Smith, Chris RSS Articles

Calling for stronger DOJ-FBI response to transnational repressionSmith, Moolenaar urge DOJ to probe vandalism of June Fourth Massacre Memorial Museum as potential act of transnational repression

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), and John Moolenaar (R-MI), Chairman of the House Select Committee on China, sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche urging the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the recent vandalism of the June Fourth Massacre Memorial Museum in El Monte, California, as a potential act of transnational repression.

According to public reporting, unknown individuals broke into the Museum shortly before the 37^th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre—which occurred on June 4^th, 1989—where they spray-painted walls and exhibits, damaged property, and interfered with the museum’s surveillance system.

In their letter, the lawmakers request that the DOJ, including the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and the National Security Division, work closely with local authorities to determine whether the attack was connected to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or individuals acting in sympathy with Beijing’s campaign to silence critics abroad.

“The Museum preserves the irrefutable, brutal truth about the Tiananmen Massacre—the same truth that the CCP has spent nearly four decades actively denying and trying to bury,” said Smith. “That is why the DOJ must treat this attack with the seriousness it deserves and determine whether it was more than ordinary vandalism.

“If this attack was planned, supported, or carried out by anyone acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, it would be an attack on free speech, historical memory, and the safety of Chinese democracy advocates living in the United States.

“America must be a place where survivors, dissidents, and diaspora communities can speak the truth without fear, and we must all work to ensure that foreign intimidation has no safe harbor here,” concluded Smith.

“The CCP is the biggest oppressor of Chinese people in the world, and it is constantly trying to silence its critics in the United States through its campaign of transnational repression,” said Moolenaar. “The DOJ and FBI should investigate the vandalism at the June 4 Massacre Memorial Museum to protect the inalienable rights of the Chinese diaspora seeking freedom in the United States, as well as patriotic Chinese Americans who dare to speak out against the CCP.”

The Smith-Moolenaar letter points to a string of attacks in California, including the destruction of sculptures and surveillance targeting connected to Liberty Sculpture Park and dissident artist Chen Weiming; violence and intimidation directed at anti-CCP protesters during the 2023 APEC summit in San Francisco; and the federal charges against former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang for acting as an illegal agent of the PRC.

“California has seen a troubling pattern of incidents that should sharpen our attention [and]…raises broader questions about whether front-line law enforcement officials have the training, resources, and support they need to identify transnational repression when they encounter it,” the Republican lawmakers write.

Smith and Moolenaar further urge the DOJ and FBI to strengthen their training and coordination with state and local law enforcement to identify, investigate, and prosecute acts of transnational repression. Their letter notes that police officers and prosecutors are often the first to encounter incidents that may appear to be local or isolated, but could, in fact, be connected to a foreign government or its proxies.

The lawmakers concluded their letter by requesting that the DOJ provide a written response and briefing addressing:

What guidance, training, or threat briefings FBI field offices currently provide to local police departments and prosecutors on recognizing signs of transnational repression;
Whether the DOJ will conduct additional training and outreach in California, including in Los Angeles County, the San Gabriel Valley, San Francisco, and other communities where PRC-linked intimidation or influence activities have been alleged or charged;
What reporting mechanisms exist for victims, museums, civil-society organizations, and diaspora communities that suspect they are being targeted by transnational repression, especially when they fear retaliation against themselves or relatives abroad; and
What additional statutory authority, resources, or congressional action the DOJ believes would help prevent, investigate, and prosecute transnational repression more effectively.

Smith and Moolenaar have supported and led congressional efforts to combat transnational repression, including the Transnational Repression Policy Act (HR 4829), bipartisan legislation to strengthen U.S. government training, outreach, reporting, and accountability tools to counter foreign governments that harass, intimidate, surveil, or coerce people inside the United States.

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Armenian Weekly article on Smith's Cyprus hearing'Congressional panel calls out Turkey's aggression and denial'

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

By ANCA
Published July 9, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission convened back-to-back hearings on June 3 and June 30 documenting Turkey’s political imprisonment of dissidents, its denial of the Armenian Genocide, and its continued occupation of areas in the north of Cyprus. Witnesses called on Congress and the administration to expand Global Magnitsky sanctions against Turkish officials, designate Turkey a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations, place Turkey on the Financial Action Task Force blacklist and reject Turkey’s reintegration into the F-35 program along with a ban on its
pending purchase of American-made jet engines.

“These hearings draw into the bright sunlight the sins that Erdogan spends millions trying to hide in the shadow — the mass jailing of Turkey’s journalists and political opposition, the colonization of occupied Cyprus, and a century of obstructing justice for the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Congress needs to act now — sanctioning responsible Turkish officials, blacklisting the networks bankrolling terror out of occupied Cyprus, and refusing to arm Erdogan with F-35s and jet engines he will surely use against Armenia, Greece, Cyprus and other U.S. allies.”

