A Timeline of Change
December 20, 2019
President Donald Trump approved a defense bill on
December 20, 2019 that authorizes a topline of $738
billion for fiscal year 2020.
Public opinion holds that this is an unprecedented
increase in spending with the Chinese Communist Party
as a strategic goal.
December 8,
2019
Ms. Zhu Wanqi, the General Coordinator of “Global Support for Chinese People's Accusation against Jiang Zemin's Persecution of Falun Gong”, released the latest global report statistics. From July 2015 to December 5, 2019, more than 3.5 million people in 37 countries around the world signed criminal reports and reported Jiang Zemin's persecution against Falun Gong to the Supreme People's Procuratorate and Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China.
The 37 participating countries include: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Romania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine and Australia.
December 3-4,
2019
The 29 NATO member states, led by the United States, reached a statement in London, reaffirming their mutually supportive positions, and for the first time pointed out that the CCP poses new challenges to NATO.
December 3,
2019
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act. The Italian Parliament's Foreign Committee unanimously passed the Hong Kong resolution.
December 2,
2019
Australia invested almost $88 million on the establishment of a new "Anti-Foreign Intervention Working Group", encompassing Australia Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), Australian Signals Directorate and Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organization (AGO), enabling different intelligence units to share intelligence and jointly arrest and prosecute the target personnel.
December,
2019
Minghui Report: The 20-Year Persecution of Falun Gong in China
November,
19-27, 2019
On November 19, the US Senate passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (HKHRDA)
via unanimous consent. On the 20th, the House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the Act with 417: 1 votes. On the 27th, US President Donald Trump signed the Act to allowing it to become United States federal law that requires the U.S. government to impose sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong, and requires the United States Department of State and other agencies to conduct an annual review to determine whether changes in Hong Kong's political status (its relationship with mainland China) justify changing the unique, favorable trade relations between the U.S. and Hong Kong.
November 16, 2019
Minghui.org Debuts List of 105,580 Perpetrators of Persecution of Falun Gong
August 5, 2019
The United States has listed China as a currency manipulator. This is the first time in 25 years that the United States has classified China as a currency manipulator. Trade war is likely to escalate into currency war.
July 6, 2018-2019
China–United States trade war
On July 6, 2018, the Trump Administration formally imposed a 25% tariff on US $ 34 billion worth of Chinese exports to the United States in the first tax list, marking the official implementation of Trump's China tariff policy (the remaining $16 billion goods were subsequently levied a 25% tariff on August 23). The Chinese Ministry of Commerce later stated in a statement "the United States has violated WTO rules and launched the largest trade war in economic history to date." China's General Administration of Customs stated that China's countermeasures have been implemented as soon as the U.S. additional tariffs have taken effect.
On December 13, both the United States and the Chinese Communist Party officially confirmed that the two sides reached an agreement on the text of the first-stage economic and trade agreement.
The United States Trade Representative's Office (USTR) stated that the agreement requires the Chinese economic and trade system to carry out structural reforms in the areas of intellectual property, technology transfer, agricultural products, financial services and exchange rates; China promises to purchase large quantities of American goods and services in the next few years. According to Trump, the United States previously imposed a 25% tariff increase on US $ 250 billion Chinese goods will maintain, 15% tariff imposed on US $120 billion Chinese goods in September will be cut in half (7.5%).
May to October, 2019
On May 16, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting us companies to use telecommunications equipment and services provided by companies owned or controlled by "foreign opponents". The US Department of Commerce announced that Technologies Co Ltd and 70 affiliates
were added to the export control "entity list". On August 7, the White House announced a ban on US government agencies from purchasing Huawei equipment and services. On August 19, another 46 Huawei affiliates were added to the "Entity List." On October 8, eight high-tech companies including Hikvision and 28 institutions and enterprises including the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau were included in the "Entity List." In the past 3 and a half years, more than 200 CCP companies and institutions have been listed in the "Entity List" by the United States.
