Communist China Still One of the Worst Abusers of Religious Freedom, Report Says
‘The CCP persecution of people of faith reveals a regime that denies the dignity of the individual,’ Rep. John Moolenaar said.
The U.S. religious freedom watchdog called out China’s communist regime for continuing to carry out its “corrosive sinicization policy” against religious groups, in its 2025 annual report released on March 25.
Several lawmakers participated in the roll-out event for the report, including Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP.
“For decades, the CCP has carried out the sinicization of religion, which is a full-scale assault on faith and the courageous Chinese people who choose to believe in a power higher than communism,” Moolenaar said.
“The CCP persecution of people of faith reveals a regime that denies the dignity of the individual. The Uyghur genocides, internment camps, the destruction of mosques, and the forced sterilization of women are all horrors from which we must not look away.
“The CCP has also been rewriting the Bible and other sacred texts, not to clarify them, but to corrupt them, twisting spiritual truth into communist propaganda.”
The USCIRF report identified several groups that the CCP has targeted, including Muslim Uyghurs, Hui Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners.
Inside China, Chinese authorities regularly use artificial intelligence, big data, and facial, voice, and gait recognition to conduct mass surveillance against these groups, according to the report.
Falun Gong
Another individual mentioned in the report, Xu Na, a Falun Gong practitioner, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2022. Xu was one of 11 Falun Gong adherents who were sentenced for supplying materials to The Epoch Times that exposed the early toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese self-improvement discipline consisting of meditative exercises and moral teachings centered on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
The persecution is still happening today, and millions have been detained inside prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated and untold numbers killed, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.
Two federal criminal cases in connection with Falun Gong are included in the report, as examples of how the U.S. government has taken up the issue of China’s religious freedom.
Recommendations
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Epoch Times at the event that he will continue to be outspoken about the importance of religious freedom.
“I have spoken out on that over and over and over again, and I‘ll continue to be able to speak out for that as China continues to be able to say, ’There is no problem, there is no issue, the Uyghurs are all happy, and no one is persecuted.’ We all know that’s false,” Lankford said.
“So to be able to speak out for the rights of individuals, to be able to have a faith, change their faith, or choose their faith should be a basic human right, whether you’re in Tibet, whether you’re one of the Uyghurs, whoever it may be.”
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that addressing the CCP’s oppression is important.
“I wish I had pointed out how the Uyghurs are being oppressed and so many other religious groups are being oppressed in China. Absolutely,” Sherman told The Epoch Times at the event.
Another recommendation involves coordinating with international partners to impose sanctions on Chinese officials and entities over religious freedom violations.
The report suggests Congress explore legislation to tighten restrictions on China’s use of technologies that contribute to human rights violations, ban paid lobbying by agents representing Chinese entities that undermine human rights, and raise China’s religious freedom concerns through delegation visits, meetings, and hearings.
In a statement, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck said, “The U.S. government must continue to stand firm against these threats against the universal right of religious freedom.”