. So that's one reason. The second reason is Shen Yun was started by people who practice Falun Gong, the Buddhist-based spiritual practice in China, which the CCP has tried to crush for the last 25 years. And they put a lot of propaganda, a lot of effort in. Terrible human suffering, killing has been going on in China. And so after 25 years of trying to silence and malign Falun Gong on the international stage, Falun Gong practitioners started this amazing dance troupe that's going around the world showing people what real Chinese culture is. And that undermines 25 years of the CCP trying to vilify Falun Gong in the world stage. For those two reasons, Shen Yun is a primary target of the CCP worldwide. Now, Levi, lastly, for some of our viewers who may be curious why they don't hear about these news reports and these incidents from other media sources that they might read and watch, there may actually be some deeper reasons behind it. You've just released a report about the New York Times and specifically their journalistic malpractice in their coverage of the persecution of Falun Gong over the past few decades. Share with us what you've uncovered about the New York Times. Sure. I mean, look, there's been a significant problem in the Western reporting in general, in terms of covering what has happened to Falun Gong inside China. But at the center of that problem really is the New York Times. They've been the worst on the issue and, unfortunately, they're the most influential. And so we took a deep dive. We looked at the last 25 years, well over 150 articles that the New York Times had produced that touched upon Falun Gong. And we found, one, it was riddled with factual inaccuracies. Two, they often followed CCP framing in terms of characterizing Falun Gong in terms of what it is, what they believe, which was wholly inaccurate, and following in lockstep with the CCP. Levi Braude, really appreciate you joining us and sharing this important story. Thank you. Thank you.