(TibetanReview.net, Mar27’25) – Releasing its 2025 Annual Report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has on Mar 25 included China among 16 countries that it has asked the Secretary of State to designate as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). It has found these countries to be particularly severe in the freedom of religion or belief violations under the country’s International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
The report notes that in 2024, religious freedom conditions in China remained among the worst in the world as President Xi Jinping continued to lead efforts to update and enforce China’s “Sinicization of religion” policy.
It says Chinese authorities threatened Uyghur and Tibetan diaspora communities with surveillance, blackmail, and threats against their families living in China to force them into silence.
On reports of religious repression in Tibet in particular, the report says: “Officials persisted in restricting religious activities of Tibetan Buddhists. Authorities reportedly banned admission of new monks at a monastery in Chamdo prefecture, prohibited religious activities during Saga Dawa in Lhasa, and forced residents to remove religious symbols displayed outside their homes in Sichuan Province. Authorities closed Tibetan monastery schools and enrolled students in state-run boarding schools to forcibly assimilate them, while police arrested and imprisoned Tibetan Buddhists for public and private mentions of the Dalai Lama. Authorities indicated that they intend to interfere in the Dalai Lama’s succession process and punish Tibetans who oppose.”
For these and other severe violations throughout the People’s Republic of China, the report recommends that the US government “Redesignate China as a CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the IRFA.”
It asked the government to “coordinate with international partners to sanction Chinese officials and entities responsible for severe religious freedom violations, including those engaging in transnational repression against religious minorities on behalf of the Chinese government as well as CCP officials who interfere in the Dalai Lama’s plan of succession.”
The Trump administration is also asked to “work with like-minded partners to address China’s use of technology to commit religious freedom violations by establishing binding multilateral export controls to counter China’s economic coercion, reduce economic and trade dependence on China, and diversify supply chains, including rules governing the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies such as genetic sequencing and collection.”
The report also asks the US Congress to act, including through legislative measures, lobbying bans on behalf of Chinese entities involved in religious violations, and raising of the issue with China as well as within the country.
The US government estimates that 18% of China’s 1.4 billion population are Buddhist (including Tibetan Buddhist), 5% are Christian, and 2% are Muslim. Other significant religious traditions are stated to include Taoism, Falun Gong, and folk religious practices. Besides, 33.8% in China are atheists, according to worldpopulationreview.com (2025).
The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the US Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. It makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief.