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Tuesday, February 12, 2002

OFFICIAL CHINESE DOCUMENTS PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

BEIJING, CHINA  (ANS) -- Important official documents revealing
centralized coordinated plans to crack down on and eliminate specific
religious groups in China have been disclosed, according to Christian
Solidarity Worldwide. The  documents were obtained at considerable risk
and come from a number of officials from both the Ministry of State
Security and various public security organizations.

The sources of the documentation were all aggrieved by the duplicity of
the government's simultaneous assertions of legal protection of
religious freedom and secret orders to persecute religious  groups. The
Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China, which
obtained the documents, reports how sources were disturbed by their
superiors' knowledge that the orders resulted in serious physical and
psychological abuses.

One of the documents issued by the Ministry of Public Security, entitled
'Notice on Various Issues Regarding Identifying and Banning of Cultic
Organizations' lists 14 groups identified as cults. Some of the
doctrines condemned as heresies in the document are beliefs widely held
by Christians around the world, such as praying for healing.

The Shouters and the All Sphere Church (founded by Xu Yongze) are listed
as cults, with reference also made to the South China Church. The head
of the South China Church, Gong Sheng Liang has been sentenced to death,
along with four other leaders of the group. The South China Church is
the focus of a top secret 'Document for the General Squad of Domestic
Security and Defense of Beijing Bureau of Public Security', which
requires all efforts to be taken to arrest Gong and track down
information on the group. A list of ten key wanted members of the group
is given.

According to CSW, throughout the documents there is a failure to
recognize the distinction which Christians make between the spiritual
and temporal. This is reminiscent of the way in which the authorities of
the day treated Jesus. In the document on the South China Church, Gong
is given as having 'advocated "the evangelization of whole nation, the
Christianization of culture, and the kingdomization of the church." He
also cried out to the believers to  "put on the armor given by the Lord,
fight a bloody battle with the devil [referring to the government] till
the end, destroy Satan's [referring to the Communist Party] kingdom, and
establish the everlasting Kingdom of God. (Bracketed text inserted by
government.)'

A further document, written by a Christian, reports the investigation of
the case of Ms Li Bao-zhi and other members of a Christian group who
were tortured and sent to re-education through labour for holding a
Christian meeting.

During the hearing in the Intermediate People's Court in Liao Ning
Province, it was stated that it was not possible to produce the relevant
legal documentation because the case had been dealt with in accordance
with the classified document issued from the Ministry of the State
Public Security.

The court heard from a witness: 'After we were arrested we were locked
in different rooms on the 8th floor, the Religious Section of the Public
Security Bureau. They tortured us. We can constantly hear loud cries
from those rooms'. Under questioning, the witness specified that the
cries were 'Howls under torture.'

Li Bao-zhi herself describes, in an interview, how she and her fellow
believers were beaten and threatened. "On November 11th 2001 I was
arrested in the middle of a gathering, and locked in the Religious
Section on the 8th floor. Five persons were put in different rooms. On
that night I heard Hou Rong-shan, Sun De-xiang crying loud, accompanied
with the electric buzz of the baton," she said.

"Another two sisters were beaten badly, one of them, sister Zhang Ya-ru
had been delivered to hospital for emergency treatment, after that she
was brought back to the Public Security Bureau again. And sister Niu
Zhong-fang... They cuffed her hands to the heating tube, and bound her
feet together. More horrible thing is, those police sat on her, hitting
her above the waist and her sole with electric baton," said Li Bao-zhi.

"They tortured her far into the night, then they tied up her shoulder
and hands tight with thin rope, beat her till blood gushed from her
mouth. They forced her to confess that she had said something like 'the
big church cannot be saved', and we cried and danced in the gatherings.
Sister Niu refused to confess, that's why she was tortured so!"

Stuart Windsor, National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide,
comments: 'These documents give concrete proof of the intense campaign
against religious movements in China.

"That individuals should be singled out for brutal treatment for their
religious beliefs is a disgrace in this age," he said.

"The classification of groups as cults, with the immensely aggravated
penalties accompanied by such a categorization, is a grossly misused and
misguided strategy, resulting in great travesties of justice. The state,
especially an atheist state, is not qualified to make theological
judgments on orthodoxy of doctrine," said Windsor.

"The activities revealed in this documentation show China in serious
breach of international law. In addition to breaches of freedom from
torture and freedom of religion, China's action is contrary to the UN's
specific direction that national security is not a ground for limiting
the right to religious freedom," he said.

"If China wishes to be regarded as a respectable international player,
she must urgently reform her laws and policies in accordance with her
voluntarily accepted international obligations. Until this is done, the
international community has both practical and moral reason not to trust
China as a credible and reliable international partner," Windsor said

For copies of the documents or further information, please contact Tina
Lambert on (+44) 020 8942 8810 or at TinaLambert@csw.org.uk. 
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