CCP Deletes Question on Australian Prime Minister’s Evacuation From Official Press Conference Transcript

CCP spokesperson Mao Ning spoke about the recent bomb threat against the Australian prime minister, which was later doctored from the transcript.

Members of a Peoples Liberation Army honour guard march in Tiananmen Square after the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or CPPCC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 10, 2024. Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has edited a transcript of a press conference that mentioned the recent bomb threat that forced Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to be evacuated.

A CCP official was questioned on the evacuation of Albanese from his official residence—The Lodge—on Feb. 24 after the Australian Federal Police were notified of Chinese-language threats of violence against the leader unless the Australian-tour performances by New-York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts were stopped.

The official, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, dodged the question about the evacuation during the press briefing, instead saying she had noted the relevant reports but was “not aware of the actual situation.” She then went on to use derogatory terms.

However, a transcript of the press conference, which appeared on the Ministry’s website, saw the question and answer removed.

Yet that edict did not appear to filter down to the CCP Embassy in Australia, which went on to publish the entire exchange on its Facebook page.

Days earlier, the two threats, which had been emailed to the local organizers of the shows, were passed on to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.

The first Chinese-language email threatened the “personal safety of Anthony Albanese and all other Australian high officials” if Shen Yun’s performances were to go ahead.

A second email went further and claimed: “Large quantities of nitroglycerin explosives have been placed around the Australian prime minister’s Lodge, located on Adelaide Avenue in the Deakin area of Canberra, Australia.

“If you insist on proceeding with the performance, then the prime minister’s Lodge will be blown into ruins and blood will flow like a river.”

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Feb. 24 found “no current threat to community or public safety,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

Meanwhile, Queensland Police also confirmed they are investigating a second bomb threat aimed at the Gold Coast Home of the Arts (HOTA), which is hosting Shen Yun.

Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and, through the medium of classical Chinese dance, showcases 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

Despite the threats, the show performed at Surfers Paradise in Queensland on Feb. 25 to positive reviews, and will next travel to Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide.

Transnational Repression Against Shen Yun

The Chinese email threats came just days before scheduled performances by Shen Yun were to begin. The company says it has been a target of Beijing for years.

“We strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party’s escalating campaign of transnational repression targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts and Falun Gong practitioners worldwide,” the Australian presenter of the shows said in a statement. “All threats have been reported to Australian national security and law enforcement authorities. We appreciate the steps taken to ensure public safety and to protect elected officials, including the Prime Minister.”

They also called for a thorough, public investigation of the threats to “address the national security implications of these incidents, strengthen counter–foreign interference safeguards, and hold responsible actors accountable under Australian law.”

The performing arts company was founded by artists who practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a spiritual discipline that features meditative exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

Shen Yun’s performances feature dance pieces that tell the stories of practitioners who’ve faced persecution in China under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which began a nationwide persecution of the faith in 1999, with millions having been arbitrarily detained, tortured, subjected to forced labor, and even killed for their organs to fuel the regime’s lucrative transplantation industry.

The Falun Dafa Information Center, which has been tracking the campaign against Shen Yun, has counted more than 130 death and bomb threats made against the company since March 2024. Dozens more violent threats have targeted U.S. officials and institutions that support Falun Gong, according to the center.

Daniel Y. Teng, Cindy Li, and Eva Fu contributed to this report.