‘No religious freedom in China,’ exiled Christian pastor tells House committee

A Chinese pastor who led more than 60 members of his Presbyterian congregation in southwestern China to asylum in the United States told members of Congress Wednesday “there is no religious freedom” in the communist superpower.

At a roundtable organized by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, the Rev. Pan Yongguang said, “There is a real price to pay for being a true Christian in China, and as a pastor, I am especially aware of this. Churches are often forced to stop [holding] services, they are relocated, banned and closed. And even their church offerings are not allowed to be collected.”

Mr. Youngguang said CCP officials viewed his ministerial training and ordination by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of America as “colluding with anti-Chinese forces overseas,” and subjected him to subsequent persecution.

The pastor was joined by several other speakers, including a Uyghur Muslim Imam, a Tibetan Buddhist and several American religious leaders who addressed issues of Chinese religious freedom. China has controlled religious affairs in Tibet for decades, and in recent years began a persecution campaign against Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China.

Mr. Youngguang said he and his church members — called the “Mayflower” community after the religious refugees who came to Massachusetts in 1620 — were “threatened and intimidated to varying degrees” after they fled China for South Korea, and then journeyed to Thailand, before being granted asylum in the U.S. in April.

Bhuchung K. Tsering, a Tibetan exile and Buddhist who now works for the International Campaign for Tibet, said the Chinese government imprisoned a young man recognized as the resurrection of the Panchen Llama, a religious leader.

“We haven’t heard about him since then,” Mr. Tersing said. In his place, “the Chinese authorities appointed their own candidate who now is being appointed to serve the Chinese political agenda.”

The Tibetan advocate said Congress should pass a resolution supporting the right of Tibetan Buddhists to determine their own religious leadership.

A Uyighur Muslim refugee, identified only as “Imam Hajim,” told the discussion group that he had been allowed to study his Islamic religion in Saudi Arabia for a six-year period, but was unable to return after a change in Chinese policy that targeted his co-religionists and placed them in what he called “concentration camps.”

“I’m very different from all of you,” the Imam said. “You have your family, you can communicate with your family members, your loved ones, but I cannot do it. I have not been able to communicate with my parents, my wife, or with my loved ones back home since 2017.”

Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the select committee, expressed solidarity with those suffering religious persecution, and said, “Even under intense persecution, faith persists throughout China, and the number of the faithful grows.”