May 2019
Following the legislation of dismantling of communist statues and monuments, the Polish government amended the Criminal Law to comprehensively prohibit the spread of communism in any form, and offenders face up to three years imprisonment. The law amendment was passed in the Polish House of Representatives in May 2019, and formal legislation will need to be passed by the Senate and signed by the President.
March 25, 2019
The fourth Committee on the Present Danger was established in Washington D.C.
February 22, 2019
The Central Election Commission of Ukraine announced that it had rejected the registration of Ukrainian Communist leader Petro Symonenko as a candidate for 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. In addition to Petro Symonenko, more than 20 other Communists who submitted applications were also refused registration.
January 28, 2019
The US Department of Justice announced 23 charges against Huawei and its two affiliates.
October 30, 2017
The “Wall of Grief ”, a monument in Moscow to the victims of political persecution by Joseph Stalin during the country's Soviet era, was unveiled. This is Russia's first national monument of this kind.
June 22, 2017
The Polish parliament passed a law amendment ordering the dismantling of all statues and monuments symbolizing and praising communism and autocracy within a year. The Polish parliament issued a statement saying that passing similar laws is a clear signal to society that the Poland prohibits and opposes authoritarian systems and condemns the spread of authoritarian ideas. The statement also said that monuments to those who have committed serious crimes in history, if preserved, will provide proponents of authoritarian regimes with the opportunity to spread wrong ideas and negatively affect society. The amendment was signed by the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda in July. The amendment, which came into effect on October 21, 2017, involves statues, busts, monuments, monuments, embankments, inscriptions, reliefs, and various other signs.
January 10, 2017
China Human Rights Accountability Center was established. Ten sponsors include: Cao Yaxue, Zhou Fengsuo, Yang Jianli, Chen Guangcheng, Teng Biao, Han Lianchao, Fu Xiqiu, Fang Zheng, Hu Jia, and Tong Mu.
December 12, 2016
US Congress enacted the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which allows the U.S. government to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world.
The act is designed to authorize the US government to sanction human rights abusers and corrupt actors worldwide. The main sanctions include: disqualification from US visas, revoking existing US visas, freezing assets in the United States, and banning their assets from trading in the United States. The specific enforcement agency is the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
July 27, 2016
The European Parliament passed a new declaration that condemns organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China and calls on the continent’s political elite to do something about it.
On the evening of June 13, 2016,
The US House of Representatives passed House Resolution 343 (H.Res.343) by unanimous consent. The resolution expresses concerns over China’s organ procurement from non-consenting prisoners of conscience, including from “large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups.”
May, 2016
Poland's " Decommunization Law" came into effect after being signed by the president. The law prohibits the propaganda of communism and other authoritarian totalitarian regimes and explicitly mentions that the totalitarian rule of the Communist Party from 1944 to 1989 symbolized the loss of sovereignty and political persecution in Poland. Therefore, events, dates, individuals, organizations, etc. that are related to communism and other authoritarian systems and can play a propaganda role should never appear in names. The law requires that the names, or place names of squares, streets, roads, bridges with implications of communist and other authoritarian totalitarian systems must be changed throughout the country.
August 23, 2015
The Tallinn Declaration initiated the formation of an international tribunal. At an international conference held in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, Attorney General Linsaru announced that he would take the lead in the formation of an international institution for reckoning of communism. He signed the Tallinn Declaration with representatives from the Justice Departments of eight Eastern European countries, announcing the establishment of an international working group to advance the establishment of the international tribunal. The eight participating countries are: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, and Georgia.
April 9, 2015
The Ukrainian parliament passed legislation to completely ban the signs of communist rule in Ukraine, including the national flag, the national emblem, the national anthem, the sickle, the hammer, the pentagram, etc., of the former Soviet Union era; ban the signs of the Communist Party, including portraits of party leaders, and street names named after the party leaders, etc., ban all festivals related to the Communist Party, and ban invoking speeches by party leaders. All street and city names that bear the communist mark need to be renamed.
