As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares for a visit to Washington on September 24, calls are intensifying for former President Donald Trump to directly challenge Beijing’s extensive crackdown on religious communities both within China and across international borders. Advocates for human rights emphasize that the suppression of faith, a cornerstone of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rule, extends far beyond its internal affairs, posing a global threat through targeted harassment of dissidents abroad.
The issue gained prominence recently with the release of Pastor Ezra Jin from a Chinese prison, an event that followed a direct intervention by then-President Trump during a summit with Xi Jinping. Jin, who led the independent Zion Church in Beijing, a Christian house church operating outside state control, became a symbol of the broader struggle faced by religious groups unwilling to submit to the CCP’s authority. His case highlights a pervasive pattern where any faith organization not under direct government oversight faces severe repercussions, including arrests, closures, and even worse.
Beijing’s pervasive control over faith
The CCP’s policy mandates that all religious groups must operate under its strict supervision, or face intense pressure. This systemic control is a stark contradiction to international human rights standards and fundamental principles of individual liberty. The consequences for non-compliance are severe and well-documented across various faiths.
- Christian communities: Beyond independent house churches like Zion, numerous Catholic bishops, reportedly ten, remain detained in China for refusing to align with the CCP’s directives. Cardinal Joseph Zen, a revered 94-year-old leader from Hong Kong, was recently convicted for failing to properly register a charity fund, a move widely seen as retaliation for his opposition to a secretive Vatican-China agreement on bishop appointments.
- Tibetan Buddhism: The Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the second-highest spiritual authority in Tibetan Buddhism, was abducted by Chinese authorities 31 years ago, and his whereabouts remain unknown, illustrating the depth of state intervention in religious succession.
- Falun Gong practitioners: This spiritual movement is particularly targeted, with documented cases of forced organ harvesting and over 5,000 confirmed deaths since the crackdown began in 1999.
These individual cases collectively paint a grim picture of a state-controlled religious landscape where adherence to party ideology supersedes freedom of conscience. The underlying pattern is consistent: religious leaders and communities not directly managed by Beijing face intimidation, detention, disappearance, or worse, reinforcing the CCP’s absolute authority.
Transnational repression: A global reach
China’s oppressive tactics are not confined to its borders; they have increasingly manifested as a global campaign of harassment, disinformation, and “lawfare” against religious and political dissidents living abroad, particularly in the United States. This strategy, known as transnational repression, aims to silence dissent and monitor expatriate communities.
Falun Gong practitioners in the U.S., for instance, have reported nearly 300 instances of bomb and death threats, demonstrating the physical and psychological intimidation tactics employed. Moreover, recent reports from Anthropic revealed disrupted China-based intelligence operations utilizing its Claude AI platform to build surveillance dossiers on overseas dissidents, including Tibetan Buddhist, Falun Gong, Christian, and Uyghur communities in the U.S. This highlights Beijing’s proven strategy of exploiting American institutions and technology to oppress individuals who believed they had found safety in the country.
Further evidence of this extraterritorial reach emerged with the conviction of a Bronx man for operating a secret Chinese police station in Manhattan, specifically designed to monitor dissidents. Such actions underscore the urgency for the U.S. to address these intrusions, which undermine national sovereignty and the safety of its residents.
The ideological bedrock of CCP control
The CCP’s systematic repression of religion stems from its fundamental communist ideology, which officially denies the existence of God and positions the government as the ultimate authority. In this framework, individual rights are not inherent or divinely bestowed but are granted by the state, existing only with its explicit permission. This worldview directly clashes with the principle that individuals are entitled to freedom of belief and the right to determine their own spiritual destiny, as enshrined in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Authoritarian regimes, including communist states, have historically recognized that religious individuals, by answering to a higher authority, possess a unique resilience and willingness to challenge governmental overreach, even at great personal cost. This allegiance to a moral or spiritual code often fortifies their resolve to defy unjust state demands, making them a perceived threat to absolute power. It is precisely these qualities—integrity, courage, and a commitment to principle—that proponents of human rights believe should be championed on the global stage.
A call for decisive US action
With Xi Jinping’s impending visit, there is a clear opportunity for the U.S. to elevate religious freedom as a central point of discussion. Countries that deny their own citizens the right to worship freely cannot be considered reliable trading partners and should not be economically bolstered by American dollars. The argument is made that while such regimes may offer cheap goods, the fundamental values of freedom and human dignity are not commodities to be traded.
The current climate presents a moment akin to past historical confrontations, such as when President Reagan challenged the Soviet system. Advocates suggest that the U.S. should leverage its economic and diplomatic influence to confront the CCP’s extensive apparatus of religious oppression. This stance would send an unequivocal message that the Chinese people should not be forced to choose between their faith and their freedom, and that attempts to stifle, silence, or punish individuals for their beliefs, even across borders, will not be tolerated by the international community.
