NEW YORK CITY—Tactics used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to influence public perception in the United States appear to be evolving.

In the past, groups of Chinese individuals were often observed arriving by bus, waving red communist party flags, and positioning themselves to counter human rights protests, particularly those by Falun Gong practitioners, a group persecuted in China.

More recently, are instances in which small groups, including non-Chinese individuals, have participated in protests that appear to align with CCP narratives, based on their signage and materials, The Epoch Times has documented.

These activities have raised concerns among some observers about foreign influence operations in the United States.

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On May 9, a small group of fewer than 10 individuals, primarily non-Chinese, was observed near a human rights parade organized by Falun Gong practitioners in New York City .

The group held banners and distributed materials that appeared to echo the anti-Falun Gong propaganda found in Chinese state media. The materials were written in English, and while a Chinese man was seen filming the group, his role remains unclear.

An Epoch Times freelancer reported overhearing a police officer ask one protester, a black man, if he was paid to participate. The man responded, “$200,” a figure the officer repeated, then turning to colleagues to say, “I told you they were paid.” The Epoch Times has not independently verified this payment or its source.

In other instances, three individuals involved in similar protests—one Hispanic, one black, and one Chinese—stated they participated for financial reasons. The Hispanic individual described the activity as “work,” while the others mentioned needing the money, according to interviews conducted by The Epoch Times.

Sarah Cook, a China researcher who has studied influence operations, expressed concern about the involvement of Americans in activities that may align with CCP objectives, potentially without full awareness of the context.

The purpose of using non-Chinese people makes it seem like it’s authentic and it’s grassroots,” she told The Epoch Times.

“People are going to pay more attention.”

“We see time and again that the tactics that are experimented upon with one target community—particularly Falun Gong—end up then being refined and used against another target,” she said.

At New York City’s Lincoln Center in March, the group distributed printouts attacking Shen Yun Performing Arts, a New York-based classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners.

One individual, a black man, struggled to explain the materials when questioned by an Epoch Times reporter and referred to another protester for clarification.

That protester, Hispanic man Louie Aharon Leal said “There was somebody over here that began appearing two decades ago.”

“Yeah, about performing arts. So just about an article on this paper,” Leal said, declining further comment.

Another protester, a black man in a hoodie, told a reporter from The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD, “Do I look like I work for the communist party? I’m born and raised in Southampton. I know the Hiltons. I chose New York. New York didn’t choose me.”

When asked who organized the protest, he said, “I’d rather not say,” but said he believed in the cause.

“Give me $25 an hour, and I will stop giving these out,” he said in a video reviewed by The Epoch Times, while talking with passersby.

“All I know is that [they] pay me $20 after I hand them out, and this makes me happy.”

He declined to identify who paid him, saying it was “none of your business.”

Another individual, a black man who spoke French, told a Falun Gong practitioner, Qin Lili, through a translation app, that a friend had hired him to protest.

“My friend gave me the job. He told me to go to this address to do the job,” he said.

“After the evening, we’re going to his house so he can give us some money,” he said, according to screenshots of conversations viewed by The Epoch Times.

“I didn’t know what was written on the boards,” he said. “But if I know, I’m not going to do the job. But hey, you explained it to me, I understand now.”

Qin later saw him selling watches in Flushing and said that he promised to discourage others from participating in similar protests.

Leal, when questioned by Qin and another practitioner, Wang Lirong, admitted he only “understood a little” of the Chinese text on his board and was unsure “whether it’s right or wrong.”

Some of the text on the boards is lifted verbatim from a 2024 New York Times article attacking Shen Yun Performing Arts, which Leal referenced. “The New York Times said this is right,” he said.

Leal suggested the materials’ impact was minimal, saying, “A lot of people are busy these days, they probably will throw the paper in the garbage.”

Wang disagreed, telling The Epoch Times, “Just because someone may not read it doesn’t mean you should do something like this. It’s just not right.”

Levi Browde, executive director at the Falun Dafa Information Center, said he believes the protesters’ admission about being paid points to who is behind the protests.

“It is almost certain that the protesters are being rewarded to—wittingly or unwittingly—act at the behest of the Chinese regime to demonize Shen Yun and Falun Gong on the streets of New York,” he said in a statement.

More than 1,500 current and former Shen Yun performers and their families, including more than 600 current staff, have signed a petition urging the U.S. government to investigate alleged CCP operations targeting Shen Yun.

“It is sad to see media companies in the West, wittingly or not, get caught up in the CCP’s illicit, global campaign to destroy the American company we built,” Shen Yun stated last year.

The company said the campaign could “deprive untold millions around the world from experiencing a vision of the China that once was, as well as a vision of a more hopeful and compassionate world

Chu, born in Taiwan, has been associated with pro-Beijing organizations, including the New York chapter of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification and the China Overseas Exchange Association, according to a 2008 Chinese state media article.

He also ran a now-defunct newspaper, the Asia-America Times, which advocated for Chinese control of Taiwan. A 2013 New York Times article described him positively as a community figure, without mentioning these affiliations.

Chu was named in a 2015 lawsuit by Falun Gong practitioners and pro-democracy activists for allegedly supporting violent incidents against practitioners in Flushing in 2008. The lawsuit was settled in 2023 with Chu agreeing to cease interfering with practitioners’ activities in Flushing, according to court records.

Liu has been observed at protests near the Chinese consulate in Manhattan, where he displayed pro-CCP banners, according to several Falun Gong practitioners.

At Lincoln Center in March, an Epoch Times reporter saw Liu hanging a bag containing anti-Shen Yun materials, and he appeared to give instructions to protesters. On April 5, Liu was recorded following a practitioner into David Geffen Hall and making an offensive gesture, according to a video reviewed by The Epoch Times.

Three protesters were seen entering a Flushing building where Chu operates a travel agency, carrying anti-Falun Gong materials, according to videos and photos reviewed by The Epoch Times.

Liu was also observed unloading similar materials at the same location, witnesses reported.

The Epoch Times has not confirmed whether these actions were coordinated or funded by any specific entity.

Since then, Chinese agents have tried to bribe the IRS to investigate Shen Yun, and once went to Orange County, New York—where Shen Yun’s headquarters is based—to collect materials for “a potential environmental lawsuit meant to inhibit the growth of the Falun Gong community” in the county. Local courts have tossed several meritless environmental lawsuits led against Shen Yun by an American businessman with extensive ties to China.

In a post-U.S. election meeting, a Chinese public security official mentioned Shen Yun as a target for elimination in the United States, per the same notes.

“They are spelling out in their plan what we’re actually seeing happen in reality,” Browde told The Epoch Times.