Members of Congress and witnesses testify at Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearings on Turkey.

Political prisoners and religious freedom: The case for Magnitsky Sanctions and CPC status

At the June 3 hearing, “Can Turkey Find Its Way Back to Freedom?,” Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) reported that Turkey now holds more than 10,000 political prisoners, including journalists, lawyers, elected officials and civil society leaders, jailed under increasingly abusive counterterrorism laws — repression that has deepened over Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 23 years in power, first as prime minister beginning in 2003 and then as president since 2014, atop his Justice and Development Party (AKP).

That same repression extends to religious minorities, Michael Rubin testified. The Middle East Forum’s director of policy analysis told the commission that Erdogan and his officials use religious minorities, including Turkey’s dwindling Jewish and Christian communities, as targets of state-tolerated incitement and pointed to the treatment of Armenian and Greek religious sites in Istanbul as part of the same pattern. “Just as Erdogan now seeks a say in Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem,” Rubin testified, “so too should that model now [be] applied to Greek and Armenian sites in Istanbul.”

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) details Turkey’s imprisonment of more than 10,000 political prisoners at the June 3 hearing.

Michael Rubin testifies on Turkey’s response to U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide at the June 3 hearing.

Rubin also cited the Armenian Genocide as proof that Turkey’s threats of retaliation rarely materialize. “We saw this with both the Biden administration’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide and that of all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” Rubin testified. “Those recognitions happened and Turkey didn’t do a damn thing.”

Given this record, Smith called for both individual accountability and a formal religious freedom designation. “I believe the Magnitsky sanctions need to be used far more robustly everywhere, not just in Turkey, and religious freedom CPC status ought to be meted out for Turkey,” Smith said. The Global Magnitsky Act allows the United States to freeze the assets of and bar entry to specific foreign officials responsible for human rights abuses or corruption, targeting individuals rather than the country as a whole. Country of Particular Concern, or CPC, status is a State Department designation for governments that engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom and can trigger sanctions under U.S. law.

Cyprus occupation and genocide denial

The June 30 hearing, “Human Rights in Occupied Cyprus,” turned to Turkey’s 52-year occupation of the island ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara. Republic of Cyprus Ambassador Evangelos Savva testified that Turkey continues to block access to mass graves holding the remains of Cypriots killed during the 1974 invasion, including at least five American citizens, and refuses to cooperate with the Committee on Missing Persons investigating their fate. “This is a particular stain on Turkey, not allowing people to finally have closure on the fate of their loved ones,” Savva testified.

Turkey’s refusal to reckon with the past is not limited to Cyprus, Chairman Smith noted, recalling that a Turkish ambassador once threatened U.S. access to Incirlik Air Base in retaliation for a congressional hearing on the Armenian Genocide. “You like your base in Incirlik? Well, it may be gone if you recognize the genocide committed against the Armenians,” Smith recounted the ambassador saying. “I said, what a weak partner you are in NATO when you threaten our base because we’re calling you out.” Rubin testified that Erdogan proved himself “an empty suit” on that threat, since the United States and all 50 states recognized the Armenian Genocide without Turkey following through on the retaliation it had promised.

Ambassador Evangelos Savva testifies on Turkey’s blocking of access to 1974 invasion mass graves.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) recalls Turkey’s threat over Armenian Genocide recognition.

A military buildup aimed at NATO allies: The case against F-35s and engine sales

The same hearing turned to Turkey’s military ambitions. Witnesses testified that Turkey’s pursuit of F-35 reintegration and a proposed $700 million purchase of GE F-110 jet engines is not aimed at Russia, despite Ankara’s framing of the deals as NATO-aligned. Savas Tsivicos of the International Coordinating Committee — Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA) testified that Turkey’s own posture toward Israel, Greece, and Cyprus, not Russia, reveals the true purpose of the weapons. “Those F-35s and jet engines are not going to go against Russia,” Tsivicos testified. “After all, Erdogan is in bed with Putin. Those weapons will be used against the three strategic allies of the United States: Israel, Greece, and Cyprus.”

Sinan Ciddi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies added that F-35 reintegration would let Turkey project its “Blue Homeland” maritime claims, which he described as a violation of international maritime law, backed by advanced military platforms.

Congress is already moving to block both transfers: Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) told the commission she is introducing a joint resolution of disapproval to block the F-110 engine sale and leading a letter to House leadership opposing any attempt to readmit Turkey into the F-35 program. “By rewarding Erdogan with arms sales that he wants so badly, we are perpetuating the horrific policies of a government that has flouted international law with respect to Cyprus,” Titus said.

