Washington to Impose Visa Restrictions on Chinese Officials for Repression of Religious Freedom

The U.S. government is set to impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials involved in the repression of religious and ethnic minority groups in China, the State Department announced on July 12.

“Today, the State Department is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials for their involvement in repression of marginalized religious and ethnic communities,” said department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a press statement. “The PRC has not lived up to its commitments to respect and protect human rights.”

Specific examples of repression cited include the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, the erosion of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, persistent human rights abuses in Tibet, and transnational repression around the world.

Although the State Department did not disclose the identities or number of officials affected, this announcement follows numerous reports documenting Beijing’s persecution and harassment of religious groups. The State Department’s 2023 report on international religious freedom found that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continued to exert strict control over religious groups, subjecting followers to harassment, torture, arrest, detainment, forced indoctrination, and even death.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has identified China as one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom, highlighting the CCP’s “sinicization of religion” campaign that demands all religious groups conform to CCP ideology. The report also indicated that organs were harvested from Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs, some while still alive.

In response, the U.S. House passed the Falun Gong Protection Act and the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023. The commission has urged the U.S. government to continue imposing sanctions on Chinese officials and entities responsible for severe religious freedom violations and to redesignate China as a “country of particular concern.”

Washington has frequently employed visa restrictions to address human rights violations by Chinese officials. Last August, the State Department imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials for their role in the forcible assimilation of Tibetan children in government-run boarding schools. In May this year, visa restrictions were also imposed on Chinese and Hong Kong officials over the guilty verdicts handed down to 14 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law.

This latest move underscores the Biden administration’s commitment to holding Chinese officials accountable for their actions and promoting religious freedom and human rights globally.