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NEWS PROVIDED BY
ChinaAid Association
June 13, 2025
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2025 /Standard Newswire/ -- On Tuesday, July 8, 2025, ChinaAid Association and Shining Light Media LLC will co-host a symposium marking the 10th anniversary of the 709 Crackdown. Titled “Ten Years After the 709 Crackdown: Symposium on the Rule of Law and Religious Freedom under Xi Jinping,” the event will be held from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Congressional Visitor’s Center (CVC 200) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Lunch will be provided after the event.
Launched in July 2015, the 709 Crackdown was a widespread operation by the Chinese Communist Party targeting human rights lawyers, legal defenders, and faith communities. Hundreds were detained, interrogated, or imprisoned under “national security” charges, signaling the Party’s deep hostility toward legal advocacy and independent religious practice.
The symposium will feature two expert panels reflecting on the impact of the crackdown, the erosion of rule of law and religious freedom in China, and the implications for U.S. policy and global human rights.
Confirmed speakers include:
● Government & Congressional Officials: Senator Ted Cruz, SBO Patrick Harvey (International Religious Freedom Office, Bureau of Democracy, Labor and Human Rights, DRL), Ambassador Yui Tah-ray (Taiwan's Representative to the United States, TECRO)
● Panel 1 – 709 Crackdown and China’s Rule of Law: Ambassador Nathan A. Sales (Distinguished Fellow, Atlantic Council), Professor Terence Halliday (Research Professor Emeritus, American Bar Foundation), Chen Guangcheng 陈光诚先生 (Distinguished Fellow, Catholic University of America), Attorney Piero Tozzi (Staff Director, Congressional-Executive Commission on China), Sophie Shengchun Luo 罗胜春女士 (Wife of imprisoned human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi)
● Video Remarks: By one of the most severely persecuted human rights lawyers during the 709 crackdown
● Panel 2 – Reflection on China’s Religious Freedom: Commissioner Maureen Ferguson (USCIRF), Tony Perkins (President, Family Research Council), Dr. Sophie Richardson (Senior Fellow, Hoover Institute, Stanford University), Zubayra Shamseden (Chinese Outreach Coordinator, Uyghur Human Rights Project), Frances Hui 許穎婷 (Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation)
RSVP and Media Inquiries: RSVP at: https://forms.gle/KY6oVJqK8Zneq39f7, or contact us at media@chinaaid.org
ChinaAid is a U.S.-based nonprofit advancing religious freedom and rule of law in China through advocacy and legal aid. Shining Light Media LLC is an independent media company reporting on freedom and conscience in the Chinese-speaking world.
SOURCE ChinaAid Association
CONTACT: media@chinaaid.org
