美宗教自由报告揭露中共攻击神韵(English)

周三（6月26日），美国国务院发布了2023年度《国际宗教自由报告》，该报告揭露了中共对法轮功与其它宗教团体的迫害。值得注意的是，报告还再次提到了中共对神韵艺术团的攻击，指出中共向外国剧院施压，打压神韵演出。

这个年度报告在有关中国的部分中，点名中共当局继续严酷打压宗教、少数民族和信仰团体，其中提到法轮功和法轮大法，多达60多次。并提到2023年有188名法轮功修炼者被迫害致死。

该报告再次提到了中共对神韵艺术团的攻击。此前，美国国务院的《国际宗教自由报告》曾多次提到中共对神韵艺术团的干扰及破坏。

神韵艺术团的总部位于纽约，每年在世界各地举行巡回演出，用表演艺术的形式再现中华神传文化，同时唤起人们对中共持续侵犯人权行为的关注。

该报告在描述神韵时写道，“许多演员都是法轮功学员”，“除了中国古典舞之外，有些舞剧还描绘了当今中国（中共）对法轮功学员的宗教迫害”。

法轮功又称“法轮大法”，是以“真、善、忍”为宗旨的佛家修炼法门。1990年代，法轮功通过人传人的方式在全中国蓬勃发展，到了1999年法轮功修炼者已多达一亿人。

1999年，中共宣布法轮功学员为“头号敌人”，在全中国展开了全面的抓捕、酷刑与镇压，企图铲除这一信仰。

神韵以展示“中共之前的中国传统文化”为使命，自2006年成立以来一直是中共政权的攻击目标。

在五大洲逾20国进行全球巡演期间，神韵艺术团的巡演巴士多次遭到破坏，也有演出场馆在收到中共官员的威胁信件后，因为担心经济与外交后果，在最后一刻取消神韵的演出。

2024年4月18日下午，神韵北美艺术团在纽约州帕切斯学院表演艺术中心（The Performing Arts Center,Purchase College）进行了今年本演季在当地的首场演出。（戴兵／大纪元）

韩国是美国的亲密盟友，同时也是中国最大的贸易伙伴。

美国国务院在报告中援引《大纪元时报》的调查指出，中共驻韩国大使馆的一名官员公开表示，“中国大使馆已向韩方通报了中方反对神韵演出的立场”。（先前报导：中共大使馆承认干扰神韵在韩国演出）

自此类干扰活动曝光以来，美国官员已在多个场合表示关切。

在2023年11月于旧金山举行的美中峰会之前，拜登政府的一位高级官员称中共的“经济胁迫”“极具破坏性”。

他对《大纪元时报》的姊妹媒体新唐人电视台说：“我认为这是中国（中共）外交的一个令人担忧的特点。”

“各国要采取措施，通力合作，创造更大的韧性，这一点很重要”，这位官员说，同时各国也应发出集体信息，强调中共的行动“与全球资本体系的顺利运作背道而驰”。

这份宗教自由报告，是在众议院通过《法轮功保护法》（Falun Gong Protection Act）后的第二天发布的，该法案要求中共立即停止迫害法轮功，要求美国制止中共当局支持的活摘器官暴行，以及对中国境内参与活摘器官的人员实施制裁。

2024年6月26日，在华府举行的《宗教自由报告》发布会上，法轮功学员张玉华与美国国务院官员会面后正在发表讲话。（Alex Martin／新唐人电视台）

周三，法轮功学员张玉华（Yuhua Zhang）也出席了报告发布会。她曾是中国一所重点大学俄语系的系主任，她在中国监狱中被关押了七年半，并因信仰问题多次遭受警察骚扰，直到她逃离中国。

张玉华说，狱警会连续几天甚至几周强迫她站着，不让她睡觉，直到她的双腿与身体的其它部分肿胀起来，并出现呼吸困难。

美国国际宗教自由大使拉沙德‧侯赛因（Rashad Hussain）在发表报告时说，张玉华女士是一位“勇敢的领袖”。

张玉华的丈夫目前仍在中国，并受到中共警方的严密监视。自中共开始迫害法轮功以来，他已被判刑十余年。

张玉华说，她对法案的通过和官员们的支持表示感谢。

她告诉新唐人电视台，对中国人来说，这样的行动“就像一盏明灯”。她说：“中共说他们不在乎美国政府的行动。但事实上，他们害怕。”

在这份报告中，美国国务院表示，中共在2023年仍“大量逮捕法轮功学员”，并引述了追踪迫害情况的美国网站“明慧网”的统计指出，中共在2023年关押了755名法轮功学员，在30个省市逮捕了3,457名法轮功学员，并透过突击搜查、勒令参加强制洗脑班、解雇等方式，骚扰另外2,749名法轮功学员。此外，至少有188名法轮功学员被中共迫害致死。

