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WASHINGTON (AP) — Heightened religious persecution in China is casting a cloud over Chinese President Xi Jinping's (shee jihn-peengz) scheduled U.S. visit in September.
A congressional panel heard testimony Thursday about the crackdown on Chinese believers and the lawyers who defend them.
The Rev. Bob Fu, president of U.S.-based China Aid, said crosses have been demolished from more than 1500 Chinese churches, with pastors and believers being beaten and their lawyers imprisoned.
Miss World Canada Anastasia Lin, who was born in China, testified that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed so that Chinese officials could harvest their organs and sell them for transplants.
New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith said that with Tibetan Buddhists and Chinese Muslims also facing persecution, the issue of religious persecution must be addressed during Xi Jinping's upcoming U.S. visit. But he added, "We must ask whether this summit should even take place."
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