VOC Hosts 11th Annual China Forum

On October 27-28, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation held its 11th annual China Forum, convening leading scholars and policymakers to discuss the evolving threats from the Chinese Communist Party. This year’s Forum featured five keynote speakers, four panels, three members of Congress, three interviews, one book talk, and was attended by an in-person and virtual audience of over 11,000 people.  

China Forum Day One

Day One of the China Forum, hosted at the Victims of Communism Museum, kicked off with remarks from Grace Jin Drexel, daughter of imprisoned Pastor Ezra Jin, who spoke on her father’s faith, persecution, and the fight for freedom in communist China. 

The opening day also featured a fireside chat with Mike Gallagher, Head of Defense at Palantir and a former member of Congress, who sat down with VOC’s Ambassador Paula Dobriansky to consider how the US government can push back against the Chinese Communist Party. During the discussion, Gallagher noted that VOC is an “incredible national asset…[that] sponsors world-class scholarship.” A panel discussion explored China’s transnational repression and how activists are fighting back. The night ended with a conversation with Rushan Abbas to discuss her new book Unbroken—One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom. 

China Forum Day Two

Day Two of the China Forum opened with remarks from VOC President and CEO, Dr. Eric Patterson, and VOC Senior Fellow and Director in China Studies, Dr. Adrian Zenz. Day Two featured three panels that explored China’s brutal system of forced labor, countering PRC aggression in an era of change, and confronting China’s techno-authoritarianism.  

China Forum attendees heard from Congressman John Moolenaar, Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member of the Committee, about the threats that the US faces from the CCP and how the free world can stand for liberty. Congressman Thomas Suozzi, the co-chair of the Congressional Uyghur Caucus, also delivered remarks and expressed his gratitude for VOC’s groundbreaking research highlighting these important issues because “we have so much work to do to bring people’s attention to what the Chinese Communist Party is doing.” 

China Forum keynotes were delivered by Dr. Rush Doshi of the Council on Foreign Relations, former Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Dr. Katrina Lantos-Swett of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and Damon Wilson of the National Endowment for Democracy. Speakers covered how the West can push back against an aggressive CCP, the importance of bipartisan action from Washington, the challenges of our moment and the hope for a brighter future, and why the West must support dissidents who are leading the fight against the communists in Beijing. VOC’s Dr. Zenz conducted interviews with Dr. Frank Dikötter, Milias Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, on the history of the CCP and their genocide against the Chinese people, and with Adam King, Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific at the International Republican Institute, on the democratic movements sweeping across Asia and the hope for freedom by China’s youth.  

VOC was honored to bestow the Lee Edwards Award for Outstanding Scholarship to Dr. Frank Dikötter at the 2025 China Forum. Presenting the award, VOC Chairman Dr. Elizabeth EdwardsSpalding remarked, “Dr. Dikötter has devoted his career to uncovering the truth about one of history’s most murderous regimes… [ensuring] that all the victims of communist China will be remembered, even if they cannot be individually named.” The Lee Edwards Award is VOC’s highest academic accolade and is named after the foundation’s co-founder, Dr. Lee Edwards.

Want to learn more about the 2025 China Forum? Watch the full conference below and explore the list of speakers here.

Thank you to our sponsors who made this event possible, especially the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, and Catherine Windels.