A group of Republican lawmakers has introduced a bicameral bill that would impose strict sanctions on Chinese officials connected to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) persecution of religious groups.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) led the legislative effort in introducing the Combatting the Persecution of Religious Groups in China Act on Oct. 27, which marked the 26th anniversary of International Religious Freedom Day.
“China’s disdain for religious freedom is not new. It is an ongoing and brutal pattern of abuse that must be met with steadfast American strength,” Budd said in a statement.
“As the leader of the free world, the United States must promote religious freedom around the world and hold China’s authoritarian regime responsible for decades of persecution targeting Christians and other religious minorities.
“The CCP’s restrictions on freedom of religion and cruelty toward religious minorities in China must come to an end.”
The timing of the legislation comes after the Chinese regime launched a broad clampdown on Zion Church, one of the largest unregistered house churches in the country, detaining about 30 pastors and members earlier this month. Budd called the incident “further evidence of the CCP’s extensive, coordinated persecution of religious minorities,” in an X post on Oct. 15.
If enacted, any Chinese official who is “responsible for or has directly carried out abuses of religious freedom” would be a target of U.S. sanctions, according to the bill. These abuses include arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and severe restrictions on freedom of religion or belief.
The legislation would strengthen the State Department’s efforts to combat the ongoing persecution of religious minorities in China, including Protestant Christians, Catholics, Buddhists, Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners.
The CCP started its persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong in July 1999, out of fear of its growing popularity. There were 70 million to 100 million adherents by 1999, according to state estimates at the time. Millions have been detained inside prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.
The legislation would also declare a “sense of Congress” that China continues to be designated as a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
Congress should also call on Beijing to “unconditionally release all unjustly detained religious and political prisoners,” as well as to ensure that current detainees are “treated humanely,” including access to independent medical care, according to the bill.
“The Chinese Communist Party has perpetrated heinous abuses against religious groups for decades,” Alford said in a statement. “It’s time [for] the United States to stand up for religious freedom in China as we have in other parts of the world.”
The Senate bill (S.3056) was cosponsored by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
“China’s systematic persecution of religious leaders who peacefully practice their faith is horrific and shameful. We must continue to strongly condemn this action by the Chinese Communist Party and hold accountable those who perpetrate this reprehensible behavior,” Young said in a statement on Oct. 27.
Reps. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), and Michael McCaul (R-Texas) cosponsored the companion legislation in the House.
The CCP has been waging a war against faith for more than 100 years, with successive Party leaders having launched campaign after campaign to suppress and control the religious communities in China.
In May 2023, a senior State Department official called the Chinese regime “one of the worst abusers of human rights and religious freedom in the world” as the department released its annual report on international religious freedom.
In its 2025 annual report released in March, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal commission, stated that religious freedom conditions in China “remained among the worst in the world” in 2024, as the CCP persists in forcing its “ideological agenda into every facet of religious life” among people of faith.
Frank Fang
Reporter
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based reporter. He covers U.S., China, and Taiwan news. He holds a master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
