The CCP’s Trojan Horse Goes Well Beyond Theft of Research and Technology

(Minghui.org) In a statement on May 28, 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department would begin revoking the visas of Chinese students who have ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or are studying in critical fields.

“America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing, providing unrestricted access to our top research institutions and posing a direct threat to our national security,” Secretary Rubio wrote. “If left unaddressed, this trend will continue to displace American talent, compromise research integrity, and fuel China’s technological ambitions at our expense.”

The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party welcomed the move. “This is exactly the kind of action we need,” wrote the committee in an X post that day.

In the ancient story of the Trojan horse, the Greeks used a wooden horse to enter the city of Troy and win the war. This became a metaphor for inviting one’s foe into a secure, protected area in way that appears harmless.

Having been influenced or brainwashed with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) doctrine, some Chinese students’ and scholars’ involvement in research, intellectual property, and technology can form a critical component of the CCP’s strategic infiltration. In the U.S., for example, the regime has built relationships with not only Chinese students and scholars but also those who were born and raised in America.

The CCP’s decades-long infiltration has caused immeasurable harm to the U.S. and other countries.

Media Warfare

In 2024, the CCP launched a new series of attacks against Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts in the U.S. through high-profile media outlets such as The New York Times. One of the authors of these articles, Nicole Hong (also known as Hong Qianqian), could represent a new generation of CCP Trojan horses.

Falun Gong is a meditation system based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, while Shen Yun is a performing arts group that showcases authentic Chinese culture. So, why have they been targeted? The traditional values they represent are what the CCP fears most, because these are the values the CCP aimed to eradicate during its numerous political campaigns after the regime took power in China in 1949.

The CCP has since exported its suppression tactics overseas. It launched a media war through mainstream American outlets and social media platforms, together with its manipulation of popular search engines and control over Chinese associations and communities in the U.S. While downplaying the persecution of Falun Gong and suppressing positive information about the spiritual discipline, it uses America’s freedom of speech to directly spread disinformation to smear Falun Gong. Meanwhile, CCP-backed media personalities feed the American public lies that are consistent with the CCP’s propaganda.

The CCP has also set up secret police stations in the U.S., bribed overseas Chinese organizations in Chinatowns, and paid “little pinks” to post pro-CCP content on social media. For at least half a century, and especially after the U.S. helped China join the World Trade Organization (WTO), these CCP agents have been spreading ever wider and deeper throughout America. Although the CCP tries to hide its involvement in these influence campaigns, plenty of evidence remains.

In my view, the U.S. State Department’s plan to review and revoke Chinese students’ visas is mainly applicable to the third generation of CCP Trojan horses. These people were indoctrinated with hatred for America before they entered the country. The vast majority are members of the CCP Youth League or the Party itself. Few of them understand how vicious the CCP is.

After the 2024 U.S. election, more Americans saw through The New York Times’ involvement in misleading the public with the “Russia collusion” narrative. But many people in mainland China and Europe still hold the paper in high regard, providing the CCP with an exploitable entry point to activate the Trojan horse already planted in the paper.

According to the website of the Zhejiang Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese in China, Nicole Hong’s father, George Hong (Hong Zhaohui), was born in Zhejiang Province, China, in August 1959. He studied in the U.S. at the University of Maryland and earned Master’s and doctoral degrees in American economic history before teaching at Savannah State University in Georgia, West Chester University in Pennsylvania, and Purdue University.

The same website shows that George Hong organized at least six lecture groups for Chinese students in the U.S. to visit China. He initiated and organized the Chinese Language School Association of the United States and served as its first vice president. He is the main initiator of the Chinese Professors Association in the United States and served as its first executive vice president and secretary general. He also served as the director of the Asia-Pacific Research Committee of Savannah State University in Georgia.

In 2006, the CCP nominated him for the “Top Ten Outstanding Overseas Students Serving the Country in Zhejiang Province” award. George Hong is still listed in the “Overseas Honorary Director” column of the “Fourth Council” of the official website of the Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA), a CCP united front organization. The CCP’s “united front” strategy consists of a network of Party-controlled individuals and organizations that carry out its agenda overseas without giving an outward appearance of CCP involvement.

According to an article published online by the Zhoushan Middle School in Zhejiang Province, “Dr. Hong Zhaohui... has returned to China seven times to attend international conferences and lecture at some domestic universities and academic institutions in Taiwan and Hong Kong. People’s Daily Overseas Edition, CCTV’s “Window on America,” and other media conducted exclusive interviews and reports on his academic research activities at home and abroad. He also met with, and was photographed twice with President Jiang Zemin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.” This shows how much the CCP values Nicole Hong’s father.

