USCIRF Urges Trump Administration To Raise Religious Freedom In China Trade Talks

As White House trade negotiations with China continue, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today issued a release urging the Trump administration to discuss China’s persecution of religious communities with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He who is in Washington, DC for negotiations. USCIRF is particularly concerned with China's treatment of Uighur and other Muslims in Xinjiang. USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer said:

The communist Chinese government’s brutal campaign to ‘sinicize’ all religions is one of the worst abuses of religious freedom taking place today.  During these talks about our trade relationship with China, religious persecution and human rights more broadly must be on the table. This is about the right of every man and woman, whether Muslim or Buddhist or Christian or Falun Gong, to worship as he or she sees fit. At a time when the lives and freedoms of millions of Chinese people are under attack by their own government, we cannot, in good conscience, conduct trade negotiations with their leaders as if this didn’t matter.