CHINA USCIRF–RECOMMENDED FOR COUNTRIES OF PARTICULAR CONCERN (CPC) KEY FINDINGS I n 2020, religious freedom conditions in China deteriorated. The government intensified its “sinicization of religion” policy, particularly targeting religions perceived to have foreign connections, such as Christianity, Islam, and Tibetan Buddhism. The authorities also continued their unprecedented use of advanced surveillance technologies to monitor and track religious minorities, and the Measures on Managing Religious Groups became effective in February, further constricting the space in which religious groups can operate. In September, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified 380 detention centers across the Uyghur region (otherwise known as Xinjiang), including new facilities built in 2019 and 2020. This indicates that the Chinese government has continued to detain Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims despite claiming to have released all detainees. Since 2017, authorities reportedly have sent millions of Muslims to these camps for wearing long beards, refusing alcohol, or exhibiting other behaviors deemed signs of “religious extremism.” Former detainees reported torture, rape, sterilization, and other abuses in custody. Experts raised concerns that the Chinese government’s ongoing actions in Xinjiang could amount to genocide under international law. Reports also highlighted the use of Uyghur forced labor in internment and prison camps, factories, and industrial parks in the region. Moreover, authorities continued to carry out large-scale closures and destruction of Uyghur religious sites, including mosques and shrines important to that community’s religious, ethnic, and cultural identity. The Chinese government continued its pervasive control and suppression of Tibetan Buddhism. In August, at the Seventh Tibet Work Forum, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of sinicizing Tibetan Buddhism to make it compatible with Chinese socialism and mobilizing Tibetans to “fight against separatism.” Subsequently, local authorities organized seminars at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries to indoctrinate monks and nuns on these policies. They placed tight restrictions on monasteries and temples—including the Yachen Gar Buddhist center in Sichuan Province—barring worshippers from entering these sites. Authorities broadly banned Tibetans, including students and government workers, from participating in traditional religious gatherings, and they detained and punished Tibetans for listening to the Dalai Lama’s teachings or possessing his portrait. Despite the Vatican-China agreement on Bishop appointments, Chinese authorities continued to harass, detain, and torture underground Catholic bishops—such as Cui Tai and Huang Jintong—who refuse to join the state-backed Catholic association. They also harassed, detained, arrested, and imprisoned members of Protestant house churches who refuse to join the state-sanctioned “Three-Self Patriotic Movement.” In April, authorities arrested and charged house church pastor Zhao Huaiguo for “inciting subversion of state power,” and in October, local authorities in Taizhou city, Zhejiang Province, sentenced Christian bookseller Chen Yu to seven years in prison and fined him roughly $30,000 USD for “illegal business operations.” The government also continued to demolish both Catholic and Protestant church buildings and crosses under its “sinicization of religion” campaign. In addition, there were reports that authorities across China demolished Mahayana Buddhist, Daoist, and folk religion temples. According to reports, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were harassed and arrested during 2020 for practicing their faith, and some likely died due to abuse and torture while in custody. Credible international reports also suggested that organ harvesting, including from Falun Gong practitioners, likely continued. In October, 39 United Nations (UN) member states condemned the Chinese government’s abusive policies toward ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, including the use of internment camps, violations of religious freedom, forced labor, and forced birth control measures. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT • Redesignate China as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA); • Enforce to the fullest extent existing U.S. laws—such as the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and Tibetan Policy and Support Act—and continue to impose targeted financial and visa sanctions on Chinese government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom; 16 U S C I R F | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 2 1 • Urge like-minded countries to independently investigate and formally determine whether the abuses in Xinjiang meet the definitions of genocide and/ or crimes against humanity under international law, and work together to take measures to hold China accountable; • Continue and intensify efforts to counter Chinese government influence operations in the United States—including the Confucius Institutes—that suppress information or advocacy regarding religious freedom violations in China. • Publicly express concerns about Beijing hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and state that U.S. government officials will not attend the games if the Chinese government’s crackdown on religious freedom continues; and • Support legislation to promote religious freedom in China, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R.6210/S.3471). The U.S. Congress should: