The United States Catholic Conference, the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society and the congressionally appointed, cross-denominational United States Commission on International Religious Freedom all have urged Congress not to grant China permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR). These representatives of the religious community oppose PNTR because they believe that the annual review of China's trade status is an essential tool for pressuring the Chinese government to respect religious freedom. The Commission on International Religious Freedom concluded in its annual report: "... given the sharp deterioration in freedom of religion in China during the last year, the Commission believes that an unconditional grant of PNTR at this moment may be taken as a signal of American indifference to religious freedom."

The Chinese government has harassed, persecuted, jailed, beaten and sometimes killed Chinese men, women and children for practicing their faith:

• "Catholic and Protestant underground 'house churches' suffered increased repression; the crackdown included the arrests of bishops, priests and pastors, one of whom was found dead in the street soon afterward."—U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Annual Report, 2000
  
  
• "Several Catholic bishops were ordained by the government without the Vatican's participation or approval."—U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Annual Report, 2000
  
  
• "In Henan there were reports that police raided two house church services and detained approximately 140 worshipers in late 1998, beating some of them in the process. On Nov. 5, 1998, the Public Security Bureau surrounded a gathering of house church members in Nanyang and detained over 100 persons...among those beaten was Cheng Meiyeng, who suffered memory loss as a result of the beating she received."—U.S. State Department Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999
  
  
• "Members [of the foreign Jewish community] experienced initial difficulty in establishing worship services due to the fact that Judaism is not one of the five officially recognized religions."—U.S. State Department Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999
  
  
• On Jan. 28, 1999, Ibrahim Ismael, a Muslim religious scholar, was executed for illegal religious activities. Twenty-one Uighur Muslims, including two women, were executed in 1998 for "separatist" activities.—U.S. State Department Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999
  
  
• "Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 10-year-old boy identified by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, the second most revered figure in Tibetan Buddhism, is still missing after being detained by the Chinese in 1995."—International Campaign for Tibet

• Twelve Tibetan nuns have been in the Drapchi Prison since 1990. Their crimes include singing songs of resistance. "Torture and ill-treatment by prison officials is commonplace....Nuns and other female prisoners have reportedly been raped."—Amnesty International

• Chen Zixiu, a 59-year-old follower of Falun Gong, was arrested for practicing her faith. Four days later, Chen's daughter was called to pick up Chen from prison, only to find that her mother had been tortured and beaten to death. The daughter, Zhang Xueling, also a member of Falun Gong, was detained by the Chinese police for publicizing her mother's death.—The Wall Street Journal, April 20, 2000, and The Washington Post, April 26, 2000
  
  
• "Representatives of Falun Gong in the United States say that more than 35,000 members have been detained and that more than 5,000 are being held in labor camps, a sentence that does not require a trial."—The New York Times, April 26, 2000