A leading expert on religious freedom in China has told Congress that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Xi Jinping has escalated to an unprecedented level of hostility toward Christianity and other faiths.
Bob Fu, founder of the Christian human rights organization ChinaAid, warns that Communist China is shifting from control to outright elimination.
He testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, warning that Beijing has now “launched a war against the faith.”
Fu said the regime has moved beyond regulating religious life and is attempting to eradicate any form of independent worship.
He described what he called several “wars” the CCP has waged since Xi took power, beginning with a campaign against public displays of Christianity.
“[T]he CCP under this dictator, Xi Jinping, has launched a war against the faith,” explained Fu.
“Instead of the old paradigm of controlling Christian churches and other independent religions in the past, now they launched the all-out war to eliminate any independent Christian churches and even … the thoughts of independence and other religious minorities as well.”
Thousands of crosses were forcibly removed from government-sanctioned churches, and pastors who resisted were arrested.
Some received sentences of 12 to 15 years.
He also detailed a sweeping crackdown on access to Scripture.
According to Fu, “millions of Chinese Christian children” were ordered to sign forms renouncing their beliefs, and Bibles were barred from children entirely.
The latest phase, he said, is a direct assault on Christian leadership.
Zion Church leaders, part of one of China’s largest unregistered congregations, were formally arrested this week and now face long prison terms.
Fu noted that authorities have begun treating core Christian practices as criminal offenses.
Several pastors have been charged and sentenced for fraud in receiving tithes and offerings.
Pastor Yang Rongli received a 15-year sentence, and her husband received nearly 10 years.
“When Xi Jinping took power, he launched three or four wars,” he said.
“[The first] war [was] against the cross and the forced demolition of the cross campaign.
“All of a sudden, the wooden cross was declared as the enemy of the state, as a national security threat.
“It really shows how fragile, actually, how fearful this militaristic, atheistic regime [is], and thousands of crosses were taken down.
“If you don’t take down the cross voluntarily — these are government-sanctioned churches — the pastors were even arrested.
“Some were sentenced to 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment.
“And then [there was] the war against the Bible, especially the access of the Bible to children,” Fu continued.
“Millions of Chinese Christian children were ordered to sign a Communist Party-prepared form to renounce their faith in public, and the Bible was totally forbidden to be in the hands of the Chinese children.
“And then, of course, the [current] war against the Christian leaders.”
Witnesses representing Muslim and Buddhist communities echoed the warnings, describing similar repression.
The testimony highlighted that the issue extends beyond human rights and poses national security concerns for the United States.
Former senator and U.S. religious freedom ambassador Sam Brownback told lawmakers that despite China’s imprisonment of Catholic bishops and thousands of other believers, Beijing “has not paid a dime” in consequence, even though the State Department has designated China a “Country of Particular Concern.”
Family members of imprisoned church leaders also described CCP intimidation efforts reaching outside China’s borders.
Grace Jin Drexel, daughter of detained Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri of Zion Church, told the commission she has experienced harassment in the United States by individuals falsely claiming to be federal agents.
Fu warned that these threats are no longer limited to Chinese territory.
He said CCP operatives have extended their activities onto U.S. soil through overseas “police stations” designed to monitor, harass, and silence dissidents.
He recounted how operatives surrounded his home in Texas in 2020, forcing his family to evacuate for months.
The commission is now weighing additional steps to address both China’s internal persecution of religious minorities and the regime’s growing willingness to target critics abroad.
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