打击范围更大 牵连在美国求学的子女
蓬佩奥在申明中说，美国“不欢迎”这些侵犯人权的中共官员，无论这些人身在何处，美国都要付诸实施。
蓬佩奥还表示，受签证限制措施影响的中共官员被认为制定镇压政策或行动者，或者是合谋参与此事的人。
这次的签证限制措施没有列明具体名单，而是引据美国的《移民和国籍法》相关条款。一般认为，这授予美国签证官更宽广的行政裁量权，打击范围更大。未来，只要美国认定有从事各类迫害人权行为的中共官员，其本人和家人都拿不到入境签证。
蓬佩奥在12月21日还发出推文说：“中国共产党对信仰的战争瞄准了基督徒、穆斯林、佛教徒和法轮功修炼者。 共产党对它们的迫害不遗余力。”
美国圣托马斯大学国际研究与当代语言学系系主任叶耀元对自由亚洲电台表示，美国不具体点名却预告官员亲属会受影响，这才是最会让中共官场担忧的。
他说，“中国的高官有很多人的子女是在美国读书的，当牵扯到家人的概念时，就可能会牵连到他们在美国求学的子女，甚至是他们的投资。除了是旅行上的不便之外，美国也可能连带开始对他们在美国的资产进行追查。”
台湾民进党籍立法委员郑运鹏对新唐人表示：“中共的高官会担心这个（制裁）动作，因为中共内部也知道，他们高官都把所有掠夺人民的财产，甚至他们的子女，都送到美国去，享受那边的生活条件，然后反过来在中国里面迫害人民。”
在蓬佩奥列举的迫害信仰者中，再次明确提到包括迫害法轮功修炼者的中共官员。美国的制裁对象不仅仅是涉及到本人，还包括他的家人。
在中国大陆，对法轮功迫害者、对人权迫害者，大多都是贪腐的既得利益者，很多人下一步是计划转移资产、出国。
美国的制裁措施对迫害法轮功学员的参与者有极大的震慑。在此之前，黑龙江省市国保、610把被他们绑架到看守所关押了十五天的四个女性法轮功学员释放了，并说：“我没打你们吧？我没骂你们吧？不要通报我，不能不让我家孩子出国。”还有黑龙江“610”头子对法轮功学员抱怨，“出国都出不去了”。
制裁迫害法轮功者 涉及范围最广、牵扯人数最多
在近期，美国政府对中共迫害人权的官员实施了一系列的制裁。在对新疆、香港等人权迫害者的制裁中，遭制裁的中共官员局限在某个地域或者某些政府部门；而针对法轮功的人权迫害者，却分布在中国各地、遍布在中共体制内各级政府部门，几乎是涉及所有单位，涉及范围最广、牵扯人数最多。
时至今日，迫害法轮功被融入中共的各项政治和社会活动中，从政府领导班子考核、“扫黄打非”、“平安建设”、“乡村振兴”，甚至到近期疫情防控等方方面面，都有打压法轮功的内容。
大纪元获得了安徽阜阳《关于反邪教宣传教育情况的说明报告》，报告的落款时间为2020年6月9日。该份内部文件汇总了阜阳“反邪教宣传教育进机关、进社区、进学校、进企业、进家庭、进宗教场所”专项活动的情况。
大纪元获得的河北《古冶区委重点工作任务分解表》中，对法轮功的迫害被列在政府的日常工作内容中。
到目前为止，中共国务院和公安部认定和明确的14种邪教中没有法轮功。时事评论员横河在“法轮功反迫害20周年”研讨会上表示，因为法轮功在中国的法律体系里是合法的，没有破坏任何法律。所以，中共就搞一场政治运动来对付法轮功。
截至2020年12月，至少4,363名法轮功修炼者被确认迫害致死。因中共当局严厉的信息封锁，这一被披露的数字仅是实际情况的冰山一角。
美国政府首次公开制裁迫害法轮功的中共官员
二十多年来，迫害法轮功问题是中共的头号禁忌话题、不能碰的红线。近期，美国政府首次公开制裁了迫害法轮功的中共官员。在12月10日是国际人权日宣布的17名制裁人员中，其中包括迫害中国法轮功学员的厦门市公安局梧村派出所所长黄元雄（Huang Yuanxiong）。
法轮大法信息中心发言人张而平说，“这种对中共参与迫害法轮功的官员的制裁，会有效地制约中共当局对法轮功的迫害，毕竟他们其中的很多贪官污吏都有在海外的资产和家属。”
被美国首次公开制裁的黄元雄，是中共迫害法轮链条中的最基层、官职最小的人员，其参与的“拘留和审讯”也只是所有迫害手段中相对较轻的。外界分析，连黄元雄这样的都符合被制裁的条件，意味着官职比黄元雄高的，迫害手段比黄元雄更残忍的，都在被制裁范围之内。
10天之后，美国对迫害人权的中共官员再祭出了进一步的签证限制措施。
在今年5月份，美国国务院官员还专门告知美国法轮功学员，可以提交迫害者名单给国务院。美国国务院官员说，将更严格的审核签证申请、对人权及宗教迫害者拒发签证，包括移民签证和非移民签证（如旅游、探亲、商务等），已发签证者（包括“绿卡”持有者）也可能被拒绝入境。
黑龙江省密山市国保大队中队长李刚被举报，北京市昌平区法院院长薛春江被举报，黑龙江省肇东市前六一零头目马春生被举报，深圳南山公安分局局长华振强被举报，吉林省榆树市原国保大队长范洪凯被举报……明慧网上，每天有大量的举报出现。
明慧网恶人榜12月15日更新，迄今为止，共公布了105,580名迫害法轮功学员的名单，名单包括了上至发动迫害的江泽民，下至参与迫害的居委会村委会工作人员，并将他们的个人信息和恶行等记录在案。
U.S. Visa Restrictions Expanded, Persecutors of Falun Gong Blocked from Fleeing the U.S.
The U.S. Immigration Service has issued an announcement that members or related members of the Communist Party or any other totalitarian political party will not be allowed to become naturalized in the United States. Pictured is U.S. Customs. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
On the eve of the Christmas and New Year holidays, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on December 21 that the U.S. will impose further visa restrictions on Chinese Communist Party officials who persecute human rights, emphasizing that family members of these officials may also be subject to additional visa restrictions. The U.S. government has announced that it will impose further visa restrictions on officials who persecute Falun Gong.
More Crackdown Involves Children Studying in U.S.
In his statement, Pompeo said the U.S. "does not welcome" these human rights abusing Chinese Communist Party officials, and that the U.S. will enforce them wherever they are.
