Freedom of Religion
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has intensified its drive for absolute control over religion, insisting that believers subordinate conscience and conviction to the Party and to General Secretary Xi Jinping. This is not incidental to the PRC’s domestic agenda or international influence; it is a core feature of Party rule, reflected in sweeping regulations on religion and detentions, surveillance, and harassment targeting believers and groups operating outside official bounds. The hearing will spotlight escalating repression targeting all of China’s diverse religious communities and examine why the CCP’s assault on freedom of religion matters for the United States.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-New Jersey), the Chair and Cochair respectively of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) calling on the President to personally raise the cases of Americans unjustly detained in the People’s Republic of China during his next meeting with General Secretary Xi Jinping. The letter also urges direct, personal advocacy to secure relief and release for Americans facing life-threatening conditions and to end the PRC’s systemic use of exit bans, which the Chairs call “hostage-taking.”
WASHINGTON, DC—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), held a hearing to explore efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to curtail historical inquiry into subjects deemed “sensitive,” such as the Tiananmen Massacre; control narratives regarding the history of the CCP; and erase the culture of repressed peoples, including Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, and Uyghurs.
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, PRC officials continue to assert far-reaching control over China’s diverse religious communities. As more religious activity and resources move online, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, PRC authorities have expanded use of digital tools to surveil and suppress online religious expression. Invasive surveillance technologies track and monitor religious groups and individual believers that authorities deem a threat.
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INTRODUCTION
As many as 1.8 million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minorities are, or have been, arbitrarily detained in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The severe human rights abuses, torture, political indoctrination, forced renunciations of faith, and widespread and systematic forced labor occurring in mass internment camps may constitute crimes against humanity under international law.