“许多人的死亡与在拘留或监禁期间遭受酷刑受伤有关，还有一些人在得不到适当的医疗救治后死亡。”该报告说。

报告中还提到中共当局对海外的法轮功学员进行实体和数字监控，并骚扰、拘留或以其它方式迫害他们在中国的家人。

在报告发布会上，美国国务卿布林肯（Anthony Blinken）强调，让人人都能选择和实践自己的信仰至关重要，也与其它人权、自由密切相关。

“这份报告推进了我们对未来的愿景”，布林肯指出，“尊重宗教自由可加强其它权利，如自由发言、和平集会、参与政治的权利。”

“保护这项普世人权，可以增强人们表达自我、充分发挥潜能、为社区做出全面贡献的能力。”他说。

（本文部分参考了英文大纪元的报导 US Report Spotlights CCP’s Coercion Against Shen Yun）

Shen Yun’s tour buses have long been targeted for sabotage. Threats have recently escalated against the performing arts company that portrays “China before communism.” (The Epoch Times)

US Report Spotlights CCP’s Coercion Against Shen Yun

The State Department has placed the limelight on Beijing’s persistent efforts to censor Shen Yun Performing Arts, a New York-based arts group that tours the world to present traditional Chinese culture while drawing attention to ongoing human rights abuses in China.

The department’s annual religious freedom report, released on June 26, documents the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) tactics in pressuring venues in multiple countries to “refuse to host or cancel already scheduled performances” by Shen Yun.

“Many of the performers are Falun Gong practitioners,“ the report states in describing Shen Yun, and ”in addition to traditional Chinese dances, some dances portray present-day religious persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.”

Falun Gong is a spiritual practice involving both meditative exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. In 1999, the CCP has declared Falun Gong practitioners a “top enemy,” deploying an all-out campaign to arrest and torture adherents across China, in a bid to eradicate the faith.

Shen Yun, with a mission to showcase “China before communism,” has been a target for the regime since its founding in 2006. During its global tours to more than 20 countries across five continents, the company has suffered several incidents of sabotage to its tour buses and seen venues back out at the last minute after receiving letters from Chinese officials threatening their countries’ economic interests.

The coercion has been relatively effective in South Korea, a close U.S. ally that also counts on China as its biggest trading partner.

The State Department cited an Epoch Times investigation, which got a Chinese Embassy official in South Korea on record as saying that “the Chinese Embassy has been informing the Korean side of the Chinese position against the Shen Yun performance.”

U.S. officials have expressed concern over such strong-arm campaigns on multiple occasions since they came to light.

Ahead of the U.S.–China summit in San Francisco in November 2023, a senior Biden administration official described the CCP’s “economic coercion” as “very damaging.”

“I think it is a concerning feature of Chinese diplomacy,” he told NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.

“And it will be important for countries to take steps going forward to try to either work together to create greater resilience,” he said, but also to send a collective message that the CCP’s actions “are antithetical to the smooth functioning of a global capital system.”

The religious freedom report came just a day after the House passed the Falun Gong Protection Act, which aims to punish perpetrators of crimes of forced organ harvesting against Falun Gong practitioners under the Chinese communist regime.

Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yuhua speaks after meeting with State Department officials at the religious freedom report launch in Washington on June 26, 2024. (Alex Martin/NTD)

Attending the report launch event was Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yuhua, a former dean of the Russian language department at a key Chinese university who spent a combined 7 1/2 years in Chinese prisons and went through repeated police harassment over her faith until she fled the communist country. The prison guards made her stand for days and weeks on end, denying her sleep, until her legs—and then the rest of her body—swelled up and she had trouble breathing.

Rashad Hussain, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, described Ms. Zhang as a “courageous leader” as they announced the report’s release.

Ms. Zhang’s husband is still in China and under the close watch of Chinese police; he has received prison sentences totaling more than 10 years since the CCP’s persecution campaign against the spiritual practice began.

Rashad Hussain (L), ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, and Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yuhua at the State Department’s religious freedom report launch in Washington on June 26, 2024. (Courtesy of Zhang Yuhua)

Ms. Zhang said she was thankful for the bill’s passage and for officials’ support.

For people in China, such efforts are “like a light,” she told NTD. “The CCP says they don’t care about U.S. government action. But indeed, they are afraid.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the lead sponsor of the bipartisan bill, said he hopes those still facing the persecution in China will hang on to hope.

“Hope needs to be alive,” he told NTD. “It’s not happening fast enough, but it is happening over time.”