Title: Condemning the persecution of Christians in China.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution reaffirms the U.S. commitment to promoting religious freedom in China and urges U.S. officials to make concerted efforts to address the issue of religious persecution in China. The resolution also calls on China to release all religious prisoners and ensure that detainees are treated humanely.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 493 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 493

           Condemning the persecution of Christians in China.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 16, 2019

  Mrs. Hartzler (for herself and Ms. Speier) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
  in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
           Condemning the persecution of Christians in China.

Whereas, according to the Department of State, there are an estimated 12,000,000 
        Chinese Catholics and 60,000,000 to 80,000,000 Chinese Protestants 
        worshipping in both officially registered and unregistered churches in 
        China;
Whereas the activities of state-sanctioned religious organizations are regulated 
        by the Chinese Communist Party, which manages all aspects of religious 
        life;
Whereas the practice of Christianity is overseen by four major entities: Three-
        Self Patriotic Movement, the China Christian Council, the Chinese 
        Patriotic Catholic Association, and the Bishops Conference of Catholic 
        Church in China;
Whereas the Chinese government is actively seeking to control, govern, and 
        manipulate all aspects of faith through the ``Sinicization of 
        Religion'', a process intended to shape religious traditions and 
        doctrines so they conform with the objectives of the Chinese government 
        and Communist Party;
Whereas, on February 1, 2018, the Chinese government implemented new religious 
        regulations that imposed restrictions on Chinese contacts with overseas 
        religious organizations, required government approval for religious 
        schools, websites, and any online religious services, and effectively 
        banned unauthorized religious gatherings and teachings;
Whereas, since February 1, 2018, forced closures of churches, arbitrary 
        detention, and arrests of unregistered Christian clergy and 
        practitioners have steadily increased;
Whereas Chinese authorities actively harass, arrest, interrogate, and detain 
        unregistered and registered Christian clergy and practitioners;
Whereas Chinese authorities raid house churches and confiscate religious 
        paraphernalia, including crosses and bibles;
Whereas, according to the Department of State, churches experience increased 
        restrictions and surveillance by the Chinese government, including 
        efforts to install security cameras on church property;
Whereas in Zhejiang Province, home to one of China's largest Christian 
        populations, crosses have been torn down from 1,200 to 1,700 churches 
        since 2015;
Whereas, as part of China's ``Sinicization of Religion'' campaign, Beijing's 
        Zion Church was shut down as well as other ``unauthorized churches'' in 
        Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Liaoning, and Hebei Provinces;
Whereas while the Holy See's recent deal with the Chinese government reportedly 
        provides a Papal veto over Catholic bishops nominated by the government-
        supported Bishops Conference and was intended to protect religious 
        freedom, persecution of Chinese Catholics has intensified and new 
        restrictions on religious practice have been in place since the 
        agreement was signed;
Whereas a Catholic church in Xingjiang city of Yining had its three crosses, two 
        bell towers, and two statues demolished by authorities, and religious 
        features on the church's exterior walls and mosaics were covered with 
        paint;
Whereas two Marian shrines were destroyed including the Our Lady of the Seven 
        Sorrows in Dongergo, Shanxi Province, and Our Lady of Bliss in Anlong, 
        Guizhou Province;
Whereas, in June of 2019, Fujian Province officials issued requirements 
        requiring Catholic priests to ban minors from church and education, to 
        stop relationships with foreign Catholics, to end any missionary 
        efforts, and to prohibit posting religious topics online;
Whereas a Chinese official in Luoning county, Henan Province, recently erased 
        the First Commandment from a list of the Ten Commandments hanging on a 
        wall inside a church;
Whereas it has been reported that China is going to ``re-write'' and issue a 
        version of the Bible with the ``correct understanding'' of the text 
        according to the government;
Whereas Chinese authorities have banned children and students from attending 
        church services;
Whereas, in January 2018, Chinese authorities destroyed the 50,000-member Linfen 
        Golden Lampstand Church;
Whereas Chinese authorities have attempted to remove crosses and replace them 
        with the Chinese flag and slogans praising the Communist Party and 
        President Xi Jinping;