ANCA is working alongside Hellenic American organizations, including PSEKA, the Hellenic American Leadership Council, the American Hellenic Institute and AHEPA, to oppose both Turkey’s F-35 reintegration and the engine sale.

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) warns against arming Turkey.

Sinan Ciddi warns that F-35 reintegration would advance Turkey’s “Blue Homeland” project.

Terror finance and money laundering: The case for a FATF blacklist

Turkey’s ambitions abroad are matched by financial abuses at home, Rubin testified, describing occupied northern Cyprus as a hub for money laundering and terror finance, with casinos and universities operating there that fund terrorism and facilitate human trafficking.

On that basis, Rubin called for formal financial accountability measures. “The United States should link Turkey’s inclusion on the Financial Action Task Force blacklist with its behavior in Northern Cyprus,” Rubin testified. The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental body that identifies countries whose financial systems pose a risk of enabling money laundering and terror financing; blacklisting can trigger enhanced due diligence and restrictions from banks and governments worldwide.

Savas Tsivicos testifies that F-35s sold to Turkey could be used against U.S. allies.

Michael Rubin calls for placing Turkey on the Financial Action Task Force blacklist.

Bringing the record to Congress: Who testified

Both hearings drew testimony from a range of witnesses and members of Congress. The June 3 hearing, “Can Turkey Find Its Way Back to Freedom? Authoritarian Consolidation versus the Defense of Turkish Democracy,” was chaired by Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chairs Rep. Chris Smith and Rep. James P. McGovern. Witnesses included Henri Barkey, adjunct senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations; Michael Rubin, director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum; Serkan Golge, senior research scientist and former political prisoner in Turkey; and Andrew O’Donohue, Carl J. Friedrich fellow at Harvard University and nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The June 30 hearing, “Human Rights in Turkish-Occupied Cyprus: Erdogan’s Record and Its Implications for the Ankara NATO Summit,” was chaired by Rep. Smith and Rep. McGovern, and included participation by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV). His Excellency Evangelos Savva, ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus, testified in the briefing portion of the hearing. Additional witnesses included Michael Rubin; Savas Tsivicos, alternate president of the International Coordinating Committee — Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA) and former supreme president of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association; and Sinan Ciddi, director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

This article was published on July 9, 2026 and can be found online at: https://armenianweekly.com/2026/07/09/congressional-panel-calls-out-turkeys-aggression-and-denial/

OSV News article featuring Smith's commentary'Ezra Jin Mingri, Chinese prisoner of conscience, released to US'

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

By Kate Scanlon
Published July 6, 2026 at 3:35 PM

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Ezra Jin Mingri, founder and pastor of an underground church in China and a prisoner of conscience in that country, was released from imprisonment and reunited with his family in the U.S. shortly before Independence Day, U.S. officials said.

At a May summit in China, President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to release political prisoners of interest to the U.S., including Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s prominent Catholic and pro-democracy campaigner, and Jin, founder and pastor of Zion Church. Both cases presented grave religious freedom concerns from U.S. officials. Lai remains in prison, where he is serving a 20-year sentence.

In 2018, Jin, the founder of Zion Church, and his family moved to the U.S. amid pressure on the church from Chinese officials. But Jin later returned and was prohibited from leaving the country. He was among dozens of members imprisoned in a crackdown by Chinese authorities on his Church in October 2025.

Ezra Jin Mingri, founder and pastor of an underground church in China and a prisoner of conscience in that country until his release, is pictured in a 2018 file photo in Beijing. Mingri arrived in Los Angeles July 3, 2026, after he was released from imprisonment and reunited with his family in the U.S. shortly before Independence Day, U.S. officials said. (OSV News photo/Thomas Peter, Reuters)

Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a Catholic, who is a longtime lawmaker and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said in a July 5 statement, “Pastor Jin should never have spent a single day behind bars for peacefully living out his Christian faith.”

“His release is a joyous answer to countless prayers, and an important reminder that sustained and principled American engagement on behalf of religious and political prisoners can make a difference — including for the eight additional leaders of the Zion Church and the many others detained from across China’s diverse religious communities, such as Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners,” Smith said.

Smith thanked Trump and other U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for their efforts to secure Jin’s release.

“Today, we celebrate Pastor Jin’s freedom, and tomorrow, we renew our commitment to securing the release of every prisoner of conscience still suffering under the cruel hands of the Chinese Communist Party — including and especially Jimmy Lai,” Smith said.

USCIRF 2026 annual report

In its 2026 annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said Chinese officials detained “more than 20 members of Zion Church, including its pastor Ezra Jin, for ‘unlawfully using online information.’” That report also cited pressure faced by underground Catholic clergy in that country.

