On the program “American Thought Leaders,” lawyers Justin Butterfield and Leah Patterson, counsel for Shen Yun Performing Arts, recently discussed how the People’s Republic of China works to extend its domestic repression to other lands. Their client—whose performances stress the possibility of a China without the Chinese Communist Party—is one of the main targets of this transnational repression (Vision Times News, October 17, 2025).
“If such infiltration goes unchecked,” says Patterson, “it could undermine the very basis of America’s legal and moral order—the freedom of conscience on which this country was built.” This characterization is incomplete, but the Founders did also seek to protect freedom of conscience.
As the two lawyers report, infiltration by the CCP is indeed often being checked, but in an ad hoc way involving much time and trouble rather than systematically. When one assault is beaten back, the Party lackeys simply proceed to the next. Vision Times describes three of the totalitarian state’s standard methods of waging war against Falun Gong and Shen Yun in the United States:
Direct interference. Beijing operatives allegedly tried to bribe an IRS official to revoke Shen Yun’s nonprofit tax status—a move that would have crippled its U.S. operations. The “official” was an undercover FBI agent; two CCP agents were later arrested and convicted for the crime.
Private-sector coercion. During a Chinese official’s visit to Houston, Falun Gong practitioners were forcibly evicted from hotel rooms they had rented for a peaceful protest. “The hotel did Beijing’s dirty work,” said Butterfield. A subsequent lawsuit reversed the decision, reaffirming U.S. religious-liberty protections and freedom of speech.
Malicious lawsuits. A Chinese émigré living near Shen Yun’s campus in New York filed multiple frivolous environmental suits, all dismissed by U.S. courts. But even then, the actions drained resources and generated damaging publicity. Patterson likened the tactic to harassment used against Jewish congregations in zoning disputes: “They’ll demand fire inspections or parking studies—death by a thousand cuts.”
These are a mixture of lawfare and other tactics. Perhaps not all of it can be headed off at the pass. But as James Roth has noted, “The defense against lawfare will be laws: laws that prevent Beijing’s abuse of foreign courts, its use of local attorneys, and its filing of spurious claims.”
Also see:
StoptheCCP.org: “There Oughta Be Laws to Combat PRC’s Real Lawfare”
