On Thursday Oct. 16, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held a virtual hearing titled “CCP State Control of Religion.” Lawmakers, experts, and human rights advocates condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) systematic repression of faith communities through its policy of “Sinicization of religion” and its expanding campaign of transnational repression targeting Falun Gong practitioners, the Shen Yun Performing Arts troupe, Uyghurs, and other believers.
Speakers called on Washington to hold the CCP accountable, establish dedicated countermeasures, and make religious freedom a core issue in U.S.–China relations.
As a bipartisan, independent federal agency, USCIRF’s recommendations are considered a global benchmark for assessing religious freedom.
USCIRF Chair and former Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler stated bluntly that “there is absolutely no religious freedom on the Chinese mainland.”
She detailed the CCP’s “Sinicization” project, which requires all religions to conform to Party ideology — replacing images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary with portraits of Xi Jinping, and rewriting religious texts to align with CCP doctrine.
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“This is total control and oppression of religion,” Hartzler said.
She noted that persecution in China has intensified dramatically in recent years.
“Last weekend, the CCP launched a massive raid on Zion Church, arresting more than 30 pastors, including Pastor Ren Zhiqiang. This is an attack on any religious group that operates outside Party control.”
Hartzler also warned that the CCP’s repression now extends beyond China’s borders:
“The regime’s harassment of Falun Gong practitioners and the Shen Yun Performing Arts troupe violates U.S. national security and must be stopped by all means possible.”
She praised the Department of Justice and FBI for closing illegal CCP “police stations” in the U.S. but urged a stronger response, noting that “the CCP’s long arm reaches into our country to silence people for their faith.”
Vice Chair: CCP seeks to eradicate Falun Gong and other groups
USCIRF Vice Chair Asif Mahmood said the CCP not only persecutes Uyghurs, Tibetans, house-church Christians, and underground Catholics, but also seeks to “completely eradicate unregistered faith groups” such as Falun Gong and the Church of Almighty God.
According to data from Minghui.org, between January and July 2025, at least 90 Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death and 504 were illegally sentenced.
Mahmood cited individual cases involving torture, prolonged solitary confinement, and electric shocks — illustrating the CCP’s “systematic destruction” of Falun Gong.
Republican Congressman John Moolenaar described the CCP as “the world’s number one persecutor of religion,” saying it has “slaughtered tens of millions over the past century.”
He noted that Falun Gong adherents face detention, torture, and live organ harvesting.
Former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Destro added that Uyghurs have been targeted for “halal organ” transplants, while Falun Gong practitioners have suffered years of forced organ removal.
To address these abuses, Congress passed the Falun Gong Protection Act (H.R. 1540) on May 5, 2025, and the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025 two days later, imposing sanctions on CCP officials and entities involved in organ trafficking.
Falun Dafa Information Center: CCP expands global persecution
The Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) submitted written testimony outlining an intensified CCP campaign under Xi Jinping’s directives to suppress Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts abroad, especially in the United States.
FDIC cited Freedom House’s 2017 designation of Falun Gong as facing “very high” persecution — a status that remains unchanged.
After failing to eradicate the movement domestically, Xi reportedly ordered a global “eliminate Falun Gong” plan, using disinformation, legal warfare, and bribery.
The testimony listed attempts to:
- Bribe U.S. officials to revoke Shen Yun’s nonprofit tax status;
- File baseless lawsuits in American courts;
- Send more than 180 anonymous death and bomb threats;
- Manipulate social media to spread defamation.
“The CCP views the United States as its main battlefield,” the report stated.
A notable case involves Steven Wang, a Shen Yun dance instructor in the U.S., whose mother Liu Aihua was sentenced in Hunan Province to four years in prison — one charge being her son’s association with Shen Yun.
Wang’s father died from torture in 2009, and his sister in China continues to face harassment by police demanding information about him.
Uyghur testimony: Family erased, faith criminalized
Rushan Abbas, founder of the Campaign for Uyghurs, testified that in 2017, 24 members of her husband’s family vanished into Xinjiang’s internment camps — including his parents, siblings, and 14 nieces and nephews.
She said relatives were imprisoned merely for praying or wearing headscarves.
After Abbas spoke publicly at the Hudson Institute in 2018, the CCP abducted her sister, sentencing her to 20 years in prison as retaliation.
“Today she has been imprisoned for 2,600 days,” Abbas said. “The CCP wants to prove that it stands above God.”
She also revealed that 16,000 mosques have been demolished or converted to entertainment venues, and Uyghurs were forced to record videos of eating during Ramadan “to prove they were not fasting.”
Annie Wilcox Boyajian, president of Freedom House, said the CCP’s campaign is “the most sophisticated and far-reaching in the world.”
Freedom House maintains a global database of CCP repression incidents targeting Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners.
Boyajian warned that Hong Kong, once a bastion of faith and freedom, has seen its religious liberty “rapidly dismantled” under the National Security Law.
“Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, and house-church Christians all face the harshest persecution,” she said.
Prominent U.S. legislators across party lines joined in condemning the CCP’s persecution.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that under Xi Jinping’s “Sinicization” drive, “every faith group is suffering.” Republican Senator Ted Budd noted that the CCP persecutes believers “every single day.”
Senator Jim Risch described the regime’s religious control as “a direct attack on social stability and conscience,” while Representative James McGovern called it “widespread and systematic.”
Moolenaar summarized, “The CCP is conducting the most systematic campaign against religion since the Cultural Revolution.”
Call for accountability and policy action
At the hearing’s conclusion, lawmakers urged concrete measures.
Senator Budd and Chair Hartzler called on the State Department to keep China on the “Country of Particular Concern” list and to impose targeted sanctions on responsible CCP officials.
“Religious freedom must be central to U.S.–China diplomacy,” Hartzler said.
Senator Risch added that the U.S. “will continue to pursue accountability,” while Corey Jackson, president of the Luke Coalition, urged that human rights benchmarks be tied to trade and security negotiations.
Observers say the hearing underscored a strengthening international consensus on confronting the CCP’s religious persecution and transnational repression.
Participants expect it to drive further sanctions, legislation, and global cooperation — ensuring that the Chinese regime pays a price for its violations and that freedom of belief is defended worldwide.
“Religious liberty is not a Western value,” one speaker concluded. “It is a human value — and the world must protect it.”