As of July 6, USCIRF listed 896 total victims of China on its Frank R. Wolf Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List for violations against people of multiple faith traditions.

Before his departure from the U.S. for his visit to China in May, religious freedom advocates urged Trump to seek the release of Chinese political prisoners during the trip. Trump told reporters at the White House that he planned to mention both Lai and Jin to Xi.

However, on his return trip to the U.S., Trump on May 15 told reporters that Lai’s case was a “tough one.”

“(Xi) said he’s gonna strongly consider the pastor,” Trump said at the time, in apparent reference to Jin.

This article was published on July 6, 2026 and can be found online at: https://www.osvnews.com/ezra-jin-mingri-chinese-prisoner-of-conscience-released-to-us/

EWTN News article featuring Smith's commentary'China releases detained Christian pastor Ezra Jin Mingri'

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

By Madalaine Elhabbal
Published July 6, 2026 at 4:00 PM

China has freed underground Christian pastor Ezra Jin Mingri about two months after President Donald Trump publicly called for his release.

Jin, who was arrested by Chinese authorities on Oct. 10, 2025, was reunited with his family in Los Angeles on July 3 ahead of America 250 celebrations.

“I am profoundly grateful that Pastor Ezra Jin has been released and reunited with his family,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, a Catholic, said in a July 5 statement. “I especially thank President Trump for personally raising Pastor Jin’s case with CCP [Chinese Communist Party] General Secretary Xi Jinping and for ensuring that U.S. diplomats remained committed in pressing for his freedom.”

Trump said following his visit to China in May that President Xi Jinping was “giving very serious consideration to the pastor,” referring to Jin. Congress had urged Trump to use the U.S.-China summit to advocate for Jin’s release alongside Jimmy Lai, the jailed Catholic media tycoon and democracy advocate. Trump noted China’s president was less likely to release Lai.

Pastor Ezra Jin, who was detained on Oct. 10, 2025, by the Chinese communist government. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Grace Jin Drexel

A statement issued to reporters by the pastor’s family said: “We truly witnessed a miracle and we are feeling so overwhelmed with joy. We thank God for this tremendous miracle. We also thank President Trump and his administration for their tremendous leadership. We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations.”

Jin was among nearly 30 people arrested by Chinese Communist Party authorities during a sweeping crackdown across nine cities on the underground Zion Church, of which he is the founder.

Frances Hui, policy and advocacy manager at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, wrote on social media: “Incredible to hear that [Jin] is free, has just arrived in L.A., and is finally reunited with his family.” Hui was among advocates who rallied on behalf of those imprisoned in China ahead of Trump’s visit.

Hui described standing beside Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, as “a privilege,” noting that she and her husband, Bill Drexel, had advocated for Jin’s release while preparing for the birth of their third child.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said in a statement: “Despite months of imprisonment, Pastor Jin stayed true to his faith. Yet again, President Trump has demonstrated his ability to stand up for persecuted Christians worldwide.”

Former vice president Mike Pence said in a statement: “President Trump should be commended for securing Ezra Jin’s release by raising the case with Xi Jinping in Beijing this year. Truly treasure in heaven to see this godly man of faith set free.”

This article was published on July 6, 2026 and can be found online at: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/china-releases-pastor-ezra-jin-mingri

Daily Wire article featuring Smith's commentary'China Releases Influential Christian Prisoner In "Miracle" Move After Trump Pressured Xi'

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

By Leif Le Mahieu
Published July 6, 2026

A Christian pastor imprisoned for months reunited with his family after the Chinese Communist Party released him following pressure from President Donald Trump.

Pastor Mingri “Ezra” Jin, the leader of one of the largest underground church networks in China, landed in the United States on the Fourth of July and was greeted by his family. Trump pushed Chinese President Xi Jinping to release Jin during his trip to China in May.

“We truly witnessed a miracle and we are feeling so overwhelmed with joy. We thank God for this tremendous miracle,” Jin’s family said in a statement. “We also thank President Trump and his administration for their tremendous leadership.”

Jin and a number of other church leaders connected to Zion Church, an independent Protestant church, were rounded up and thrown into a detention center in southern China in October 2025. In January 2026, more Christians associated with Early Rain Covenant Church, an evangelical Presbyterian church, were targeted by the CCP.

Credit: FRED DUFOUR/AFP via Getty Images.

Jin was accused of disseminating illegal information online.

Grace Jin Drexel, who has fought for months to raise awareness about her father’s case, previously told The Daily Wire her father became a Christian after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.

“When the country betrayed them in such a brutal way, it really was shocking, and they lost a sense of direction for my dad,” Grace said. “He then found the sense of purpose and direction in Christianity, and he turned to Christ, and he realized that was the firm foundation that he needed in order to build his life upon.”

