China’s influence undoubtedly can be found in online expression where it funds its own messaging, in academia where it sponsors schools, classes, even professors, in domestic religion with its bans on Bible messages, in politics where it infiltrates congressional offices, and more.
Now it’s reached even into the list of speakers for a religious conference in Texas, and caused a speaker to be banned.
That’s the word from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which explained campus speakers, online expression, blockbuster movies, and printed books in the U.S. all are protected by the First Amendment.
“But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re protected against influence and censorship by foreign powers, particularly the Chinese government. This censorship may go under the radar for many Americans, but make no mistake: It can influence not just what you encounter in the secular world, but maybe the spiritual one, too.”
FIRE explained it was the National Catholic Register that painted “a disturbing picture.”
“A U.S.-based Catholic organization chose to disinvite a speaker from its conference at the University of St. Thomas in Houston after facing direct pressure from Chinese officials. Apparently even the speaker lists at religious events in the U.S. cannot escape pressure from foreign officials who vest in themselves the authority to censor the world,” the organization said.
The report said last year the U.S.-China Catholic Association invited Purdue University professor and director of the Center on Religion and the Global East Fenggang Yang to speak at USCCA’s summer 2026 conference in Houston.
He agreed to a “non-political speech.” His career does include work on state regulation of religion.
His work has been, therefore, targeted by the Chinese power structure, apparently now for what he says in the U.S.
FIRE confirmed this summer, USCCA board chair Peter Tan contacted Yang out of the blue to tell him “that the two needed to talk, as Tan ‘just returned from China,’ where he ‘was confronted by two government officials regarding your participation in our conference.'”
Tan asked Yang to step down. He declined and Tan made the decision for him.
Why did a Catholic group in America assent to censorship?
Tan told FIRE the concerns included the conference alignment with the Vatican regarding China.
“Tan also worried that board members feared retaliation from Yang’s participation,” FIRE reported.
Tan explained, “The bottom line is no one can predict what the government can and will do. There is too much risk.”
Later explained was that China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs called for Yang’s removal due to his “past public criticism of the Chinese government.”
Yang called the situation an “egregious violation of religious freedom and academic freedom, and your organization’s willing cooperation in it.”
