[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 161 (Friday, September 28, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1329-E1330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CHINA'S WAR ON CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER RELIGIOUS FAITHS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 28, 2018

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we held a hearing on 
the lack of religious freedom in China today.
   Several years ago during a visit to the United States, Xi Jinping 
chose to be interviewed by a Chinese reporter living in the U.S. After 
the interview, President Xi asked a single question of this reporter--
not about his family and not about whether he enjoyed living in 
America--the one question he asked was ``Why do so many Chinese 
students and faculty living in the United States become Christians?''
   Whatever was behind that question, religious freedom conditions in 
China have not improved because of it. Quite the opposite, in fact, as 
Xi has personally launched efforts to ``sinacize religion'' and the 
central government has issued commands to each provincial Party 
Secretary, making them responsible to bring religion in line with 
Communist Party ideology.
   The Chinese government is an equal opportunity abuser of religious 
freedom. As U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair 
Tenzin Dorjee testified, Xi Jinping's stated goal of ``sincacization'' 
affects all religious communities in China--Tibetan Buddhists, Falun 
Gong practitioners, Daoists, Muslims, and Christians.
   Over the past year, the Chinese government has intensified the most 
severe crackdown on religious activities since the Cultural Revolution. 
Regulations on religious affairs issued in

[[Page E1330]]

February tightened existing restriction and new draft regulations are 
being circulated to clamp down on religious expression online. 
Churches, mosques, and temples have been demolished, crosses destroyed, 
children have been prohibited from attending services, and surveillance 
cameras are being installed in churches.
   Xi Jinping talks about realizing the ``China Dream''--but when 
Bibles are burned, when a simple prayer over a meal in public may be an 
illegal religious gathering, and when over a million Uyghur and Kazakh 
Muslims are interned in ``reeducation camps'' and forced to renounce 
their faith--that dream is a nightmare.
   Much in the news lately has been the Chinese government's targeting 
of Christians. The ``sinacization campaign'' has affected both state-
controlled and unregistered churches--Protestant and Catholic. Clergy 
remain in prison and the human rights lawyers who defend religious 
believers have been jailed, disappeared, or tortured into silence. Xi 
Jinping views the fast-growing Christian churches, particularly the 
Protestant ``house church'' movement that does not belong to the state-
sanctioned Protestant entities, as a threat to the dominance of the 
Chinese Communist Party. One of our witnesses yesterday, my good friend 
the Rev. Dr. Bob Fu, has detailed on countless occasions the Communist 
Party's vicious war on independent house churches.
   Underground Catholics--meaning those who do not belong to the state-
sanctioned Patriotic Association--have faced tremendous persecution for 
decades, including Bishop Su Zhimin who I met with in 1994.
   Bishop Su's body bore witness to the brutality of China's Communist 
Party. He was beaten, starved, and tortured for his faith and spent 
some 40 years in prison. Yet, he prayed not just for the persecuted 
church, but for the conversion of those who hate, torture and kill. 
Unfortunately, only a couple of years later Bishop Su was arrested 
again and disappeared. He has not been heard from since.
   Today, efforts to forcibly close underground parishes expanded this 
year. China's Ethnic and Religion Bureau told the state propaganda arm 
Global Times in April that ``activities in illegally-built parishes 
will be prohibited'' and underground Catholic churches were being 
shuttered this very summer.
   Recent reports indicate that a deal has been struck by the Holy See 
and the Chinese government whereby the Pope will have veto power over 
Chinese government-approved candidates to be ordained as bishops. In 
exchange, seven previously excommunicated bishops, ordained without 
papal mandate and appointed by the Chinese government, will be welcomed 
back into full communion with Rome. Already, the Vatican has asked two 
validly ordained bishops to step aside to make way for two formerly 
excommunicated bishops. 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 
yet unknown. The devil will be in the details--including the fate of 
underground churches and relations with Taiwan. But with all the 
efforts underway to forcibly sinacize 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. We will continue to 
monitor the situation closely to see if force is used by the Chinese 
government to close all ``underground'' or unregistered Catholic 
churches as a result of this deal.
   We heard from Dr. Tom Farr on what the implications of this deal 
would be and his recommendations for U.S. religious freedom diplomacy.
   U.S.-China tensions are high at the moment on many fronts and the 
Chinese government presumably is searching for ways to reduce--not 
escalate--them. Taking a hammer and sickle to the cross or jailing a 
million Uyghur Muslims will only ensure a tougher China policy, one 
with widespread, bipartisan and even global support.

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