The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in its hearing on October 16, heard recommendations from lawmakers and human rights advocates to address serious violations of religious freedom committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“For decades, the US government has been a leader in combating violations of religious freedom in China,” said Asif Mahmood, vice president of the commission. It added that it has also “sanctioned Chinese government officials” and “supported independent media and non-governmental organizations that denounce violations.”
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In that sense, he said that the USCIRF “urges the US government to continue prioritizing religious freedom by designating China as a country of particular concern, raising religious freedom issues with Chinese officials, and supporting independent civil society.”
He added that the United States “cannot afford to sit on the sidelines in this matter” because “the lives and well-being of millions of people are at stake.”
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the CCP imposed mandates that “reflect core socialist values and push for the harmonization of religion with party-sanctioned Chinese culture.”
“For a religious organization to even exist in China, it must apply for and obtain a permit from the government,” Risch said. However, the government has “forcibly eradicated religious elements that do not conform to the CCP’s agenda.”
This includes “destroying access to churches and replacing images of Jesus Christ with images of Xi Jinping,” Risch added. “China imprisons thousands of practicing Muslims, Buddhists and Christians every year for their religious beliefs and many are subjected to forced indoctrination and torture.”
Risch claimed that the fallout from the country’s “fake” national security law meant “Hong Kong authorities targeted pro-democracy religious groups and activists like Jimmy Lai, a devout Catholic who was tragically denied Holy Communion in prison.”
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said American leaders must remain “critical in denouncing the persecution of Christians and other religious groups around the world.” This is crucial because the CCP “has no interest in protecting freedom of religion…it continues to restrict religious practice, destroy churches, and imprison religious minorities,” Budd stated.
“Uyghurs, Tibetans, Catholics, Protestants and Falun Gong practitioners are tortured and attacked every day. The spirit of religious persecution demonstrates the CCP’s disregard for human life and natural law,” Budd stated.
“Until China changes course, US policy should be to hold it accountable for its serious violations of religious freedom,” Budd concluded. The United States should continue to consider China a country of particular concern, he said.
Other speakers, including Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said the United States must protect religious freedom within its own country while working to help other countries. He asked, “How can Americans expect to be taken seriously globally if our leaders don’t stand up for religious freedom here?”
Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, declared: “The CCP not only threatens American interests. It threatens the very idea that human beings are born free, that truth exists beyond the reach of the state, and that no government can claim ownership of the soul.”
“Under Xi Jinping, the CCP has declared war on faith itself. Today, across China, the party is carrying out the most systematic campaign of religious persecution since the Cultural Revolution,” Moolenaar stated. “They call it sinicization of religion, but what it really means is subjugation.”
Panelists and suggestions
Annie Boyajian, representing Freedom House, an organization dedicated to the fight for democracy and human rights, told the commission that, “first and foremost,” Freedom House agrees that China should be reclassified as a country of particular concern when it comes to threats to religious freedom.
“People can face up to 14 years in prison for knowing that someone has committed so-called treason… meaning priests could be forced to choose between going to jail or divulging information shared with them by parishioners during confession,” Boyajian stated.
Freedom House maintains “a global database documenting direct physical incidents of transnational repression, and 22% of the cases…documented since 2014 were committed by the Chinese government,” Boyajian said.
These cases include “illegal deportations, assaults and harassment in 30 countries, as well as surveillance, intimidation, coercion of family members, mobility controls, detention and abuse at intervals,” Boyajian added. “Religious and ethnic minorities are priority targets of transnational repression.”
“The U.S. government should work to expose transnational oppression by coordinating with its allies to monitor, document and counter illegal deportations, harassment of diaspora communities, and abuse of Interpol red notices by China, and take special care not to facilitate the perpetration of transnational repression,” Boyajian stated.
Boyajian offered other recommendations to the committee, including that the United States “work to demand accountability” by “imposing targeted sanctions on officials and entities responsible for serious religious persecution.” He also suggested that lawmakers “strengthen asylum protections and humanitarian pathways” for those facing religious persecution.
Corey Jackson, a Presbyterian pastor from Kerry, North Carolina, who lived in China, recounted his experience: “The CCP attempts to control every aspect of life, including the religious freedom of Christians.”
He explained that for Christians “it is prohibited to build or rent spaces for churches and Bibles cannot be sold in bookstores or made available to the public.” Leaders of unregistered churches “are particularly vulnerable,” he said, and are often placed under house arrest or imprisoned on general national security charges such as subversion of power.
Jackson asked the commission and the US government to “pressure the CCP” to release political prisoners arrested for their faith, including Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri and the 21 other prisoners arrested last week at an underground church. He also recommended that Congress impose tariffs on religious freedom in China, along with other economic tariffs.
Boyajian stated that “despite religious persecution in China, millions of believers continue to practice their faith, often at immense personal risk.”
He added: “Their resilience reminds us that religious freedom is not a secondary concern. It is fundamental to human dignity, civil society and the defense of democracy around the world.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Tessa Gervasini
Tessa Gervasini is an intern at Catholic News Agency and a member of College Fix. He recently graduated from Texas Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in strategic communications.