Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has been tracking human rights abuses for about as long as anyone in Congress -- and even he's never seen anything like what's happening in China. "[There hasn't been] this kind of mass internment of millions since the Holocaust. Torture, rape, sexual abuse, forced abortions of women being held in the [concentration] camps." It has to stop. And he and the rest of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China won't quit until it does.
Earlier this week, its groundbreaking report hit newswires -- one of the first to publicly accuse the communist regime of possible "crimes against humanity." Thursday, on "Washington Watch," Chris told our listeners that it's time for the world to act. We're talking about a country, he explains, where "socialism trumps all else. And if you don't comport, if you don't go along with this, you will be harassed and probably incarcerated. And the use of torture is endemic in the Chinese prison system. That's how they get people to crack and to give up other members, perhaps of their of their faith group, of their Bible study. I mean, it is totalitarianism on steroids. And it's especially targeted."
Like a lot of leaders, Rep. Smith is deeply concerned about the millions of Uyghurs and other religious minorities being beaten, electrocuted, raped, and shackled behind the high barbed-wire walls of the secret camps. And the victims are only growing. "They're using surveillance like no surveillance state has ever done it... And we've never seen anything like this in modern days. And it's [President] Xi Jingping who's directing it all there." He pointed to the leaked papers that ordered "no mercy" in this crackdown. "It's part of his sanitization campaign of, again, making Christians rewrite the Bible, comport with every Marxist-Leninist ideal or communist ideology that they have, or else go to prison and be tortured or killed."
The world has been a little slow to wake up to the nightmare in China. But Chris hopes this report will at least shake some people out of this lackadaisical attitude. "Can it really be this bad?" people wonder. Yes, he answers. "It's worse than what we actually know."
Jewher Ilham hasn't heard from her father in more than two years. The renown scholar, Ilham Tohti, was snatched and sentenced to the vast network of concentration camps deep in China's Xinjiang province after he spoke out about the horrors of the Uyghur crisis. On Thursday, January 16, FRC is featuring Jewher at a special event, "Religious Freedom in China: One Daughter's Testimony." Come hear for yourself what's happening to millions of innocent men, women, and children behind the curtain of the People's Republic. To register, check out our website.
** Just a brief reminder that starting this evening in Baton Rouge we will host our first Stand Courageous men's conference of 2020. There is still time to be a part of this encouraging, life changing event. Go to StandCourageous.com to found out how you can join us. **
