The UK government is committed to championing religious freedom and protecting Falun Gong practitioners from Beijing’s transnational repression, a minister says, as the faith group marked the 26th anniversary of the persecution of practitioners by the Chinese regime.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. First introduced to the public in China in 1992, the practice quickly spread by word of mouth to reach an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners by 1999.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also ramped up its transnational aggression against Falun Gong and its related organizations—in particular, Shen Yun Performing Arts, a New York-based arts group founded by Falun Gong practitioners.
The UK Falun Dafa Association said that three UK theaters received bomb and mass shooting threats in February via email just before Shen Yun performances were about to take place.
“These incidents were reported to local police and additional security measures were implemented during the performances to assure everyone’s safety,” the association wrote, in a letter inviting British parliamentarians to attend an event calling for an end to the persecution.
The association stated that Falun Gong information booths in the UK have faced repeated harassment by Chinese individuals, including “verbal abuse, vandalism, theft, destruction, and even physical assault.” It also stated that UK practitioners were subject to harassing phone calls, malware, and surveillance and that Chinese state security officials had threatened their family members in China over their human rights advocacy in the UK.
Writing to the Falun Dafa Association, Catherine West, minister for the Indo-Pacific, thanked practitioners for the invitation on behalf of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
West said the Labor government is “firm in its support for the rights of performance groups, such as Shen Yun, and their audiences.”
“Any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass, or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated,” she said.
The minister reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to promoting and protecting religious freedom via its roles in the United Nations, G7, and other multilateral platforms, as well as through direct dialogue with the Chinese regime.
A number of cross-party members of the UK Parliament and the Scottish Parliament have also condemned the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong in letters and emails to practitioners in their constituencies.
Scottish National Party spokesperson Brendan O'Hara sent best wishes on behalf of the party, saying the SNP will guarantee “continued support as you face intensifying persecution from within China and increasing transnational repression of Falun Gong practitioners abroad.”
He highlighted the findings of the China Tribunal and the U.N. special rapporteurs on minority issues and on freedom of religion or belief, which “both established beyond any doubt that the Falun Gong have been, and continue to be, subjected to the most awful crimes including the unspeakably horrific practice of organ harvesting.” He said that MPs will “continue to speak out against these atrocities” and advocate for everyone’s right to “freely practice their religion and to openly express their deeply held beliefs.”
In March 2020, the tribunal stated in its final judgement that there was “no evidence of the practice [of forced organ harvesting] having been stopped.”
The results of these tests are “registered in a database of living organ sources that facilitates organ allocation,” they wrote.
Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill told a constituent that the UK government should “press the World Health Organization for a clear response to the China Tribunal’s findings and a proper independent assessment,” noting that she would “continue to press the UK Government to send a clear message that we will not stand by and we will not tolerate such gross abuses of human rights.”
Conservative MP Dr. Caroline Johnson, shadow minister for health and social care, said she shares the concern about the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and other groups in China.
“I find their testimonies distressing and their treatment is one of many reasons why the previous Government designated China as one of 32 human rights priority countries for the UK,” she said, noting that she would “keep the UK Government’s actions under close scrutiny to ensure that they set out their concerns to the Chinese Government.”
Conservative MP Richard Holden, the opposition whip and shadow paymaster general, lauded Falun Gong practitioners for “[standing] peacefully for truth, compassion and tolerance” and “raising awareness and for continuing to speak out in defence of fundamental freedoms.”
“I am also troubled by reports of harassment and intimidation of Falun Gong practitioners outside China, including here in the UK. Such transnational repression is unacceptable and must be met with a clear response,” he said.
Conservative Assistant Whip Gregory Stafford, who is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said the CCP is “a threat to our democracy and to the values we hold dear in the West.”
“The treatment of Falun Gong—a peaceful spiritual practice—exemplifies the CCP’s broader assault on freedom of belief, conscience, and expression,” he said. “These abuses are not only a humanitarian crisis but part of a pattern that represents a growing threat to democratic values and international norms.”
Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George said, “The peaceful practice of Falun Gong, rooted in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, and practiced by millions, deserves not only our respect but our resolute protection.”
He said the UK government should “take a firmer stand through targeted sanctions, law enforcement action, and robust support for freedom of belief.”
Other lawmakers who voiced their support for Falun Gong practitioners include Labour MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Baggy Shanker, Labour Peer Baroness Lister of Burtersett, Labour MSP Foysol Choudhury, independent MSP John Mason, SNP MSP Bob Doris, and Scottish Green Party MSP Ariane Burgess.