In 2007, Jin started Zion after years of theological training in the United States. By 2018, the government had cracked down on Zion by closing its physical location and freezing the church’s assets.

During his trip to China, Trump pressed Xi on the imprisonment of Jin and Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai.

“I think he’s giving very serious consideration to the pastor,” Trump said after the trip. “He said he’s giving very serious consideration to that.”

Lawmakers praised Trump for advocating for Jin’s release.

“I am profoundly grateful that Pastor Ezra Jin has been released and reunited with his family. I especially thank President Trump for personally raising Pastor Jin’s case with CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping and for ensuring that U.S. diplomats remained committed in pressing for his freedom,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the co-chair of Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

This article was published on July 6, 2026 and can be found online at: https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-miracle-china-releases-christian-pastor-after-pressure-from-trump

Zeale article on Smith's new legislation'Rep. Chris Smith introduces resolution condemning China's "ethnic unity" law'

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

By Elizabeth Ervin
Published July 6, 2026

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., introduced a House resolution June 30 condemning a new Chinese Communist Party (CCP) law that he says gives the Chinese government unprecedented legal authority to replace distinct ethnic and religious identities with a single party-defined national identity.

In a July 1 press release, Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said House Resolution1400 condemns the CCP's Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress, which took effect July 1. Jointly introduced with Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the resolution argues Beijing is "unjustly claiming" the authority to punish lawful speech, advocacy, and religious practice beyond China's borders.

According to the release, the Smith-McGovern resolution asserts that the CCP’s law threatens outside minority groups, including Uyghurs, Chinese dissidents, journalists, religious leaders, and former political prisoners.

"Beijing's message is chilling," Smith said in the release. "Abandon your faith, forget your language, obey the Party — or face punishment, even abroad."

The measure also calls for sanctions and visa restrictions on Chinese officials and entities responsible for what lawmakers describe as the forced assimilation of ethnic and religious minorities, according to the release.

Smith urged Congress to respond by condemning what he described as the CCP's campaign of “cultural and religious erasure.”

"This is not unity," Smith said. "It is tyranny — and it turns cultural and religious erasure into official policy. Congress must act decisively to condemn the CCP's atrocities and protect Americans and diaspora communities from transnational repression."

The measure also calls for stronger protections for Chinese diaspora communities in the U.S. and continued U.S. advocacy for political prisoners detained for peacefully exercising their religious rights.

This article was published on July 6, 2026 and can be found online at: https://zeale.co/news/articles/rep-chris-smith-introduces-resolution-condemning-chinas-ethnic-unity-law?loop_cat=religion_news_score?loop_cat=foreign_policy_score?loop_cat=policy_score

Smith introduces resolution condemning the CCP’s campaign to erase ethnic and religious minorities

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the Co-Chair of both the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC), introduced legislation condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) intensified repression of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as Beijing’s new law—the so-called Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress—scheduled to take effect on July 1^st. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) is the lead Democrat on the resolution.

The Smith-McGovern resolution (H.Res.1400), first reported by The Epoch Times, warns that the bogus statute, adopted by China’s National People’s Congress in March, gives unprecedented legal force and cover to the CCP’s ongoing campaign to eliminate distinct ethnic, religious, linguistic, and cultural identities into a single Party-defined national identity. It condemns the CCP’s forced assimilation targeting Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Hui Muslims, Manchus, and other communities, whose languages, faiths, families, and histories are under siege.

The legislation also asserts that Beijing’s law reaches beyond China’s borders, threatening Uyghurs, Tibetans, Chinese dissidents, journalists, scholars, religious leaders, and former political prisoners abroad. In effect, the resolution argues, the CCP is unjustly claiming the authority to punish lawful and peaceful speech, advocacy, scholarship, and religious practice, even on free soil.

“Beijing’s message is chilling: abandon your faith, forget your language, obey the Party—or face punishment, even abroad,” said Smith.

“This is not unity. It is tyranny—and it turns cultural and religious erasure into official policy. Congress must act decisively to condemn the CCP’s atrocities and protect Americans and diaspora communities from transnational repression,” continued Smith, who has chaired countless congressional hearings on human rights abuses in China.

Smith and McGovern’s resolution urges sanctions and visa restrictions on People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials and entities responsible for forced assimilation, religious repression, forced labor, arbitrary detention, mass surveillance, coercive boarding-school systems, and transnational repression.

The legislation also calls for continued U.S. advocacy on behalf of political prisoners, including Ilham Tohti, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, Hada, and others detained for peaceful advocacy, religious practice, scholarship, or cultural preservation.