How to Identify and Stop the CCP’s Trojan Horse

“The U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” said the U.S. State Department on May 28. “We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.”

If American leaders look away when the CCP infiltrates American universities, steals American research, intellectual property, and technology to strengthen its military, collects intelligence, and suppresses dissenting voices on U.S. soil, then it would be no surprise when generations of Americans are assimilated by the CCP’s united front work. They may not see the CCP’s assault on traditional values and instead may regard the CCP as part of the normal world. This is a testament to the CCP’s success.

Since its founding, the U.S. has upheld justice in the international community and condemned human rights abuses and the persecution of religious freedom. However, the CCP has persecuted Falun Gong for nearly 26 years, yet American media outlets continue to remain silent about the issue or repeat the CCP’s propaganda about why it wants to eradicate the practice. As the recent media attacks show, the CCP has been able to use the freedom of speech in the U.S. to suppress Falun Gong outside China.

The United Nations has publicly declared its opposition to hate speech. There is no formal definition of “hate speech” in international human rights law, so most UN documents refer to “incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence.” According to the UN website, “direct and public incitement to genocide” and “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” are strictly prohibited by international law and are considered “the most serious form of hate speech.”

The CCP mobilized all its propaganda machinery in mainland China to incite hatred against Falun Gong, resulting in the deprivation of their basic human rights as well as the safety of tens of millions of practitioners and their families. It encouraged courts, police, military, and doctors to “beat Falun Gong practitioners to death without any reason, count [their deaths] as suicide, and cremate the body without checking [their] identity,” and to harvest their organs while they are alive. The policy of “defaming their reputation, bankrupting them financially, and eliminating them physically’ set by the CCP’s former leader Jiang Zemin in 1999 is still in place. So, what are the serious consequences of the CCP’s media wars and lawsuits against Falun Gong overseas, especially in the United States?

If American society cannot see the true nature of the CCP in a timely and thorough manner, then the CCP, which has been strengthened economically by the U.S. and fattened by the World Trade Organization, will never give up its struggle for world domination, let alone willingly step down. The media war and lawsuits launched by the CCP in the U.S. against Falun Gong and Shen Yun are examples of the CCP’s increasingly aggressive reach into other countries. The longer it drags on, the deeper the harm incurred to both American and Chinese people, and the more complicated and serious the impact on efforts to counter the persecution in the U.S.

One of the major differences between Chinese medicine and Western medicine is that Chinese medicine treats the root cause while Western medicine treats the symptoms. If the root cause is not removed, the illness does not go away, and the symptoms may change. Only by thoroughly recognizing the true, violent nature of the CCP can we find a fundamental solution for America and the world and stop the CCP’s harm.

The Wisdom of Canadian Leaders

On May 28, 2025, Falun Gong practitioners gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of Falun Dafa’s introduction and World Falun Dafa Day. Fifteen Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) also came to Parliament Hill to celebrate and deliver speeches of support.

Among them, Conservative MP Michael Cooper said in his speech that Falun Gong has become the target of the CCP’s persecution because the practice is good and because the CCP opposes the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. “As a member of Parliament, I will go—as I have for years—into that chamber to stand up and speak out in support of Falun Dafa,” he added.

Conservative MP James Bezan, also Conservative Party Shadow Minister of Defense, said at the event, “The core principles of Falun Dafa—Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—are really all about the principles of us as Canadians.”

“It is great to see Falun Dafa practitioners at such events, rain or shine,” said Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux. As he did in the past, he came to show his support for Falun Dafa practitioners in Canada and around the world. A strong advocate for Bill S-223, an Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (trafficking in human organs), he is aware of the persecution practitioners suffer in China. He said what practitioners have done to spread the facts and promote spiritual well-being is very important.

Conservative MP Dan Muys said he attends Falun Dafa Day celebrations in Ottawa every year. “Thank you for coming here and [for the] peaceful demonstration each year to extol the virtues of truth, compassion, and forbearance, which are virtues that the world needs more of,” he added.

Summary

The wisdom of these Canadian officials will surely benefit their country and people in the future. Since the CCP is against traditional values, the principles of the Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are one of the best ways to end the CCP’s infiltration. The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, published in 2004, also helps people understand what the CCP is. Inspired by the book and other resources, over 447 million Chinese people have chosen to separate themselves from the Party by renouncing their current and former party and youth organization memberships.

Whether in the United States or China–either with the CCP or in the post-communism era, glory and prosperity are not controlled by human beings; instead, they are bestowed by the divine. Only by returning to traditional values and rejecting the CCP’s influence can human beings earn these blessings and move toward a bright future.