To amend the preamble.

SA 3935. Mr. CRUZ proposed an amendment to the resolution S. Res.
463, expressing condemnation of the Chinese Communist Party's
persecution of religious minority groups, including Christians,
Muslims, and Buddhists and the detention of Pastor ``Ezra'' Jin Mingri
and leaders of the

[[Page S8005]]

Zion Church, and reaffirming the United States' global commitment to
promote religious freedom and tolerance; as follows:

Strike the preamble and insert the following:
Whereas, on October 10, 2025, international news outlets
reported that the Chinese Communist Party (referred to in
this preamble as the ``CCP'') detained Pastor ``Ezra'' Jin
Mingri, who is the founder of Zion Church, from his home in
Guangxi Province, China;
Whereas CCP authorities also arrested nearly 30 other
pastors and church members from Zion Church;
Whereas 23 members of Zion Church remain in detention
centers, while other members have been released on bail, and
still others are being harassed and intimidated by Chinese
authorities;
Whereas the CCP's actions mark the largest coordinated,
nationwide crackdown against an unregistered Christian house
church network in more than 40 years;
Whereas thousands of Zion Church members and millions of
Christians and other religious adherents who reside in the
People's Republic of China seek to peacefully worship God and
care for their neighbors without the threat or fear of
persecution;
Whereas the imprisonment of Pastor Jin is the latest
instance of CCP persecution of a large number of religious
minorities, including Christians, Muslim Uyghurs, Hui
Muslims, and Tibetan Buddhists;
Whereas, since coming to power in 2012, CCP General
Secretary Xi Jinping has escalated a campaign to ``sinicize''
religion in China by--
(1) allowing authorities to burn bibles, imprison
believers, and tear down Christian crosses; and
(2) forcing religious organizations and adherents to
conform to the ideology of the CCP;
Whereas, under the policy of sinicizing religion, the
Government of China has--
(1) ordered the removal of crosses from Catholic and
Protestant churches;
(2) censored religious texts;
(3) imposed CCP-approved religious materials;
(4) replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with
pictures of Xi Jinping; and
(5) instructed clergy to preach CCP ideology;
Whereas, in 2021, the Trump administration determined the
CCP--
(1) had committed crimes against humanity and genocide
against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other
ethnic and religious minority groups, including ethnic
Kazakhs and ethnic Kyrgyz; and
(2) has continued to subject religious minority groups in
China to restrictions on religious practices and freedom of
expression, arbitrary imprisonment, forced sterilization
torture, and forced labor;
Whereas the CCP has made consistent efforts to erode the
religious, linguistic, and cultural identity of Tibetans,
including by--
(1) closing Buddhist monasteries and limiting entry or
practitioners;
(2) forcibly disappearing and arbitrarily detaining
Tibetans for practicing their religious beliefs;
(3) censoring religious content online; and
(4) expanding the use of boarding schools to indoctrinate
children in CCP-approved curricula and Mandarin Chinese;
Whereas Congress unanimously passed the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292), which
established, as the official policy of the United States--
(1) to condemn violations of religious freedom;
(2) to promote, and assist other governments in the
promotion of, the fundamental right to freedom of religion;
(3) to stand for liberty and with the persecuted;
(4) to use and implement appropriate tools in the United
States foreign policy apparatus, including diplomatic,
political, commercial, charitable, educational, and cultural
channels; and
(5) to promote respect for religious freedom by all
governments and peoples;
Whereas, under the International Religious Freedom Act of
1998, the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom has designated the People's Republic of China as a
``country of particular concern for religious freedom'' every
year since 1999;
Whereas Congress unanimously passed the Frank R. Wolf
International Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114-281) in
2016 to enhance the capabilities of the United States to
advance religious liberty globally through diplomacy,
training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance;
Whereas the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability
Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-328), enacted
by Congress in 2016, gives the President the authority to
impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for
committing human rights violations;
Whereas the People's Republic of China is a signatory to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in Paris
on December 10, 1948, and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, adopted in New York on December 19,
1966, which recognize freedom of religion as an
internationally-recognized human right;
Whereas Article 36 of the Constitution of the People's
Republic of China explicitly states that citizens of the
People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief;
and
Whereas the United States must show strong international
leadership when it comes to the advancement of religious
freedoms, liberties, and protections: Now, therefore, be it

____________________