Furthermore, the measure calls for stronger protections for China’s diaspora communities in the United States, who remain under the threat of transnational repression from the CCP.

It also gives expanded support for endangered languages, religious traditions, independent media, diaspora-led cultural education, documentation of cultural repression, and local-language broadcasting.

Finally, the Smith-McGovern resolution affirms that the recognition and succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leaders are religious matters that must be decided exclusively by Tibetan Buddhists, free from interference by the Government of China or the Chinese Communist Party.

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The Epoch Times exclusive article on Smith's new legislation'CCP Expanding International Repression Through New "Ethnic Unity Law," Warns House Resolution'

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

By Eva Fu & Dorothy Li
Published July 1, 2026

WASHINGTON—House lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning China’s new ethnic unity law, saying it will expand the regime’s efforts to enforce the regime’s ideology internationally and eliminate cultural and religious rights.

The measure by Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) comes amid growing concerns in Congress about the Chinese law, which allows Beijing to target people in the United States and beyond.

The Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress law, enacted on July 1, formalizes a longstanding push to prioritize Mandarin Chinese in education from kindergarten and promotes a unified national identity among the country’s 55 officially recognized ethnic minority groups.

It also contains a clause that allows the Chinese authorities to prosecute individuals and entities abroad if their actions are deemed by Beijing to undermine “national unity” or incite “separatism.”

Chinese military honour guards await the arrival of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ahead of a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Nov. 7, 2023. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

“Beijing’s message is chilling: Abandon your faith, forget your language, obey the Party—or face punishment, even abroad,” Smith told The Epoch Times in a statement. “This is not unity. It is tyranny—and it turns cultural and religious erasure into official policy.”

The resolution, shared with The Epoch Times ahead of its public release, denounces the new law and the regime’s broader repression of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and other ethnic minority groups.

The law “elevates Chinese Communist Party ideology,” and its vague prohibitions risk criminalizing a broad range of activities, including peaceful expression, religious worship, reporting, and minority right advocacy, the resolution said.

It noted the law’s sweeping provisions could be used to punish or intimidate people the regime dislikes abroad, including in the United States.

Taiwanese officials have warned that the regime could use the law against individuals for expressing Taiwanese identity and history, or opposing Beijing’s official narratives around Taiwan, the resolution noted.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, speaks at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Feb. 4, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The lawmakers expressed support for advocating the release of those imprisoned for religious beliefs, cultural preservation, or peace activism, including Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti and Uyghur ethnographer Rahile Dawut, both serving life sentences under existing law.

The resolution encourages President Donald Trump and executive branch officials to impose sanctions or visa restrictions on Chinese officials and entities responsible for enforcing the ethnic unity law and other forced-assimilation polices.

In addition, it urges the secretary of state to work with U.S. allies, such as the European Union, Canada, and Australia, to monitor implementation of China’s new law and assess its effects.

The Trump administration needs to take stronger action against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) use of the new law to harass, surveil, or take any other efforts to silence the Chinese diaspora’s advocacy activities in the United States, the resolution said.

Smith said Congress “must act decisively to condemn the CCP’s atrocities and protect Americans and diaspora communities from transnational repression.”

Sens. John Curtis (R-Utah), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced a similar measure in the Senate last week.

Smith, McGovern, and a dozen other House lawmakers also expressed alarm to Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the issue. In a letter dated June 29, they asked Rubio to condemn the ethnic unity law as “a tool of forced assimilation, ideological control, and transnational repression.”

The law is part of the Chinese regime’s broader pattern of transnational repression and a “direct threat to the rights and safety of diaspora communities and human rights advocates, including American civil society organizations and lawmakers,” they said.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) speaks during a House Rules Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Sept.16, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Rights groups have also raised alarms that the law could give the CCP a legal basis to go after dissidents and other targets abroad. Freedom House said on X on June 30 that China’s new law threatens to “further extend” its transnational repression efforts against members of ethnic and religious minority groups.

The CCP has been identified among the world’s most prolific perpetrators of transnational repression since 2014, according to Freedom House.

Falun Dafa Information Center, in its latest report released on June 30, identifies hundreds of transnational repression cases targeting Falun Gong practitioners in the United States from 2020 to 2025.

This article was published on July 1, 2026 and can be found online at: https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/exclusive-ccp-expanding-international-repression-through-new-ethnic-unity-law-warns-house-resolution-6055395

The Catholic Herald interview with Rep. Smith'Is political cowardice keeping abortion legal? | In conversation with Chris Smith'

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

By The Catholic Herald
Published July 1, 2026 at 9:00 PM

In this episode of In Conversation With, Mary Margaret Olohan sits down with Congressman Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican who has co-chaired the House Pro-Life Caucus for decades and spent forty six years in Congress on three fronts he treats as one fight: the unborn, the trafficked, and the religiously persecuted. Smith is not a man in doubt. He describes hate mail, bullhorn protests and death threats as the ordinary cost of the pro-life position, and his answer to that cost is not caution. It is, in his words, to bend into the wind rather than with it.

