Malaysia’s decision to detain dozens of Falun Gong practitioners before and during a visit from Chinese leader Xi Jinping has drawn alarm from the U.S. State Department and human rights advocates.
Two days before Xi’s arrival in mid-April in the country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, about 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.
Those arrested include a woman older than 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 U.N. 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 (CCP) as a reliable trading partner amid a tariff war with the United States.
The U.S. State Department expressed concern about the reports.
“We call 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,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
“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.”
After detaining the practitioners, the Malaysian police had initially promised to let them go home once they finished some procedural paperwork, but reversed course in the early hours of the following morning, seizing the detainees’ phones and Falun Gong books, and sending some detainees to a magistrate court to extend their detention. Some local practitioners reported that their homes were searched during the same period, with one additional person being taken to the police station for questioning.
Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, said the incident raises “serious questions about the Chinese regime’s ability to export its religious persecution abroad.”
“It is clear that the CCP is likely behind the scenes trying to expand the persecution against Falun Gong beyond China’s borders,” he told The Epoch Times. “We have seen these tactics before.”
Officers at the detention site said they acted under “pressure from ... above,” The Epoch Times has learned. Local sources said Chinese agents were surveilling Falun Gong exercise sites and information booths during the weeks before Xi’s visit.
Xi departed Kuala Lumpur on April 17 for Cambodia, with the Malaysian king affirming support for Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative—the China-led infrastructure project critics have said can trap participating countries in debt—and other collaborations with China on trade, culture, and education.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Since 1999, Chinese communist authorities have subjected practitioners to mass arrests, torture, forced labor, sexual abuse, and even forced organ harvesting, in a bid to eliminate the practice.
Falun Gong practitioners have practiced freely in Malaysia for more than three decades.
Browde urged Malaysian authorities to protect religious freedom and “ensure that Chinese Falun Gong practitioners can stay in Malaysia as refugees or move on safely to other countries.”
“For 30 years, Falun Gong practitioners in Malaysia have been able to practice freely and share the beauty of the practice with the Malaysian people,“ he said. ”That is to Malaysia’s credit.
“The global Falun Dafa community appreciates that openness and urges the current authorities to rebuff any CCP pressure to change that situation.”