In July, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine ordered the Communist Party to be banned from elections; in early October, the court ordered the banning of the other two Communist parties—the Communist Party of Workers and Peasants, and the " Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed)"; December 16, Ukraine District Administrative Court in Kiev banned the Communist Party of Ukraine.
September 2014
Ukraine passed the law on lustration,
which has banned members of former Ukrainian Communist Party, Communist Youth League, and former National Security Council officials from taking up positions in the government.
September 26, 2014
Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnický awarded bonuses and certificates to 38 people who resisted communism in the mid-twentieth century in recognition of their contributions to the fall of the Czechoslovak Communist regime. The Czech government has issued anti-communist warrior certificates to 660 people who engaged in anti-communist activities between 1948 and 1989.
August 7, 2014
The Cambodian special court sentenced former Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea, and Khieu Samphan to life imprisonment for murder and extermination.
2014
61 Vietnamese Communist Party officials issued an open letter asking the government to abandon Marxism-Leninism and not to rely on China any longer. At present, Vietnam’s democratic reform has basically achieved intra-party democracy and has laid a solid foundation for democratic politics. More importantly, it has basically achieved judicial independence and avoided "the party is greater than the law." Former Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải even declared that Vietnam would become an American-style democracy in the future.
December 12, 2013
European Parliament passed a resolution on organ harvesting in China, calling on the Chinese government to “end immediately the practice of harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience and members of religious and ethnic minority groups.” The resolution also called for “a full and transparent investigation by the EU into organ transplant practices in China, and for the prosecution of those found to have engaged in such unethical practices”
December, 2012—December, 2019
The U.S. Congress passed The Magnitsky Act, which was later signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009.
Since 2016 the bill, which applies globally, authorizes the US government to sanction those who it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the U.S.
In addition to the United States, Estonia, Canada, Lithuania, Latvia and the British Overseas Territory Gibraltar have passed the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. In 2017, Canada introduced its own version called the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act.
In November 2019, the Netherlands first passed the Dutch version of the Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, requiring the government to put Chinese and Hong Kong officials, who use excessive force to suppress demonstrators into the sanctions list starting from January 31, 2020
On December 10, 2019, the foreign ministers of EU member states have unanimously agreed to formulate a new sanctions bill against human rights abusers. It is said that this will be an "EU version of the Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act", marking the EU's determination to joining the global sanctions force on protecting human rights, which is an important support to Hong Kong's democratic protesters who are experiencing a human rights disaster.
November17, 2011
Act on the Participants in Anti-Communist Opposition and Resistance was adopted by the Czech Parliament. The Act was designed to recognize those who have sacrificed their lives, personal freedoms and property during the period of communist totalitarianism in their efforts to defend the ideas of freedom and democracy. The winners include not only the victims of the Communist regime but also those who actively opposed and resisted the Communist regime.
2011
An International Non-Government Organization for the Platform of European Memory and Conscience was established. This platform, based in Prague, the Czech capital, unites 48 governments and private institutions in 18 European and American countries to investigate and reflect on the crimes of totalitarianism in Europe in the twentieth century.
July 26, 2010
Cambodia Tribunal or Khmer Rouge Tribunal sentenced Kang Kek Iew the former executioner of Khmer Rouge to 35 years in prison and later to life imprisonment. Established in 2003, the Tribunal was set up for the trial of the Pol Pot regime and is jointly administered by the United Nations and Cambodia.
2010
Foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic demanded that the use of the Communist emblems be banned within the EU.
January 14, 2010
The Kiev Appeals Court ruled that the leaders of the former Soviet Union, including Joseph Stalin, were responsible for the famine that killed about 4 million Ukrainians in 1930s, and these Soviet leaders had committed genocide.
