This Ascension Day, Christians Are Being Persecuted in China — and Trump Can Stand for Them

For Christians, Christ’s Resurrection is the central mystery of our faith, for if Jesus did not rise from the dead, our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). The Ascension was the seal on the Resurrection, for as John Chrysostom said, “But observe, that the Lord submits to our sight the promised rewards. He had promised the resurrection of the body; He rose from the dead, and conferred with His disciples for forty days. It is also promised that we shall be caught up in the clouds through the air; this also He made manifest by His works.” But for many Christians around the world, including those in China, the reality of suffering for God and the necessity of hoping in resurrection are much more immediate than Western Christians often experience.

Ominously, Trump began his trip by inviting multiple CCP-beholden, abusive labor-dependent U.S. tycoons, all of whom have already agreed to spread CCP values and host CCP cells in their companies if they are operating in China. The CCP is, of course, doing a lot of happy talk about how much they want to partner with America even while threatening Trump on Taiwan. But Trump must see past the propaganda, condemn the atrocities committed daily by the CCP, and take a stand for persecuted Christians as he vowed he would do before and after his election.

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Dictators will often wine and dine American presidents and politicians not because they want to be friendly with America, but because they want to lull Americans into a false sense of security. The CCP provides military equipment to our enemies, funds U.S. schools, deployed a network of spies, weaponized social media, bribed our politicians and media, infiltrated our government institutions and businesses, set up secretive police stations on U.S. land, and built up a thriving "birth tourism" industry that will likely impact our elections significantly by 2030. They are NOT our partners.

Speaking of which, Ambassador Sam Brownback and Grace Jin Drexel, daughter of the imprisoned Pastor Ezra Jin, spoke at a Hudson Institute event in comments covered by International Christian Concern: 

Brownback, who served as Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom during the first Trump administration, elaborated on the existential threat posed by religion to the absolutist vision the Chinese government holds of itself as the sole legitimate object of loyalty for every Chinese citizen… Pastor Jin was arrested in a major sting operation targeting dozens of other Zion leaders, many of whom remain imprisoned to this day. Criminal charges against Jin were confirmed in November, ensuring that — even if eventually cleared of the bogus charges against him — he will likely remain in prison for a long period of time…

Religious persecution in China in 2025 reflects the deep entrenchment of Sinicization and authoritarian control. From the ongoing internment system in Xinjiang to restrictions on Christian house churches…[t]hese measures are framed through counterterrorism rhetoric, which labels ordinary religious practices as extremist and allows the state to normalize repression…Surveillance technology plays an increasingly central role… Internally, every aspect of worship — from architecture to sermons — is regulated… China’s religious landscape remains one of the starkest examples of authoritarian repression in the world.

And imprisoned Catholic mogul Jimmy Lai’s daughter is hoping that Trump will ask dictator Xi to free Lai.

Between school raids, arrests, and government coercion on churches to preach Communist propaganda, Chinese Christians face constant harassment and even outright imprisonment. Trump has a unique chance to challenge the CCP on these crimes, and he must do so.