Beijing’s “all-out assault on religion” amid a broader effort to block the Chinese people from enjoying fundamental freedoms and human rights has been denounced by Taiwan’s top legislative leader who was in Washington DC thanking the U.S. for its support.

The visit came just days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to China in an attempt to improve relations.

You Si-kun, who serves as the speaker of Taiwan’s Parliament blamed Chinese President Xi Jinping for ushering in a new era of religious persecution, starting in 2014, which includes the detention and forced labor of more than a million Uyghurs, as well as the decades-long repression of Tibetans and members of the Falun Gong, and efforts to stop millions of Christians from worshipping in underground churches.