ChinaAid founder Pastor Bob Fu presented at the IRF Summit 2021 on July 13 on "China's Current Religious Persecution" that "the rule of man has replaced the rule of law and rule by law" in China.
For his part at the 2021 International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit, Fu asked that his testimony, as well as additional documents he believes are relevant, be placed in the congressional permanent record, which was granted.
"Today, as the world witnesses the worst religious persecution seen in China since Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, the rule of man has replaced the rule of law and rule by law," he said in his opening remarks.
He asserted that under China's President Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) increased religious persecution every month in 2020.
Using the banner of "Sinicization," he said that the CCP launched a campaign against all perceived independent faiths, targeting groups such as Catholics, Protestants, and so-called patriotic movement religions, as well as Tibetan Buddhists, Tibetan Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims, as well as other minorities.
Fu explained that starting in 2018, a so-called five-year plan for the Sinicization of religion was unveiled, with the goal of shaping all religious beliefs to be "compatible" with socialism and communism.
According to their investigation, communist party officials invaded numerous Christian family gatherings in their own houses during the pandemic in 2020 alone, he added. Family members were hauled away and imprisoned for their religious beliefs, and they were made to sign a communist party document renouncing their faith. Children who were formerly homeschooled or played at home were likewise forbidden and forced to attend official communist propaganda schools.
He also reported on the rise of arrest and imprisonment of thousands of people, as well as the genocide in Xinjiang and crackdowns on Hong Kong protesters.
Religious persecution is becoming more severe
In his testimony, Fu made specific mention of several individuals. The first was Pastor John Hall, whom he described as a Chinese American who had been imprisoned for constructing 16 schools for the Kachin minority along the China-Burma border. In March 2018, Hall was sentenced to seven years in jail.
Pastor Wong Yi, a human rights lawyer who met with President Bush in 2006, came in second. On Christmas Day 2019, he was sentenced to 9 years in jail after over 160 members of his church and deacons were arrested. His wife and 13-year-old son were also detained. According to Fu, the boy has already turned 15 and is no longer permitted to attend private school. He has to ride in the police car to and from school and back. Yi's wife was tortured during her imprisonment, and he had no access to a lawyer.
Others who he said represented other groups, such as the Falun Gong, experienced the same fate as Christians, including forced disappearances.
His recommendations
Fu proposed various measures to counter the communist regime's abuse of power, beginning with a boycott of the Olympics.
"A country that is committing a genocide, a crime against humanity, is automatically disqualified to host Olympics which promote equality and freedom," he said.
Fu also encouraged Congress to adopt the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act as soon as possible in order to combat the CCP's enormous labor system.
Lastly, he strongly advised the Biden administration to meet with concentration camp victims at the White House to express solidarity with them and their families.
