Condemning the persecution of Christians in China.

IV 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 resolu- tion; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in ad- dition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subse- quently 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 organiza- tions 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: The-Self Patriotic Movement, the China Christian Council, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Associa- tion, and the Bishops Conference of Catholic Church in China; VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR493.IH HR493 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 493 IH Whereas the Chinese government is actively seeking to con- trol, 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 Com- munist Party; Whereas, on February 1, 2018, the Chinese government im- plemented new religious regulations that imposed restric- tions on Chinese contacts with overseas religious organi- zations, 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 church- es, arbitrary detention, and arrests of unregistered Chris- tian clergy and practitioners have steadily increased; Whereas Chinese authorities actively harass, arrest, interro- gate, and detain unregistered and registered Christian clergy and practitioners; Whereas Chinese authorities raid house churches and con- fiscate religious paraphernalia, including crosses and bi- bles; Whereas, according to the Department of State, churches ex- perience 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’’ cam- paign, Beijing’s Zion Church was shut down as well as VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR493.IH HR493 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 493 IH 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 Catho- lic 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 demol- ished 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 Prov- ince, 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; VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR493.IH HR493 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 493 IH Whereas Chinese authorities have banned children and stu- dents 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 slo- gans praising the Communist Party and President Xi Jinping; Whereas state-sanctioned Protestant churches have also faced property destruction, cross removal, and closure by Chi- nese authorities; Whereas according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, more than 5,000 Chris- tians and 1,000 church leaders were arrested in 2018 be- cause 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 Cov- enant 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; VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR493.IH HR493 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 493 IH Whereas Pastor John Cao, a United States permanent resi- dent from Greensboro, North Carolina, has been detained in a Chinese prison since March 2017 for his humani- tarian 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 Inter- national 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 re- ligious freedom protections globally, including by pro- tecting vulnerable religious minorities; and Whereas, as the 2017 National Security Strategy of the United States explains, we must seek to ‘‘advance Amer- ican influence’’ by ‘‘protect[ing] religious freedom’’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United 2 States to promoting religious freedom in China and 3 calls on the President and the Secretary of State to 4 strengthen United States religious freedom diplo- 5 macy on behalf of Christians facing restrictions in 6 China; 7 (2) calls on the President, the Secretary of 8 State, and the United States Trade Representative 9 to ensure that trade negotiations include religious 10 freedom conditions as mandated by the Bipartisan 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR493.IH HR493 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 493 IH Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability 1 Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201 et seq.); 2 (3) encourages the President to use the authori- 3 ties available under the International Religious Free- 4 dom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), the 5 Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 6 2016 (Public Law 114–281; 130 Stat. 1426), and 7 the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability 8 Act (subtitle F of title XII of the National Defense 9 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017; 22 U.S.C. 10 2656 note) to address particularly severe religious 11 freedom restrictions in China by holding Chinese of- 12 ficials accountable for their complicity in egregious 13 violations of internationally recognized human 14 rights; 15 (4) calls on the President, the Secretary of 16 State, the Ambassador at Large for International 17 Religious Freedom, and Members of Congress to le- 18 verage the growing network of foreign international 19 religious freedom focused institutions and parliamen- 20 tary groups; 21 (5) urges the Ambassador at Large for Inter- 22 national Religious Freedom to develop an action 23 plan to creatively employ religious freedom program- 24 ming; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR493.IH HR493 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 493 IH (6) calls on the President and Secretary of 1 State to raise cases relating to religious or political 2 prisoners at the highest levels with Chinese officials, 3 such as the case of Pastor Wang Yi of the Early 4 Rain Church, because experience demonstrates that 5 consistently raising prisoner cases can result in im- 6 proved treatment, reduced sentences, or in some 7 cases, release from custody, detention, or imprison- 8 ment; 9 (7) encourages Members of Congress to 10 ‘‘adopt’’ a prisoner of conscience in China through 11 the Lantos Human Rights Commission’s ‘‘Defending 12 Freedom Project’’, raise the case with Chinese offi- 13 cials, and work publicly for their release; 14 (8) calls on the Chinese government to uncondi- 15 tionally release religious and political prisoners or, at 16 the very least, ensure that detainees are treated hu- 17 manely with access to family, the lawyer of their 18 choice, independent medical care, and the ability to 19 practice their faith while in detention; and 20 (9) encourages the global faith community to 21 speak in solidarity with the persecuted Christians in 22 China. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR493.IH HR493 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS