By Xiao Ran, Vision Times
On Nov. 20, 2025, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) held a special hearing titled “Religious Freedom in China.” Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback delivered powerful testimony, urging that religious freedom in China be upgraded from a peripheral human-rights concern to a centerpiece of U.S. national security strategy. He singled out Falun Gong practitioners as a critical force and explicitly praised the “Three Withdrawals” (Tuidang) movement they initiated.
In his opening remarks, Brownback told the bipartisan co-chairs and members of Congress that he felt “deeply honored” to testify again on China-related issues and thanked colleagues who have worked for years to advance religious freedom. He credited CECC’s long-term focus for laying the groundwork for the current shift in U.S. policy toward China.
Brownback bluntly stated that Washington has for too long treated religious freedom as “just a small slice of the human-rights portfolio,” a mindset now dangerously outdated in the U.S.–China confrontation:
“In my view, in our conflict with Communist China, religious freedom has become a national security issue—and an urgent one. We need to move our thinking from ‘this is merely a human-rights issue’ to ‘this is a national security issue,’ and firmly place it inside the national-security framework.”
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He argued that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not merely suppressing individual religions but waging “total war against faith itself—and against the entire spiritual realm,” a war simultaneously aimed at the United States and the free world. “The CCP is making war on faith, and it is making war on us. We should stand unambiguously with its adversaries.”
Brownback noted that Beijing fears genuine religious freedom far more than U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups or nuclear deterrence, spending tens of billions of dollars annually to harass, monitor, and crush every believer. He revealed that he has just completed a book (now with the publisher) documenting the CCP’s “war on faith,” showing that the regime applies the same playbook to every religious group: “Submit to us, or we will eliminate you—those are the only two options. Xi Jinping is ‘god’; the one you worship is not. The pattern is identical across all cases.”
Precisely because the CCP’s system places the Party above all else and seeks to replace faith itself, religious freedom has become “the most powerful weapon” to shake the foundations of CCP rule—and its fatal weakness.
Brownback: The CCP fears Falun Gong more than any other group
Among all persecuted groups, Brownback devoted extensive attention to Falun Gong: “Of all these groups, I want to speak particularly about Falun Gong. The CCP’s fear of Falun Gong exceeds that of any other group. I’ve thought about this for a long time—why?”
His answer: “It is the most home-grown of all—like planting wheat in Kansas soil; it grows naturally. In just seven years, Falun Gong grew to 90 million adherents. That terrified the Chinese Communist Party.”
He urged the United States and the international community to “genuinely cooperate with Falun Gong practitioners” by:
- Recognizing the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong as genocide;
- Meeting with key Falun Gong leaders in exile and supporting their efforts inside China;
- Supporting initiatives to break through the Great Firewall so Chinese citizens can access the truth;
- Making these steps part of long-term U.S. policy toward China.
Brownback explicitly called for the U.S. to designate the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong as genocide.
The moment that resonated most strongly with Chinese audiences was Brownback’s public endorsement of the Tuidang (Three Withdrawals) movement initiated by Falun Gong practitioners. He noted that Falun Gong volunteers have “successfully registered millions of statements of withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.”
In fact, according to the latest figures from the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP, as of Nov. 18, 2025, more than 454 million people have publicly declared their withdrawal from the Party, Youth League, and Young Pioneers on the Tuidang website, while over 5.06 million have signed the global petition, “Bring Down the CCP Demon.”
Three historic milestones of the hearing
The CECC hearing marked three milestones.
First, congressional acknowledgment that the CCP’s war on faith is not an internal Chinese affair but a direct threat to the national security of the free world, elevating religious freedom from a “soft” State Department issue to a core concern for the National Security Council, Pentagon, and intelligence community.
Second, once “genocide against Falun Gong” enters the legislative process, it will trigger targeted sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, and other laws, leading to asset freezes, travel bans, and potential criminal prosecution of officials in the Political-Legal Affairs Commission, 610 Office, prison system, and hospitals involved in persecution.
Third, the Tuidang movement was, for the first time, recognized by mainstream Western political figures as an effective, peaceful tool to disintegrate the CCP.
Sheng Xue: Why the CCP regards Falun Gong as enemy No. 1
Prominent Canadian Chinese democracy activist and writer Sheng Xue, in a Nov. 23 interview with Vision Times, fully agreed with Brownback’s assessment. She explained that the CCP sees Falun Gong as its primary enemy for two fundamental reasons:
First, the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are diametrically opposed to the CCP’s core nature of deceit, evil, and struggle. “This innate opposition terrifies the CCP. If people embrace Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, they will naturally reject deceit, evil, and struggle. The moment Falun Gong began gaining influence, the CCP immediately recognized it as a natural enemy and launched frenzied suppression.”
Second, the extraordinary persistence of Falun Gong practitioners is what has sustained the persecution for over 26 years. “If practitioners had scattered after two or three years of suppression, the persecution would not have lasted this long, nor would they still be spreading the Nine Commentaries and helping people quit the Party today. It is precisely their unwavering adherence to their beliefs—many have given their lives for it—and the fact that this spiritual community tends to enjoy better health than average, making them the primary victims of live organ harvesting.”
Sheng Xue is convinced that Falun Gong practitioners will be a major force in ending CCP tyranny.
With more than 454 million Tuidang declarations over 21 years—a massive wave of spiritual awakening among the Chinese people, recently accelerated by cases such as the Yu Menglong incident that awakened many young people—she regards Tuidang not merely as a personal choice but as the foundation for dismantling the CCP:
“Only when enough people see the CCP’s true nature and abandon it can Chinese society have hope. This is the foundation; without it, everything else is just castles in the air.”
Trump’s anti-communist stance
Sheng Xue also commented on President Trump’s early-November declaration of “Anti-Communism Week,” noting that Trump has opposed communism since his youth—a key reason she trusts and supports him. She pointed out that in the past century, communism has caused unprecedented catastrophes, yet many still follow it, including the recent election of a communist mayor in New York.
She praised Trump for never being swayed by political correctness or far-left trends, for openly denouncing the dangers of communism, and for taking a clear public stand against it—an immense asset for the United States and, given America’s global leadership, potentially a catalyst for more countries to awaken to the same threat.
From Brownback’s testimony to the more than 454 million Tuidang declarations and 5.06 million “Bring Down the CCP Demon” signatures, a clear trend is emerging: Internationally, the CCP’s war on faith is increasingly seen by political and academic leaders as a national-security and civilizational issue. Within Chinese society, growing numbers of people are choosing to withdraw from the CCP as a moral and spiritual act for themselves and their families.
Brownback warned that if the United States and the free world are to prevail morally and strategically in the long-term confrontation with the CCP, they must place China’s religious freedom—especially the persecution of Falun Gong, Christians, Uyghurs, and Tibetans—at the center of national-security strategy and take concrete action.
In this battle between good and evil that will shape humanity’s future, “quitting the CCP” is not only a moral choice for the Chinese people; it may also be a critical step for the world to rediscover the essence of communism and step into a new era.
As Sheng Xue concluded: “Falun Gong practitioners, as the CCP’s greatest enemy and the driving force behind the Tuidang movement, deserve respect and support for their resilient faith and selfless dedication.”
