Dharamshala — The bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released the Commission’s 2025 Annual Report reviewing human rights conditions and legal developments in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in December, 2025. The report states,"The PRC continued to restrict and seek to control the religious practices of Tibetans, particularly practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. PRC officials exercise political control and supervision of Tibetan Buddhist monastic and educational institutions."
U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chair and Cochair of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released the Commission’s 2025 Annual Report reviewing human rights conditions and legal developments in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), on December 10, 2025, Human Rights Day, in Washington, D.C., United States.
CECC Chair Senator Dan Sullivan said, “This year’s report lays bare how the Chinese Communist Party keeps breaking its word—to its own people and to the world. Beijing signs human rights conventions, promises autonomy for Hong Kong and Tibet, and pledges to play by global trade rules, then jails dissidents, runs forced-labor factories and illegal fishing fleets, and even dispatches agents to stalk and threaten people on American soil. This report doesn’t just catalogue those abuses; it gives Congress, the administration, and our allies a blueprint to stand with victims of atrocities, defend our workers and supply chains—including our fishing and seafood industries—from slave labor, and make sure the Chinese Communist Party, not American families, pays the price for Beijing’s broken promises. I am honored to work with Representative Smith on the CECC and continue the important work of Secretary of State Rubio, who served on this commission as Chair or Ranking Member for nine years while he was in the Senate.”
CECC Cochair Representative Chris Smith said, “Sadly, the People’s Republic of China under the Communist Party has proven time and again that it seeks hegemony in order to impose the same tyranny it afflicts its own citizens with upon the rest of the world. China is not a responsible member of the community of nations, for it is run by the Communist Party for the benefit of the Communist Party—a Party State which does not honor the treaties to which it is a State Party. The PRC is thus more than simply a strategic rival to the United States and the rest of the free world, as it is a systemic rival which seeks to undo the stable international order to which the United States has been guarantor since the end of the Second World War. How can a predatory, mercantilist nation that utilizes forced labor, steals intellectual property and massively subsidizes state-owned enterprises be a member of the World Trade Organization or any rules-based order? The answer is that it cannot be, so long as the Communist Party maintains its monopoly on power.”
The CECC's report states, "The PRC continued to restrict and seek to control the religious practices of Tibetans, particularly practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. International observers and rights advocacy groups reported on continuing violations of international human rights standards, including the right to freely worship and to choose one’s own religion, that result from PRC religious policy and its implementation. PRC officials exercise political control and supervision of Tibetan Buddhist monastic and educational institutions through the National Religious Affairs Administration (NRAA), a Party office under the United Front Work Department, and through the Buddhist Association of China, the supervisory organization for Buddhism operating under the NRAA."
"During the 2025 reporting year, Chinese Communist Party and government organizations continued to target Tibetan Buddhist monks, nuns, and laypersons in political propaganda campaigns. As part of these campaigns, Party and government officials held events, including lectures, study sessions, and competitions, at religious and lay sites to expound on Party policies and reinforce Party control over religious life. In these events, often presented as visits to monastic institutions, Party officials responsible for religious policy stressed Party leadership and oversight of religious institutions, and the responsibility of monastic leaders to ensure that religious personnel follow Party dictates. At these propaganda events, Party officials instructed monastics and laypersons on policies or legal provisions restricting religious life, such as the Party and government’s assertion of control over the recognition of reincarnated teachers like the Dalai Lama and lectured on major Party policy decisionmaking events, including the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Party outreach to Tibetans also emphasized Party ethnic policy, including the requirement to learn and use Mandarin Chinese," the report added.
The CECC's report states, "In August 2024, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, abbot of Lungngon Monastery in Gade (Gande) county, Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai, disappeared following conflict with Chinese authorities over his public advocacy for linguistic rights for Tibetans and his refusal to comply with official religious and educational directives. Hungkar Rinpoche went into hiding in Vietnam until his detention on March 25, 2025, by PRC and Vietnamese authorities. Three days later, he was transferred to PRC custody, and died the same day in Ho Chi Minh City. Groups including the Tibetan government in exile called for an independent investigation into the cause and nature of his death, as Lungngon monks who traveled to Vietnam alongside PRC officials to receive his body were allowed to view only his face. In April 2025, authorities in the area around Lungngon Monastery restricted public discussion of Hungkar Rinpoche’s death, inspecting local residents’ phones, banning public commemorations, and detaining an unknown number of individuals in connection with sharing information about his death online."
"Chinese authorities continued to restrict contact between Tibetans in Tibetan areas of China and individuals or groups abroad, including by punishing or threatening to punish those found to have contact with Tibetans in exile—often those in India—or who have shared information in Tibet about Tibetans living abroad. Chinese authorities also strictly monitored online communications to find and punish Tibetans who Chinese authorities alleged had committed crimes online. Examples of Tibetans detained by Chinese authorities in connection with their exercise of freedom of expression or sharing information," the report explained.
