As the U.S. and Chinese governments sign a deal to lower tariffs, Americans — from the White House to your local parish — should not forget that dictator Xi Jinping continues to persecute Christians in China.
Among the many human rights atrocities that Xi’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commits are the harassment, arrest, property seizure, and sometimes disappearance of Christians. The CCP has spent years targeting underground churches, but now even Christians who previously compromised doctrine enough to obtain state approval are facing pressure and church closures. Catholic funerals, online prayer broadcasts, pilgrimages, and the sale of Bibles and other religious books are all coming under increased government crackdowns.
International Christian Concern (ICC) had urged Donald Trump to bring up the issue of religious persecution — as he has in the past — with Xi ahead of this week’s summit. While the two leaders have already agreed upon their deal now, it is still worth remembering all the Chinese Christians who suffer every day for their faith.
China is intensifying its crackdown on Christians who worship outside state-controlled churches under Xi Jinping. According to ChinaAid, more than 10,000 Christians have been arrested over the past decade. Last month alone, armed police raided the Early Rain Covenant Church, detaining more than 30 worshippers, while other underground church leaders remain imprisoned on charges such as fraud, “using superstition to undermine the law,” and illegally operating a business. Christians who refuse to join state-approved churches say they face midnight raids, arbitrary detention, surveillance, and the forced separation of families. Worshippers in official churches are expected to sing patriotic songs and display Xi Jinping’s portrait above the pulpit, while those who gather risk arrest independently.
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ICC mentioned multiple illustrations of the persecution in China, including the fact that eight leaders of the Zion Church are still imprisoned in CCP custody. Zion Church is a Protestant congregation that did not register officially with the state, leading to a CCP campaign to break them up. Xi did release Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri after Trump intervened, but ICC emphasized that other colleagues of Jin remain in prison.
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Trump has also taken interest previously in Catholic mogul Jimmy Lai’s case, but Lai — a Hong Kong media publisher who aroused the fury of the CCP — is still in CCP custody while his family seeks his release.
Lai is 78 years old and serving a 20-year sentence. His daughter, Claire, has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy in London. Her family is seeking his release so he can return home and be with her… Lai’s case illustrates the increasingly broad reach of China’s restrictions on religious and civil freedoms. His imprisonment is connected to Hong Kong’s national security system, but his Catholic faith and public advocacy for freedom have made him an important case for religious-freedom advocates.
Among the other Christians also in prison for political/religious reasons, according to ICC, is Chinese-American Pastor John Cao.
The CCP effort of “Sinicization,” or imposing radical Chinese Communism on everything and everyone within its jurisdiction, has caused religious freedom advocates to urge the United States to designate China a country of particular concern for religious freedom.
“The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom… has described China’s violations of freedom of religion or belief as systematic, ongoing, and egregious,” ICC declared. The CCP is trying to crush the gospel in China.
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