Taiwanese Police Trace Fake Bomb Threats Targeting Shen Yun to Huawei Institute in China
Screenshot of the homepage of Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) website, taken on April 9, 2025. (Faluninfo)
On April 5, the Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times reported that the police’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) had launched an investigation into a series of bomb threats targeting performances in Taiwan by Shen Yun, a U.S.-based classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners. The police investigation concluded that the source of the threatening messages was in Xi’an, a city in Shaanxi Province, China, specifically from the “Huawei Research Institute,” tying the threats to the Chinese tech giant with close CCP ties.
According to the paper:
“Although the perpetrators used foreign VPNs to disguise their locations, with IP addresses traced to various countries, the CIB’s cybercrime unit, along with other units, compiled data and traced the source back to Xi’an, China. The most critical clue pointed to the Huawei Research Institute in the region, and investigators concluded that suspects associated with Huawei might be involved in the threats.”
Since March 2024, Shen Yun performances, its headquarters, and other Falun Gong practitioners have been targeted with over 80 anonymous threats of violence, including graphic depictions of bombings, shootings, and sexual assault. In March alone, eighty percent of the 35 documented threats targeted Shen Yun Performing Arts and its venues. The threats are typically sent via email or website contact forms and to date, no actual acts of violence have occurred. Nevertheless, the threats serve to intimidate, deter potential audience members, and increase security costs.
As Shen Yun has toured Taiwan, a new spate of at least 13 threats have appeared, including ones targeting local officials. This spurred Taiwanese law enforcement to launch an investigation. Its findings are the first clear evidence that the fake threats targeting Shen Yun may be coming from China and from an entity like Huawei, which has close ties to the CCP. At the request of the Falun Dafa Information Center, a source in Taiwan contacted the police bureau, which confirmed the veracity of the news report.
“This investigation is significant for showing that a barrage of anonymous violent threats targeting Shen Yun and Falun Gong are indeed coming from China and possibly even from Huawei employees,” said Levi Browde. “We urge U.S. and Taiwanese authorities to continue their investigations and hold those responsible for this intimidation and transnational repression to account. This behavior is dangerous, illegal, and aims to silence the very artistic expression the CCP doesn’t want the world to see. It must be stopped.”
According to local news reports in Taiwan, the threats targeting Shen Yun are not the only ones that have been traced to Xi’an. Other recent incidents of death and bomb threats targeting film screenings and Taiwanese officials have also reportedly been traced to the city.
