(Washington – February 17, 2025) The 5th International Religious Freedom Summit, organized by the International Religious Freedom Alliance (IRF), was held in Washington, D.C., from February 4 to 5. Pastor Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, led a delegation to attend the summit.
On the afternoon of February 4, Pastor Bob Fu delivered speeches at the summit on the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of churches, as well as religious oppression in Vietnam, North Korea, and Laos. He also addressed the root causes of China’s religious persecution and proposal of a global solidarity response. Additionally, he expressed support for Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu and Pastor John Cao of Hunan.
Pastor Bob Fu, along with Deacon Zhang, a house church leader, testified about religious persecution in China during a workshop session at the conference.
On February 5, some members of the ChinaAid delegation, along with Pastor Hong Yujian and his wife, senior pastor of Faith Chinese North American Baptist Church, in Vancouver, Canada, met with Congressman August Pfluger, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, as well as Congressman Robert Aderholt, chairman of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education and chairman of the Congressional Values Action Team.
Pastor Bob Fu provided a briefing on the worsening of religious persecution and legal violations by the Chinese Communist Party in recent years. In particular, he expressed concern over the case of a 70-year-old Christian, sister Wang Honglan from Inner Mongolia, who was arbitrarily detained for over three years and severely mistreated for distributing the Bible.
Additionally, he highlighted ongoing concerns about Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu, who remains imprisoned, and lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has been forcibly disappeared for the eighth consecutive year.
Some members of the delegation also attended events hosted by organizations such as the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the U.S. Congressional Interfaith Alliance for Religious Freedom during the summit.
ChinaAid members met with international guests, including Dr. Richard Murray, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; Reverend Fuyan Suda, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan; and Reverend Chen Shin-Liang, General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. They also held meetings with representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Taiwan.
The 2025 IRF Summit brings together international religious freedom leaders, supporters from around the world, and a trusted alliance of social actors who passionately support global religious freedom.
The White House places great importance on this conference, with Vice President Vance attending and delivering a speech. Vice President Vance pledged that in President Trump’s second term, the United States would take more measures to defend religious freedom and would “distinguish” between regimes that respect and those that do not respect religious freedom.
Vance acknowledged that both domestically and internationally, there is still more work to be done to fully ensure religious freedom for all believers.
(Reported by Special Correspondent Gao Zhensai of ChinaAid)