Whereas state-sanctioned Protestant churches have also faced property 
        destruction, cross removal, and closure by Chinese authorities;
Whereas according to the United States Commission on International Religious 
        Freedom, more than 5,000 Christians and 1,000 church leaders were 
        arrested in 2018 because of their faith or religious practices;
Whereas Chinese authorities torture lawyers, human rights defenders, and other 
        prisoners of conscience of all faiths;
Whereas, according to the Department of State, the Chinese government has 
        imprisoned thousands of individuals of all faiths for practicing their 
        religious beliefs and often labels them as ``cults'';
Whereas, as part of its crackdown, the Chinese government arbitrarily detained 
        Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church along with numerous church 
        members, and blocked worshippers from entering the building;
Whereas many Early Rain Covenant Church members were forced to renounce their 
        faith and tortured in order to give confessions accusing Pastor Yi of 
        making statements against the Chinese Communist Party;
Whereas Pastor John Cao, a United States permanent resident from Greensboro, 
        North Carolina, has been detained in a Chinese prison since March 2017 
        for his humanitarian and missionary work in Burma under contrived 
        charges of organizing illegal border crossings;
Whereas, since 1999, the Department of State has designated China as a country 
        of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act;
Whereas the Department of State has hosted Ministerials to Advance International 
        Religious Freedom in 2018 and again in 2019 to engage like-minded allies 
        to advance religious freedom protections globally, including by 
        protecting vulnerable religious minorities; and
Whereas, as the 2017 National Security Strategy of the United States explains, 
        we must seek to ``advance American influence'' by ``protect[ing] 
        religious freedom'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
        promoting religious freedom in China and calls on the President 
        and the Secretary of State to strengthen United States 
        religious freedom diplomacy on behalf of Christians facing 
        restrictions in China;
            (2) calls on the President, the Secretary of State, and the 
        United States Trade Representative to ensure that trade 
        negotiations include religious freedom conditions as mandated 
        by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and 
        Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201 et seq.);
            (3) encourages the President to use the authorities 
        available under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
        (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), the Frank Wolf International 
        Religious Freedom Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-281; 130 Stat. 
        1426), and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 
        (subtitle F of title XII of the National Defense Authorization 
        Act for Fiscal Year 2017; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) to address 
        particularly severe religious freedom restrictions in China by 
        holding Chinese officials accountable for their complicity in 
        egregious violations of internationally recognized human 
        rights;
            (4) calls on the President, the Secretary of State, the 
        Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and 
        Members of Congress to leverage the growing network of foreign 
        international religious freedom focused institutions and 
        parliamentary groups;
            (5) urges the Ambassador at Large for International 
        Religious Freedom to develop an action plan to creatively 
        employ religious freedom programming;
            (6) calls on the President and Secretary of State to raise 
        cases relating to religious or political prisoners at the 
        highest levels with Chinese officials, such as the case of 
        Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Church, because experience 
        demonstrates that consistently raising prisoner cases can 
        result in improved treatment, reduced sentences, or in some 
        cases, release from custody, detention, or imprisonment;
            (7) encourages Members of Congress to ``adopt'' a prisoner 
        of conscience in China through the Lantos Human Rights 
        Commission's ``Defending Freedom Project'', raise the case with 
        Chinese officials, and work publicly for their release;
            (8) calls on the Chinese government to unconditionally 
        release religious and political prisoners or, at the very 
        least, ensure that detainees are treated humanely with access 
        to family, the lawyer of their choice, independent medical 
        care, and the ability to practice their faith while in 
        detention; and
            (9) encourages the global faith community to speak in 
        solidarity with the persecuted Christians in China.
                                 <all>