December 17, 2009
Judge Octavio Araoz de Lamadrid of the Argentina Federal Court No. 9 made a historic decision on December 17, 2009. Judge Lamadrid has issued arrest warrants for the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Jiang Zemin, and Luo Gan, former head of the 610 Office, for their role in the persecution of Falun Gong. The two high-ranking CCP officials were charged with crimes against humanity. Judge Lamadrid ordered the Interpol Department of the Federal Police of Argentina to carry out the arrest. Argentina is the second country in the world after Spain to take legal against human rights abuses by the CCP.
November 30, 2009
Polish president, Lech Kaczynski signed a law, banning production, possession, purchase or distribution of items containing communist symbols, including such as sickle, axe, red flag, red star, and Nazi symbols. The law states that people who possess, purchase or distribute items or recordings containing communist symbols can be fined or imprisoned for up to two years. The leader of the Polish opposition "Law and Order" party stated that communism is as much a symbol of genocide as fascism and that communism marks cannot exist on Polish soil.
November19, 2009
Spanish National Court indicted five high-ranking CCP officials including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Bo Xilai, Jia Qinglin and Wu Guanzheng for their role in the persecution of Falun Gong. The charges against them were genocide and torture. The court's notification stated that if the crimes are established, the defendants will face up to at least 20 years in prison with additional financial punishment.
September 2009
The National Capital Commission of Canada agreed with the proposal of Tribute to Liberty to establish a Memorial to Victims of Totalitarian Communism—Canada, a Land of Refuge.
April 2, 2009
The European Parliament passed a resolution in a plenary session on European Conscience and Totalitarianism, condemning totalitarian and communist autocracy, The resolution calls for the proclamation of 23 August as a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, to be commemorated with dignity and impartiality.
June 30, 2008
The Polish Court of Appeal announced that it has sued Poland's last Communist leader, Wojciech Jaruzelski.
June 24,2008
The Australian Senate unanimously passed Motion No. 127, calling on the CCP to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. This is the first time the Australian Parliament has formally stated its opposition to persecution.
June 14, 2008
The Baltic countries named June 14th as the “Memorial day for victims of communism genocide”.
May 29, 2008
Estonia established Foundation for Investigation of Communist Crimes to investigate and publish various crimes in the socialist system and the Communist country, and to prove to people that as an ideology, the Communist system is a criminal system just like Nazi fascism. Former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar, one of the founders, said another mission of the Foundation is to support countries that have shaken off the communist system and help people in countries that are still under the Communist autocracy.
June 12, 2007
Victims of Communism Memorial was completed in Washington D.C. US President George W. Bush participated the dedication ceremony, where he compared Communism to terrorism in his speech.
July 2006
A prominent Canadian human rights lawyer, David Matas, and a former Canadian Member of Parliament and Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) David Kilgour, jointly released an investigative report containing 53 types of evidence in July 2006, which was compiled into the book, "Bloody Harvest." In July 2012, they edited the contributions of seven experts and published the book “State Organs: Transplant Abuse in China”. It revealed "the evil yet to be seen on this planet”—live organi harvesting, committed by the CCP against Falun Gong groups, which has aroused strong international response.
January 27, 2006
The parliamentary assembly of the European Commission, consisting of 46 member states, passed a resolution for the first time to publicly condemn crimes committed by the Communist totalitarian regime, requiring the former Eastern European Communist countries to modify textbooks and build monuments to the victims of the communist totalitarian regime. This is the second time Europe publicly condemns the crimes committed by a totalitarian system, with the first time being the Europe’s public condemnation of crimes committed by Nazi Germany half a century ago.
December 14, 2005
The Political Affairs Committee of the Europe Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of met in Paris, France to discuss and adopt a report entitled " Need for international condemnation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes ", which means important international institution condemns Communist crimes and Communist system publicly at the political level.
July 2005
The Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP
(Chinese Communist Party) proposes to set the founding day of CCP as "Global Quitting CCP Day" and set July as "Global Quitting CCP Month".
