'Communist Party's Crackdown on Religion in China'

Press Release

Rep. Chris Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, delivered excerpts of the following remarks at a hearing he chaired on "The Communist Party's Crackdown on Religion in China" on November 28:
The current assault on religion in China is the most comprehensive attempt to manipulate and control religious communities since the Cultural Revolution. What is happening under Xi Jinping's leadership is a systematic effort to transform the very nature of some religious communities.

Regulations on religious affairs issued in February tightened existing restrictions and new draft regulations will clamp down on religious expression online. Churches, mosques, and temples have been demolished, crosses destroyed, children under the age of 18 are prohibited from attending services, and the Communist Party is now commissioning new religious texts that remove content unwanted by the atheistic Communist Party.

Xi Jinping talks about realizing the "China Dream"--but when Bibles are burned, when a simple prayer over a meal in public is an illegal religious gathering, and when over a million Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims are interned in "political re-education camps" and forced to renounce their faith--that dream is a nightmare.

Xi Jinping's war on religion is also a distinct challenge to U.S. religious freedom diplomacy and to international standards on the freedom of religion.

(To watch the full broadcast of the hearing, click here.)

There is a dire need to continue shining a light on the stunning and outrageous detention of nearly a million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities. The Senator and I have tried to be a voice for those repressed. Ms. Tursun's powerful testimony today reminds us that we cannot be silent when the Chinese government is constructing a high-tech police state in Xinjiang province whose goal is the forced assimilation of an entire ethnic minority population and the "sinicization" of their religious beliefs and practices.

I commend the Administration--Secretary Pompeo and Vice President Pence--for speaking out forcefully. I would urge the Administration to support the bipartisan Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act that Senator Rubio and I introduced and to sanction Chinese officials and businesses complicit in likely "crimes against humanity."

In the past year, pressure has mounted on independent Protestant and Catholic churches. Clergy are in prison, churches have been forcibly closed, and the human rights lawyers who defend religious believers have been jailed, disappeared, or tortured into silence. Gao Zhisheng, Jiang Tianyoug and so many others have been disappeared, detained, and tortured for standing up against persecution.

For anyone who wants to be inspired, I would recommend reading the open letter signed by over 500 Protestant leaders. In the midst of an intense campaign of repression, they have boldly stated:

"For the sake of the gospel, we are willing to suffer all external losses brought about by unfair law enforcement. Out of a love for our fellow citizens, we are willing to give up all of our earthly rights… For the sake of the gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses--even the loss of our freedom and our lives."

Now this is the type of courageous conviction that requires not only our admiration but our action.

Let me turn now to the issue of Catholicism in China where a deal has been struck that will reportedly give the Pope veto power over Chinese government-approved candidates for bishops.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin admits "it is not a good deal" but believes it was important to unify the "underground" Catholic Church and the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association. Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, has questioned whether Vatican officials making these decisions "know what true suffering is."

The reports are that this deal is provisional and full details are secret. The devil will be in the details--including the fate of underground churches, the 30 underground bishops appointed previously over Beijing's objections, and Vatican relations with Taiwan. But with all the efforts underway to forcibly sinicize religion, it certainly seems an odd time to strike a deal with Xi Jinping's China.

I hope and pray this agreement will bring true religious freedom for Catholics in China--who have suffered so much to maintain their faith--but I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of making this this deal, at this time. Since the agreement was reached, underground priests are detained, pilgrimage sites closed, crosses toppled from churches, formerly excommunicated bishops welcomed in Rome, and United Front Work Department officials, in October, convened a "re-education" session for priests.

The President and Xi Jinping will meet in Argentina this week, seeking ways to diffuse U.S.-China tensions. It should be convened to Xi Jinping that his war on religion is a highly counterproductive strategy--taking a hammer and sickle to the cross or jailing a million Muslims will only ensure that a tougher China policy will have widespread, bipartisan and even global support.

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