In 2024, authorities in Russia and Serbia persecuted practitioners of Falun Gong as part of Russia’s efforts to strengthen its relationship with China. That’s the kind of thing that goodwill gestures between thug states may consist of.
In May of that year, a Moscow court sentenced Natalya Minenkova to two months in prison for “carrying out the activities of an undesirable organization.” She was convicted right after raids of the homes of five practitioners of Falun Gong (The Epoch Times, May 9, 2024).
“Part of the ‘unlimited partnership’ between China and Russia extends to religious persecution,” former U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom Sam Brownback told The Epoch Times.
“The Chinese Communist Party hates the Falun Gong and now extends this reach into Russia,” he said. “The Axis of Evil countries persecute people of faith they don’t control. This must stop.”
In April 2025, Malaysia detained members of Falun Gong as a way of showing fealty to China on the eve of Chinese Dictator Xi Jinping’s visit to the country (“US State Department Concerned Over Malaysia’s Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners Before Xi’s Visit,” The Epoch Times, May 25, 2025).
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 as a reliable trading partner amid a tariff war with the United States.
The U.S. State Department objects. A spokesman says that the United States calls 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.
“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.”
Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, says that “the CCP is likely behind the scenes trying to expand the persecution against Falun Gong beyond China’s borders. We have seen these tactics before.”
