Trump Should Confront Xi on China's Religious Persecution During Washington Visit
Source: "Xi's Washington visit a chance to confront CCP religious oppression | Fox News." September 21, 2026. www.foxnews.com
The Gist
The author argues that China's Communist government brutally persecutes religious believers—Christians, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners—both inside China and increasingly against people who fled to America. Since Trump previously got a pastor freed by directly raising his case with Xi, the author says Trump should keep pushing Xi on this issue during his Washington visit, using America's economic leverage to hold China accountable.
Conclusion
President Trump should press Xi Jinping on the CCP's systemic persecution of religious believers, both within China and through transnational repression abroad, during Xi's upcoming Washington visit.
Premises
- The CCP requires all religious groups to submit to state control or face harassment, arrest, closure, or worse, as evidenced by Pastor Ezra Jin's imprisonment for leading an independent house church.
- The CCP engages in severe, documented abuses against religious minorities, including forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners, detention of Catholic bishops (including 94-year-old Cardinal Zen), and the 31-year disappearance of the Panchen Lama.
- This state control over religion violates the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the fundamental principle that individuals have a right to determine their own spiritual destiny.
- The CCP's religious repression extends beyond its borders through 'transnational repression'—harassment, disinformation, and lawfare against dissidents in the United States, including nearly 300 bomb/death threats against Falun Gong practitioners and AI-enabled surveillance of diaspora communities.
- Trump's prior intervention on Pastor Jin's case with Xi directly led to his release, demonstrating that diplomatic pressure from the U.S. president can produce concrete results.
- Trump has already shown willingness to confront China through tariffs and weakening its allies (Iran, Venezuela, Cuba), establishing precedent and credibility for further confrontation on human rights.
- Countries that deny religious freedom to their own citizens are not reliable trading partners, and economic engagement should not come at the cost of moral complicity in this repression.
Assumptions
- U.S. presidential diplomatic pressure is an effective and appropriate tool for addressing another nation's internal human rights practices.
- Religious freedom is a universal right that supersedes national sovereignty claims over internal governance.
- Economic relationships with China should be contingent on or influenced by its human rights record rather than treated as separate spheres.
- The CCP's ideological hostility to religion (rooted in atheistic communism) is the root cause of its persecution policies, rather than other political or security concerns.
- Publicizing and confronting China on this issue will not undermine other U.S.-China diplomatic priorities (trade, AI competition, security).
- The American public and policymakers share the author's view that this is a moral issue warranting government action, not just private concern.