Bible Smuggling
Religious Persecution in China.

By Ann Noonan, New York coordinator, the Laogai Research Foundation.

For more information on religious freedom in China, visit www.freechurchforchina.org.
January 23, 2002 1:50 p.m.

Religious persecution in China has reached a level unrivaled since two Christian aid workers faced trial and possible execution by a Taliban court last year. Lai Kwong-keung, a 38-year-old Hong Kong businessman, was detained by police for transporting 33,000 copies of the New Testament to Fuqing City in the Fujian Province last year. He was issued an "evil cult" indictment and may face the death penalty for Bible smuggling. Interfaith coalitions and human-rights organizations have joined U.S. President Bush in his concern over this particular case, and have seemingly caused a delay in Mr. Lai's sentencing. However, prominent religious leaders inside China say that his case is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Center for Religious Freedom issued a press release on January 11th protesting against the Chinese government's crackdown on Chinese Christian churches. "A letter from members of an underground Chinese Christian church, dated December 31, 2001, and smuggled to the New York-based Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China, reveals graphic details and new information about the Chinese government's crackdown on Pastor Gong Shengliang and his South China Church in central Hubei province." The letter provides details about "two women, Li Tongjin and Chi Tongyuan, from Shayang, who were arrested and tortured by police with electric prods, resulting in blisters and burns all over their bodies." The letter also reports "numerous other cases from May to December 2001 of brutal police beatings of the congregants."

This recent crackdown comes as no surprise. During last December's National Religious Working Conference in Beijing, President Jiang Zemin called for the elimination of spirituality's encroachment on China's Communist Party rule. The three-day meeting was attended by a "who's who" list of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. Top leaders included Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao, Wei Jianxing, and Li Lanqing, as well as senior regional and ministerial officials. They all stressed the adherence to China's policy of "religious independence". But religious independence from what — or from whom?

The CPC insists on controlling China as an atheist state. Yet, despite China's communistic ideological principles, religion and spirituality have flourished. Over the last few years, there has been a tremendous growth of Christianity in China. Born-again sects such as the Shouters are among the fastest growing with more than 500,000 adherents. Millions of people in China have also found peace in practicing the breathing and spiritual exercises of Falun Gong. One might think that people of faith might make better citizens; but CPC officials worry about these "religious problems" and have decided that all forms of spirituality must be clamped down on with "management networks" as the government reinforces Communist Party Control.

In his speech at the National Religious Working Conference, Jiang Zemin emphasized that the CPC's work related to religion is an important part of what the China's Communist Party must now do. In describing how this should be done, he seemed to be suggesting an all-out effort to confiscate the best attributes of various religious activities — while disregarding any actual tenets of the faith. Accordingly, any results might only force a stranglehold on benevolent acts of faith while depriving believers of the glory of salvation. Though China claims that all are free to believe, or not believe, in religion, all Central Committee officials are atheists and must approach religion from a skeptic's point of view.

Of the situation's impact on Hong Kong's identity and the future of its citizens, Ann Lau, a Chinese human-rights activist living in the U.S. remarked, "The anomaly is not that there are various religious sects of Christianity in the PRC, nor PRC's persecution of Lai Kwing-keung who smuggled thousands of Bibles into the PRC — it is the silence of Hong Kong officials and the people of Hong Kong to defend their own and leaving such task to President Bush of the U.S."

This week in Hong Kong, U.S. Ambassador Clark Randt raised the issue of religious freedom in China. According to Mr. Randt, "The President has expressed his grave personal concern over the case of Hong Kong businessman Lai Kwong-keung, who sits in a jail awaiting trial, apparently for importing Bibles. The importance of the Bible to Christians and the negative impact of such a story on the image of China in the United States cannot be overestimated."

In a statement to the Laogai Research Foundation, Hong Kong legislator Emily Lau said, "It is very sad to learn that shipping Bibles to mainland China can attract the death penalty. Now that China has acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, I hope Beijing will learn to respect the rights of its people and adopt the behaviour of the civilized world."

As President Bush prepares to embark on a state visit to China next month, religious leaders and human-rights leaders continue to offer hope to Mrs. Lai and her family, all hoping that US pressure will help secure the release of her husband, and allow for all citizens inside China to live and worship in peace.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-noonan012302.shtml

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