Pompeo also said that the Chinese Communist Party officials affected by the visa restrictions are considered to be those who have developed repressive policies or actions, or who are complicit in them.
The visa restrictions do not include a specific list, but instead cite relevant provisions of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. It is generally believed that this grants U.S. visa officers broader administrative discretion and a broader scope of action. In the future, any Chinese Communist Party official who the U.S. determines has engaged in any type of human rights persecution will be denied an entry visa for themselves and their families.
Pompeo also tweeted on Dec. 21 that "the Chinese Communist Party's war on faith targets Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners. The Communist Party has spared no effort in persecuting them."
Ye Yaoyuan, chair of the Department of International Studies and Contemporary Languages at the University of St. Thomas, told Radio Free Asia that it is the fact that the U.S. does not specifically name names but forewarns officials that their relatives will be affected that will be most worrisome to Communist Party officials.
He said, "Many of China's top officials have children studying in the U.S. When the concept of family members is involved, it could implicate their children studying in the U.S., or even their investments. In addition to being a travel inconvenience, the U.S. may also, by association, begin to trace their assets in the U.S."
Taiwan DPP legislator Zheng Yunpeng told New Tang Dynasty, "The top officials of the Chinese Communist Party will be worried about this (sanctions) action because the Chinese Communist Party also knows internally that their top officials are sending all the property of the looted people, even their children, to the United States to enjoy the living conditions there, and then in turn persecute the people inside China."
Among Pompeo's list of persecutors of the faith, once again, explicit references include Chinese Communist Party officials who persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The targets of U.S. sanctions do not only involve the person himself, but also his family.
In mainland China, most of the persecutors of Falun Gong and human rights are corrupt people with vested interests, and many are planning to transfer their assets and leave the country as their next step.
The U.S. sanctions have been a great deterrent to participants in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Prior to this, the Heilongjiang Provincial Municipal State Security and 610 released four female Falun Gong practitioners who they had kidnapped and held in a detention center for fifteen days, saying, "I didn't beat you, did I? I didn't scold you, did I? Don't inform me that my children can't be prevented from leaving the country." The head of the Heilongjiang "610" also complained to Falun Gong practitioners, "I can't even leave the country.