The abortion pill is the conversation's central exhibit. Smith cites a large study finding that just under eleven per cent of women who take the drug suffer serious complications requiring hospitalisation, against an official rate the FDA has cited of roughly half of one per cent. He holds the agency responsible across three administrations, Clinton, Obama and Biden, for what he calls a cover up unlike anything he has encountered in decades of legislating, and he points to Planned Parenthood and international bodies marketing the drug worldwide, including into countries with no access to skilled birth attendants should a woman haemorrhage. Only the more conservative press, in his account, has been willing to cover the consequences to women rather than the politics of access.

Smith is equally unsparing about the politicians who once stood where he stands. He names Jesse Jackson, Dick Gephardt, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin and Al Gore as men who were once firmly pro-life and reversed course as their ambitions grew. He goes further, describing how the primary process has been used to remove pro-life Democrats from Congress entirely, citing the defeat of Congressman Dan Lipinski and naming Henry Cuellar as the lone holdout, the only Democrat to vote against a bill Smith says would legalise abortion up to birth in every state.

On the argument that the issue is now an electoral liability, Smith is direct. He recalls a constituent convinced she was pro-choice who, once asked under what circumstances abortion should be permitted, described a position closer to the Hyde Amendment than she realised. He cites the Marist poll's yearly finding that self-described pro-choice majorities collapse into pro-life positions once specific restrictions are named, and his own district polling, which he says never once favoured the pro-choice line even in supposedly hostile years. He is similarly precise about the Dobbs decision itself, noting that Justice Alito's opinion, which he has read closely, returns the question to lawmakers generally and not, as is widely assumed, to state lawmakers alone.

The conversation's second half turns to trafficking, where Smith's record is more concrete than rhetorical. He wrote the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the law under which Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to twenty years and which he says has been used against nearly five thousand other exploiters, including, in part, Jeffrey Epstein. He is candid that prosecutors weakened that outcome by also charging the far lesser Mann Act, and he traces the same commodifying logic from that case back to the 1980s pornography commission he helped establish under Attorney General Edwin Meese, a task force he says the Clinton administration later dismantled entirely, including its child pornography enforcement. A successor bill, closing gaps that remain, has already passed the House twice with strong bipartisan margins and died twice in the Senate, killed once by Bob Menendez, with Thomas Massie among the recorded no votes.

His sharpest observation is about language. He hears in "the fetus is a parasite" and in the votes to permit sex-selective abortion of girls, which he calls theatre of the absurd, the same dehumanising instinct that lets pornography and trafficking treat women as commodities rather than people. He suspects history will eventually judge this era the way it now judges slavery, as something contemporaries defended and later generations cannot understand having defended.

Asked what should be done, Smith's answer is personal rather than programmatic. Stand up regardless of the cost, because the polling and his own long career suggest the fear of doing so is overstated. Finish the trafficking bill the Senate has twice let die. And do not mistake silence, from institutions or from individual members, for safety. In his account, the faith community and its allies remain, as he puts it, the only ones standing between current policy and something considerably more coercive.

This article was published on July 1, 2026 and can be found online at: https://thecatholicherald.com/article/is-political-cowardice-keeping-abortion-legal-in-conversation-with-chris-smith

Opening statement of Co-Chairman Smith at hearing on CyprusHuman Rights in Turkish-Occupied Cyprus: Erdogan’s Record & Its Implications for the Ankara NATO Summit

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The following are excerpts of Co-Chairman Chris Smith’s (R-NJ) opening statement at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s June 30^th hearing, entitled “Human Rights in Turkish-Occupied Cyprus: Erdoğan’s Record & Its Implications for the Ankara NATO Summit”:

Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on “Human Rights in Turkish-Occupied Cyprus: Erdoğan’s Record and Its Implications for the Ankara NATO Summit.” This hearing follows another, which I chaired on June 3, “Can Turkey Find Its Way Back to Freedom? Authoritarian Consolidation versus the Defense of Turkish Democracy.”

That is how serious and various the dangers are posed by the government of Turkey today – to people within Turkey, to its diaspora abroad, and to the human rights of people in neighboring countries – above all, Cyprus.

I particularly want to thank Ambassador Evangelos Savva of the Republic of Cyprus, who will brief us on the situation before we turn to our hearing with expert witnesses.

As leaders prepare to gather in Ankara for the NATO Summit, it is appropriate that we examine not only President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s words, but also his record. It has now been twenty-three years since Erdoğan came to power in Turkey, first as prime minister, and then as president.

