The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom singled out communist China as one of the world’s “worst violators” of religious freedom in its annual report released on May 1.
“China is officially an atheist state,” the report reads. “China’s religious regulations and policies explicitly require state-controlled religious organizations to be loyal to the CCP and to serve its political objectives and interests.”
Falun Gong
“Organs are harvested from Falun Gong and Uyghurs, some while still alive,” the report reads.Given that Chinese hospitals can offer unusually short waiting times for matching organs, China has long been an attractive destination for transplant tourists. This phenomenon is made possible because the Chinese regime has built up an organ bank by forcibly and unethically harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice that encourages its adherents to live by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. By 1999, at least 70 million people had taken up the practice in mainland China, according to official estimates at the time.
The CCP perceived the practice as a threat to its rule, and the regime began a brutal campaign in July 1999 to eliminate it.
Since then, millions of practitioners have been illegally detained in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.
Transnational Repression
The Chinese regime has extended its oppressive influence outside of its borders. According to the report, the CCP has been “among the most active perpetrators of cross-border repression and other malign activities abroad, including in the United States.”“The Chinese government’s malign political influence campaigns, particularly its lobbying efforts in the U.S. Congress, represent a particularly insidious form of political influence, aimed at shaping federal policymaking to further the Chinese government’s interests and goals,” the report reads.
The commission urged Congress to ban foreign lobbying agents representing China and continue to impose sanctions on CCP officials and entities responsible for severe religious freedom violations.
“It is imperative to ban lobbying for the Chinese government, its state-affiliated commercial entities, and their interests while the government continues its egregious acts of religious persecution,” it said.