On Sunday, Aug. 31 in Annandale Virginia, a number of candidates running in Virginia’s upcoming elections met to speak about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) attempts to infiltrate and influence American society, culture and politics. The conversation was held by the Asian Community Service Center, and marked a rare opportunity to hear directly from candidates about this often overlooked topic.
Mark Yang, a local resident from Fairfax County, who works as a China analyst for a consultancy firm, and who also works as a researcher for the Falun Dafa Information Center, was one of the first to address the crowd at the event.
He acknowledged the variety of communities at the event, saying, “We have Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese. We also have Uyghurs. We have Russians and Germans here as well. So there’s a variety of communities that are interested in this particular issue.”
He said that a presentation aired at the event clearly showed examples of how the CCP is able to utilize “our own systems and institutions to undermine our First Amendment freedoms and also to silence critics that ever dare to challenge its abuses.”
He said that many groups including Falun Dafa practitioners, Uyghers, Hong Kongers, human rights activists and the broader Chinese diaspora live “under constant pressure from the CCP,” even while in the United States.
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“These tactics really have wide ramifications for our national security, national sovereignty and also our way of life. But more immediately, we are feeling these impacts right here in Northern Virginia,” Yang said.
Yang cited the harassment of the Shen Yun Performance Arts by Chinese communist authorities, including around 157 cases of targeted harassment against the performing arts organization.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is a New York–based company that presents classical Chinese dance and music performances. Founded in 2006, Shen Yun aims to revive traditional Chinese culture through elaborate costumes, original orchestral compositions, and storytelling on stage, touring globally to share the art and heritage of China before communism.
“This is just ridiculous, right? How are these things able to happen right here in the United States? It’s extremely concerning. And this is especially so that one of those cases actually happened right here at the Kennedy Center,” Yang lamented.
In February this year a bomb threat was called into the Kennedy Center where Shen Yun was performing. Yang described it as a “crazy terrorist threat by the CCP.”
The threat resulted in the theatre being evacuated; however, Shen Yun Performing Arts proceeded with its scheduled performance that evening.
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Targets of CCP repression
Richard Hayden, a Republican candidate running in the Nov. 4, 2025 general election for the Virginia House of Delegates District 16, addressed the crowd, speaking about the horrifying treatment Uyghur Muslims in China endure.
“What they do with the Uyghur Muslims is they take the 18,19, and 20 year old young men, and they strap them to a gurney. And I don’t mean to be so descriptive here, but, they take the gun and they live harvest the organs from them, and they don’t give anesthesia.”
Hayden went on to explain that anesthesia is not used because it costs money and can damage organs.
Kristin Hoffman, candidate for the House of Delegates for the 6th District, spoke broadly about the “CCP’s infiltration of the United States,” pointing to the oppression of Falun Gong adherents and Uyghur Muslims.
She cited bipartisan letters from 2020 and 2025 signed “overwhelmingly” by Republicans that condemned the CCP for organ harvesting as well as human rights violations. However, she claimed her opponent chose not to sign either letter.
“And while the letter itself was a bipartisan work, please note that it was overwhelmingly signed by Republicans, and I have to say my opponent, a Democrat, did not sign either one,” Hoffman said.
One participant, Mr. Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, said he was from the Uyghur community, and has been personally threatened by an individual who said he was “working for the Chinese.”
He also said that two of his sisters were held in concentration camps in China, that his brother was killed by the Chinese mob and his mother has been missing since August 2016. He asked what can be done to stop this kind of infiltration.
Whitson responded saying that the United States has to “decrease the number of visas that are coming from the Chinese government,” and that more thorough vetting is required before visas are issued.
He also said that removing Chinese money from American politics is required as well.
‘Strength’ is the solution
Among the speakers was Republican Stewart Whitson, a candidate for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District in the upcoming Sept. 9, 2025, special general election.
Whitson is a U.S. Army combat veteran and a former FBI Special Agent. He currently serves as the Senior Director of Federal Affairs at the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a conservative think tank.
He is running on a platform that focuses on reining in federal spending, cutting taxes, eliminating burdensome regulations, promoting work over welfare and making America more affordable.
“So obviously, the threat of China is the biggest national security threat facing our country. But what’s so crazy about it is it’s not just a threat from abroad, it’s a threat from within,” Whitson told the crowd at the event.
He explained that during his tenure as a combat soldier and as an FBI agent he worked on what he described as the “Chinese threat,” and said he saw firsthand how serious the threat was and believes the solution to the issue is a single word, “strength.”
“Weakness invites aggression. And you’ll recall the last time I was here, I reminded you, you know which administration was in power when a Chinese spy balloon slowly floated across the country. That was the Democrats. So they were in power, and their weakness invited that aggression from China,” Whitson argued.
He added that he believes that under the current Trump administration an incident like a Chinese spy balloon floating across the continental United States would not be tolerated.
“And why is that? Because we finally have strength, and so that is the key. If you want to stand up to an adversary like China, you do it through strength, period,” Whitson said.
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‘Transnational repression is real’
James Walkinshaw, also attended the event and spoke about Chinese communist influence in America. Walkinshaw will be running against Whitson in this month’s election.
Walkinshaw is a Democratic politician from Northern Virginia, currently serving as the Braddock District Supervisor on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. He has represented the district since January 2020 and was re-elected in 2023.
He is running on a platform focused on progressive values and a commitment to public service. The key elements of his platform include opposition to Trump policies, support for the federal workforce and IT modernization, and advocacy for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors.
“Transnational repression is real,” he told the crowd, adding, “There’s no question that the CCP and the regime in China are strategic competitors and adversaries in many ways. I fear deeply that the Trump administration’s systematic dismantling of our intelligence agencies and the FBI will make it harder for the United States to counter those Chinese efforts, with respect to repression, with respect to espionage and meddling in our elections and other elements of American life.”
He contends that the current FBI director, Kash Patel, does not have the experience needed in order to adequately address the risk posed by Chinese communist influences in the United States and that the Trump administration’s changes to the country’s intelligence apparatus undermines efforts to address the issue.
“We’ve seen many of the analysts who are experts in countering Chinese espionage either fired or forced out of the FBI, the CIA and other intelligence agencies,” Walkinshaw claimed, adding, “And I think all of us, whatever our political party might be, should be deeply, deeply concerned. There is no group happier to see what the Trump administration is doing to our U.S. intelligence agencies than the regime in Beijing.”
He said that every candidate for federal office needs to stand up and speak out about Chinese communist influence in the United States, an issue he described as “deeply troubling.”
“I think it’s deeply troubling, and we should be asking all of our candidates for federal office, especially whether you’re going to stand up to that and speak out against that. I will. I don’t think my opponent, who was here earlier, will,” he said.
Reporting by Kitty Wang