It’s also appropriate that we talk about Cyprus. During these 23 years, no territory neighboring Turkey has provided a clearer window into Erdoğan’s worldview, his ambitions, and his approach to power than Cyprus. The island of Cyprus is home to approximately 1.4 million people.

The island is divided into the south, which is legally governed and administered by the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, and a northern zone, where the Republic has legal sovereignty but is unable to govern, as it is occupied by Turkey, which has set up a “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” unrecognized by any government, save Erdoğan’s. This division originates in Turkey’s 1974 invasion of the island and remains one of the longest-running unresolved conflicts in the world.

Cyprus serves as an important object lesson as we assess Erdoğan’s intentions toward Greece, Armenia, Israel, Syria, Iraq, and even parts of the Balkans and Europe. What we see in his Cyprus policy is not reassuring.

Much of the world has treated Cyprus as a frozen conflict. Erdoğan has not. During his twenty-three years in power, he has systematically changed facts on the ground in ways that have made a negotiated settlement more difficult and have raised new human rights concerns.

Erdoğan has taken apart the post-1974 status quo piece by piece. Rather than preserving the status quo while negotiations continued, Erdoğan has systematically dismantled it.

One of the clearest examples is demographic change. Successive Turkish governments encouraged settlement from mainland Turkey, but under Erdoğan, that policy has accelerated dramatically. As Michael Rubin notes in his written testimony, “There has been a surge in settlement since Erdoğan came to power.”

Many Turkish Cypriots themselves now fear that they are becoming a minority in their own community, with political, cultural, and economic decisions increasingly shaped in Ankara rather than in Northern Cyprus. What began as an occupation has increasingly become a project of demographic transformation.

Erdoğan’s policies have also placed growing pressure on the distinct identity of the Turkish Cypriot community. Turkish Cypriots have long been known for a comparatively secular and pluralistic political culture. Yet journalists, academics, trade unionists, civil society leaders, and elected officials have repeatedly warned that they face increasing political pressure, diminished local autonomy, and efforts to reshape their society and culture according to the narrow nationalism of Ankara.

The same pattern is evident in Erdoğan’s treatment of Greek Cypriot rights and heritage. International courts have repeatedly recognized violations involving property rights, missing persons, and other continuing consequences of the island’s division.

Churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and archaeological sites in the occupied north continue to suffer neglect, desecration, inappropriate conversion, or restricted access. These are not simply historic monuments. They are living expressions of a people’s religious faith, identity, and historical memory.

Perhaps nowhere has Erdoğan’s determination to create irreversible facts on the ground been more visible than in the abandoned Greek Cypriot city of Varosha (Ammochostos) in the Turkish-occupied zone of Famagusta.

Varosha was occupied by Turkey in 1974, when its Greek Cypriot residents were forced to flee. For decades, the city remained sealed off and untouched because the international community understood that its lawful inhabitants—not new settlers or developers—must one day return. The emptiness of the city symbolized the hope that a comprehensive settlement might someday permit its lawful inhabitants to return.

Under Erdoğan, however, Turkey has begun opening portions of Varosha to new inhabitants and encouraging development, in total disregard of longstanding United Nations Security Council resolutions 550 and 789 calling for the area to be resettled only by its original and lawful residents.

As Savas Tsivicos notes in his written testimony, “In total disregard of the repeated calls by the United Nations Security Council, Turkey proceeded to the reopening of a part of the fenced-off area of Varosha, in an effort to prevent the prospect of its return to the lawful inhabitants, thus undermining the prospects for a peaceful settlement.” Erdoğan has treated Varosha as yet another opportunity to create irreversible facts on the ground, replacing diplomacy with unilateral action.

Nor has Erdoğan limited himself to political and demographic change. Erdoğan has also transformed occupied Northern Cyprus from a territorial dispute into a forward operating platform for projecting Turkish military power across the Eastern Mediterranean.

The construction of a major drone base, followed by additional deployments of advanced military assets, demonstrates that Cyprus is no longer merely occupied territory. Under Erdoğan, it has become an instrument of regional power projection, a potential threat to Greece, Syria, and Israel, and to the very NATO alliance of which Erdoğan is a member.

This hearing is, therefore, not primarily about history. It is about policy. The Cyprus we see today is not simply the product of events in 1974. It is also the product of twenty-three years of deliberate decisions by President Erdoğan—decisions that have reshaped the island, weakened the prospects for reconciliation, undermined the rights of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and offer an important window into how Erdoğan exercises power beyond Turkey’s borders.

As NATO leaders prepare to gather in Ankara, that record deserves careful scrutiny.

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