In a blistering rebuke that has ignited fresh trans-Pacific tensions, U.S. Rep. Riley M. Moore (R-W.Va.) declared Tuesday that “China will not dictate our foreign policy” after Beijing warned Washington against military intervention in Nigeria over what the Trump administration calls a “Christian genocide.”
Moore, a 38-year-old Catholic freshman who rode Trump’s 2024 coattails to flip West Virginia’s 2nd District, posted the statement on X at 9:00 p.m. ET—exactly 24 hours after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning accused the U.S. of “wanton threats” and “interference” in Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“President Trump is absolutely right to defend our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering horrific persecution, and even martyrdom, for their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Moore wrote. “China will not dictate our foreign policy to us, and we will not be lectured to by a Communist autocracy that recently arrested 30 Christian pastors for their faith and throws ethnic minorities in concentration camps.”
The Spark: Trump’s October 31 Ultimatum
The clash traces to Halloween night, when President Trump redesignated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act and tasked Moore and Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) with leading a congressional probe.
Trump’s Truth Social post warned: “If the killings don’t stop, we will withhold every penny of aid—and yes, guns-a-blazing military options are on the table.”
Moore’s office cites Open Doors and Aid to the Church in Need data showing 7,132 Christians killed in Nigeria in 2025 alone —an average of 35 per day—mostly by Boko Haram, ISIS-West Africa, and Fulani militias in the Middle Belt.
Since 2009, the toll exceeds 62,000 dead and 19,000 churches razed.
Beijing’s Red Line
At Tuesday’s noon briefing in Beijing, Mao Ning fired back: “The U.S. has no right to wield human rights as a weapon to intimidate a sovereign African partner. China firmly supports President Tinubu’s leadership and Nigeria’s chosen development path.”
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs echoed the sentiment, calling Trump’s threat “regrettable” and insisting “no foreign boots will touch Nigerian soil.” Spokesperson Daniel Bwala told NewsFocus: “Independent monitors—including the U.N.—have found no evidence of state-sponsored genocide.”
Moore’s Hypocrisy Charge—and the October Arrests
Moore zeroed in on China’s own record. Between October 10-11, Public Security Bureau teams in seven provinces rounded up 29 pastors and elders of the 10,000-member Zion Church network, including founder Pastor Jin Mingri (a Peking University alumnus who studied at Fuller Seminary).
Charged with “illegal use of information networks” under new September rules banning unlicensed online preaching, the detainees remain incommunicado in Beihai No. 2 Detention Center. Five were later released; lawyers have been denied access.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the sweep on October 12, calling it “the CCP’s hostility toward Christians who reject Party interference.”
How the Night Unfolded: A Timeline
– Oct 31, 7:42 p.m. ET — Trump posts CPC designation, tags Moore and Cole.
– Nov 3, 2:15 p.m. Abuja — Nigeria’s Senate President Godswill Akpabio calls emergency session; Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP-Kano) accuses Moore of “colonial nostalgia.”
– Nov 4, 12:00 p.m. Beijing — Mao Ning issues warning.
– Nov 4, 9:00 p.m. ET — Moore drops viral X thread (4.8 million views by dawn).
– Nov 5, 6:00 a.m. Lagos — Tinubu chairs National Security Council; military deploys 2,000 additional troops to Plateau State.
Stakes for 2026
Moore’s defiance is more than rhetoric. The House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Trump loyalist Michael McCaul, is scheduled to mark up the Nigeria Religious Freedom Sanctions Act next week—mirroring Ted Cruz’s Senate bill that would freeze assets of any Nigerian official “complicit in anti-Christian violence.”
Aid at risk: $1.2 billion in annual U.S. security and health assistance, plus $800 million in counter-Boko Haram training.
Voices from the Ground
In Jos, Plateau State, Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam—whose cousin was beheaded by Fulani raiders in July—told NewsFocus via satellite phone: “We welcome any help that stops the nightly raids. But foreign troops? That could ignite wider jihad.”
In Beijing, exiled Zion pastor Sean Long warned: “China is killing the chicken to scare the monkeys. Arresting Zion signals every house church: register or vanish.”
What’s Next
Moore will testify Thursday before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. Sources say he’ll present satellite imagery of 47 villages torched since September and push for a U.N. peacekeeping resolution—potentially the first U.S.-led armed mission in sub-Saharan Africa since Somalia 1993.
As Moore told supporters at a Charleston rally last night: “This isn’t about empire. It’s about Easter morning versus the grave. And America still chooses resurrection.”
NewsFocus will continue to provide updates as this story develop.
