; and (D) Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Covenant Church, who was arrested and sentenced to 9 years in prison for inciting to subvert state power and illegal business operations . (16) Authorities of the People's Republic of China continue to detain Falun Gong practitioners and subject them to harsh and inhumane treatment. (17) Since 1999, the Department of State has designated the People's Republic of China as a country of particular concern for religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 ( 22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq. ). (18) On June 17, 2020, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 ( Public Law 116–145 ) came into force, requiring reporting on human rights violations and abuses committed by the Government of the People’s Republic of China against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and calling for the use of targeted sanctions against officials of the People's Republic of China found to have engaged in such violations. (19) On June 21, 2022, section 3 of Public Law 117–78 ( 22 U.S.C. 6901 note) (commonly referred to as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act ) came into force, blocking products, goods, and material originating from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from entering the United States due to the risk that such items were produced using forced labor. (20) The National Security Strategy of the United States, issued in 2017, 2015, 2006, 2002, 1999, 1998, and 1997, committed the United States to promoting international religious freedom to advance the security, economic, and other national interests of the United States. 3. Statement of policy (a) Holding senior officials of the People's Republic of China responsible for religious freedom atrocities It is the policy of the United States to consider any senior official of the Government of the People’s Republic of China who is responsible for or has directly carried out, at any time, atrocities including arbitrary imprisonment, forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and