China's new National Security Law for Hong Kong just went into effect. This is an urgent crisis that represents a clear and present danger to religious freedom and all other fundamental rights and freedoms.
In response, the International Religious Freedom Roundtable organized an emergency meeting and launched a multi-faith letter urging President Trump to impose "real and material costs on the CCP" for smothering freedom in Hong Kong.
The International Multi-Faith Coalition (I.M.F.C.) joined this letter which reproduce in full here:
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We write as an informal group of organizations and individuals who are religious and secular leaders, scholars, human rights attorneys, advocates, and activists to express our deepest concerns about the urgent crisis in Hong Kong, which represents a clear and present danger to religious freedom and all other fundamental rights and freedoms.
You have rightly said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is “absolutely smothering” freedom in Hong Kong and that such behavior will not go unpunished. We have nonetheless reached the day the communist regime actualizes this unacceptable crackdown with its formal adoption of a national security law that violates China’s international treaty commitments and that will render this once-free territory just another enslaved Chinese city suffering savage oppression. We must not allow this to happen without imposing real and material costs on the CCP.
Fortunately, the Defense Department has just illuminated a way in which this can be swiftly accomplished—one that both conforms to longstanding U.S. statutory requirements and unmistakably demonstrates our resolve. As you know, on June 24, the Pentagon produced a list of twenty “Communist Chinese military companies” that are doing business, directly or indirectly, in this country. Pursuant to P.L. 105-261, Sec. 1237, you are expressly authorized to utilize the powers invested in the President by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to penalize such People’s Liberation Army-tied corporations. By swiftly shutting down their operations inside the United States and terminating their access to our capital markets, you can simultaneously advance our national security interests and deliver a strong response to the CCP suppression of Hong Kong.
We are a truly multi-faith group of organizations and individuals, representing an extremely broad diversity of theological views and political positions. But we all agree on the importance of religious freedom for all persons and communities. It strengthens cultures and provides the foundation for stable democracies and their components, including civil society, social harmony, safety and security, and economic development and prosperity. This is a major contributor to the national security of the United States.
We urge you to take this action immediately as a much needed and very tangible demonstration of our nation’s solidarity with the people of Hong Kong and those elsewhere in China who are already being denied religious and other freedoms.
We thank you for your commitment to advancing international religious freedom and for your thoughtful consideration of this emergency multi-faith request to send a message to the CCP and the world that we will exact a high price for crushing freedom.
Respectfully,
Greg Mitchell
Chair
International Religious Freedom Roundtable
ORGANIZATIONS
21Wilberforce
AdvanceUSA
All Pro Pastors International
Assoc. for Advancement of FoRB in Vietnam (AAFoRB)
Athenai Institute
Bitter Winter: A Magazine on Religious Liberty and Human Rights in China
Boat People SOS - Religious Freedom Project
Bryan Hickox Pictures, Inc.
Center for Civil Liberties
CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions
Christian Freedom International
The Church of Almighty God
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office
Conscience Coalition
Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
Defense Forum Foundation
East Turkistan National Awakening Movement
Faith & Liberty DC
Friends of Falun Gong
Happy Science Washington Bureau
Healing For The Nations
Institute on Religion and Democracy
International Bible Conference
International Christian Concern
International Christian Foundation for Democracy
The International Multi-Faith Coalition (I.M.F.C.)
International Society for Peace and Justice
Investors Against Genocide
IOPHR
Jubilee Campaign USA
Justice For All
Law and Liberty International
Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque
Mission Africa International
Mission America
Moral Action Ministry
National Association of Evangelicals
National Youth Council of Nigeria
NRIM
North Korea Freedom Coalition
ORLIR, International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees
Revealing Lights Ministries
South Asia Minorities Alliance Foundation
Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
St. Nicholas Freedom Group
Sunshine Ministries
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights
UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union
Victims of Communism
Vietnam Coalition Against Torture
Vietnamese Women for Human Rights
Individuals
With title and organization for identification purposes
Rushan Abbas
Founder and Executive Director
Campaign for Uyghurs
Rasheed Ahmed
Executive Director
Indian American Muslim Council
Pastor Jeff Anderson
President
International Bible Conference
Shaker AR
President
NRIM
David Babu
Founder and President
Sunshine Ministries
Eric Cohen
Chairperson and Cofounder
Investors Against Genocide
Bob Fu
Founder and President
China Aid Association
Frank J. Gaffney
President and CEO
Save the Persecuted Christians
Hamid Gharagozloo
IOPHR
Fr. Joseph K. Grieboski
Senior Fellow
The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute
Dr. S. Bryan Hickox
President and CEO
Bryan Hickox Pictures, Inc.
Lauren Homer
President
Law and Liberty International
Jonathan Imbody
Director
Freedom2Care
Henry Jones
President
International Christian Foundation for Democracy
Omer Kanat
Executive Director
Uyghur Human Rights Project
David A. Keene
Editor at Large
Washington Times
Metodija A. Koloski
President
United Macedonian Diaspora
Larry Lerner
President
UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union
Xiaoxu Sean Lin
Executive Director
Global Alliance Against Communist Propaganda and Disinformation
Thomas Marsh (Tang Mashi)
Sculptor
Paul Marshall
Professor
Baylor University
Brent McBurney
President and CEO
Advocates International, Inc.
Faith McDonnell
Director, International Religious Liberty Program
Institute on Religion and Democracy
Scott Morgan
President
Red Eagle Enterprises
Allen Morris
Executive Director
Concerned Methodists
Dr. Paul Murray
Vice President
Global Peace Foundation
Satoshi Nishihata
Washington Bureau Chief
Happy Science Washington Bureau
Rory O’Connor
President and Chairman
Athenai Institute
George Parker
Executive Director
Revealing Lights Ministries
Patrice J. Pederson
President
First Freedom Foundation
Paul Pickern
CEO
All Pro Pastors International
Suzanne Sholte
President
Defense Forum Foundation
Katrina Lantos Swett
President
Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice
Valle Thierry
President
Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
Travis Weber
Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs
Family Research Council
Frank Wolf
Member of Congress 1981-2014, retired
Sen-Hong Yang
Chairman
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights
Dr. Jianli Yang
Founder and President
Citizen Power Initiatives for China
Elmer Gongyi Yuan
Hong Kong entrepreneur and key opinion leader
cc: Vice President Mike Pence
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
U.S. Ambassador Sam Brownback
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
National Security Advisor to the President Robert O’Brien
National Economic Council Director
.