Sanctions Against Falun Gong Persecutors Are Widest in Scope and Involve the Largest Number of People
Overseas Falun Gong practitioners held a march and rally to call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. (Minghui.com)
In the recent past, the U.S. government has imposed a series of sanctions on officials of the Chinese Communist Party for persecuting human rights. In the case of the human rights persecutors in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, the sanctioned CCP officials were limited to a certain region or government department, while the human rights persecutors against Falun Gong were spread throughout China and in all levels of the CCP system, involving almost all units, the widest scope and the largest number of people.
To this day, the persecution of Falun Gong is integrated into all political and social activities of the CCP, from government leadership assessment, "combating pornography and illegal activities," "peace building," "rural revitalization," and even the recent epidemic prevention and control, all of which include the suppression of Falun Gong.
The Epoch Times obtained a copy of Anhui Fuyang's "Explanatory Report on Anti-Cult Propaganda and Education," which is dated June 9, 2020. The internal document summarizes the status of Fuyang's special campaign to "promote anti-cult education in organs, communities, schools, enterprises, families, and religious sites.
In Hebei's "Breakdown of Key Tasks of the Guye District Committee," obtained by the Epoch Times, the persecution of Falun Gong is listed as part of the government's daily work.
To date, Falun Gong is not among the 14 cults identified and specified by the CCP State Council and the Ministry of Public Security. In a seminar on the 20th anniversary of Falun Gong persecution, current affairs commentator Henghe said that Falun Gong is legal in China's legal system and has not broken any laws. Therefore, the Chinese Communist Party has launched a political campaign to deal with Falun Gong.
As of December 2020, at least 4,363 Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed to have died as a result of persecution. This disclosed number is only the tip of the iceberg due to a severe information blackout by the Chinese Communist Party authorities.
U.S. Government Publicly Sanctions Falun Gong Officials for Persecution for the First Time
For more than two decades, the issue of persecution of Falun Gong has been a taboo subject for the Chinese Communist Party, a red line that cannot be touched. Recently, for the first time, the U.S. government has publicly sanctioned Chinese Communist Party officials for persecuting Falun Gong. Among the 17 sanctioned individuals announced on December 10, International Human Rights Day, was Huang Yuanxiong, chief of the Wucun Police Station of the Xiamen Public Security Bureau, who persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Falun Dafa Information Center spokesperson Zhang Weiping said, "Such sanctions against CCP officials involved in the persecution of Falun Gong will effectively restrain the CCP authorities from persecuting Falun Gong; after all, many of them are corrupt officials with assets and family members overseas."
Huang Yuanxiong, who was publicly sanctioned by the U.S. for the first time, is the most junior and smallest official in the CCP's persecution chain, and his involvement in "detention and interrogation" is only relatively minor among all persecution methods. According to external analysis, even Huang Yuanxiong is eligible for sanction, which means that those with higher official positions and more brutal persecution methods than Huang Yuanxiong are all included in the sanction.
Recently, Huang Yuanxiong, chief of Wucun Police Station of Xiamen Public Security Bureau, was sanctioned by the United States for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in China. (Web Screenshot)
Ten days later, the United States imposed further visa restrictions on Chinese Communist Party officials who persecute human rights.
In May of this year, U.S. State Department officials also specifically informed U.S. Falun Gong practitioners that they could submit lists of persecutors to the State Department. State Department officials said they would be more stringent in reviewing visa applications and denying visas to human rights and religious persecutors, including immigrant and non-immigrant visas (e.g., for tourism, family visits, business, etc.), and that those already issued visas (including "green card" holders) may also be denied entry.
Li Gang, squadron leader of the state security brigade in Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, was reported; Xue Chunjiang, president of the Beijing Changping District Court, was reported; Ma Chunsheng, former head of June 10 in Zhaodong City, Heilongjiang Province, was reported; Hua Zhenqiang, director of the Shenzhen Nanshan Public Security Bureau, was reported; and Fan Hongkai, former head of the state security brigade in Yushu City, Jilin Province, was reported. ...... A large number of reports appear daily on the Minghui website.
The list of evil people on Minghui.com was updated on December 15, and so far, a total of 105,580 persecutors of Falun Gong practitioners have been published. The list includes everyone from Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, down to the staff of the neighborhood committee and village committee who participated in the persecution, and their personal information and evil deeds are recorded.