November 9, 2004
The Epoch Times website published the "Nine Commentary on the Communist Party." Later on, the "Nine Commentaries" has been translated into 27 languages, including English, Japanese, German, French, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Italian. Related seminars have been held in 50 major cities around the world, which have profound impact on world-wide reflection on the communist ideology and a clear understanding of the nature of the CCP regime. At the beginning of 2005, Epoch Times published a “solemn declaration” and established the website for quitting the CCP.
May 2004
Latvia has banned communism by adopting the law "Communism and Nazism are crimes".
Jan 20, 2003
The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) was founded. It is based in New York with branches in Europe, Australia, Asia and Canada.
May 22, 2002
The Czech Communist Victims Memorial was unveiled, and a nearby bronze plaque read: "The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all victims not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian despotism"
July 20, 1999
Chinese Communist Regime led by Party Secretary General Jiang Zemin started the barbaric persecution against Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation.
December 1998
The Polish parliament passed legislation to establish the Institute of National Remembrance to investigate political persecution during the communist era.
1997
The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression was published in France. This is a history of political persecution in communist countries, including extrajudicial executions, exiles, and human famine caused by the implementation of communist policies.
March 1992
In the second parliamentary election in Albania, the Socialist Party (formerly known as the Communist Party of Albanian ---Party of Labor) lost, thus marked the fall of Albanian Communist rule.
December 25, 1991
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation and transferred state power to the Russian president. The former Soviet Union officially disintegrated.
December 8, 1991
The heads of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement to formally declare, in the capacity of the founding countries, the end of the Soviet Union.
December 1991
A referendum was held in Ukraine. The result of the referendum showed that the vast majority of Ukrainian citizens supported the declaration of independence and completely broke away from Communist rule.
October 1991
Bulgaria held general election, announcing the end of Communist rule in Bulgaria. Later, the former Communist Party leader Zivkov was sent to court.
October 3,1990
East and West Germanys reunified and declared the end of the communist regime in East Germany. General Secretary of the German Communist Party Erich Honecke was indicted guilty of mass murder. In 1993, the German Federal Government decided to rebuild a symbolic 70-meter-long Berlin Wall in honor of this major event in history.
April,1990
Czechoslovakia was changed to "Czech and Slovak Federal Republic" and federal parliamentary elections were held. Former leaders of the Communist Czechoslovakia, Gustav Husak and Milous Jakes, were deposed because of their support for the Soviet invasion of the Czechoslovak Republic, and were facing legal trial.
March,1990
In May 1989, János Kádár, leader of the Hungarian Communist Party, was removed from office as party chairman and member of the Central Committee. In October, the Congress amended the constitution to establish a presidential system. In the March 1990 general election, the Democratic Forum party won and declared the fall of Hungarian Communist rule.
December,1989
Czechoslovakia dismantled border defense. Communist rule disintegrated in Eastern Europe.
December 25,1989
The military tribunal convicted the Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu for the killings and illegal possession of large amounts of property of unknown origin, and executed the same day. The Romanian Communist regime officially fell.
November17, 1989
The "velvet revolution" broke out in the Czech Republic, ending the communist rule peacefully.
November 9, 1989
The fall of the Berlin Wall marks the end of the Cold War. Former East German Central Politburo member Gunter Schabowski announced the abandonment of the Berlin Wall, tens of thousands of people took to the streets, and demolished the wall separating East and West Germany.
August 1989
Hungary open border.
August 23, 1989
The spirit of the Baltic Way-two million Baltic people holding hands to form a 600-kilometer-long chain of people across the three countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, showing to the shocked world its determination to end Communist rule; 1990 Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia successively declared independence and ended Communist rule.
June 4,1989
The Chinese Communist Party sent military troops to suppress the students’ democratic movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square people's movement.
June 4, 1989
In Poland's first general election, Solidarity (Polish trade union) gained 35% and 99% of the seats in the lower house (the Sejm) and the upper house (the Senate) respectively, and elected the first non-Communist prime minister. On December 29, the parliament passed an amendment to the constitution, changing the name to the Republic of Poland and changing the national emblem.