RELIGIOUS FREEDOM A POINT OF DISAGREEMENT IN U.S.-CHINA TALKS
By JULIE CHAO
2002 Cox News Service

           BEIJING _ When Washington pressed Beijing
on the perennially thorny issue of human rights, it used to be a tense
and conflicted dialogue full of threats and mutual recriminations.
           But as he demonstrated Thursday,
President Bush is using a more
personal approach with China focusing almost
exclusively on religious freedom.
           Bush has avoided lecturing or making
public demands on specific cases. Instead, he has spoken to Chinese President
Jiang Zemin on a more human level, explaining his own Christian
beliefs and presenting religion as a ``stabilizing and calming
force.''
           ``He talked more institutionally this
time about China moving forward on a commitment to religious freedom,'' said
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. ``It was a very
friendly discussion. President Jiang was interactive on it.''
           Bush also suggested that China's regime
should engage in more dialogue with the religious community, especially
with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, and the
Vatican. Beijing regularly denounces the Dalai Lama as a separatist
and has no relations with the Vatican, instead requiring
Chinese Catholics to pledge loyalty to the state-run Chinese Patriotic
Catholic Association.
           Jiang held to China's position that
religious freedom is guaranteed by the constitution and that any arrests
of religious figures are because they violated the law and not
because of their religious beliefs. China recognizes five religions _
Buddhism, Islam Protestantism, Catholicism and Taoism _ and
believers must worship in state-sanctioned churches where religious
leaders are vetted by government-controlled bodies.
           Jiang, who is also general secretary of
the Communist Party, added that he has read the Bible, the Quran and
Buddhist scriptures.
           ``Although I'm not religious, I'm very
interested in religion,''
he said at a press conference Thursday with Bush.
           Earlier, Jiang had declined to answer
questions from two American reporters about the issue of religious
freedom in general and about the detention and surveillance of 53
Catholic bishops and priests in particular.
           After avoiding the topic with an awkward
silence, though, he later spoke about religion in answering an unrelated
question from a Chinese reporter.
           ``Whatever religion people believe in,
they have to abide by the law, so some of the lawbreakers have been detained
because of their violation of law, not because of their religious
belief,'' Jiang said, apparently referring to the bishops.
``Although I'm the president of this country, I have no right
interfering in the judicial affairs, because of judicial
independence.''
           The Vatican's missionary news agency
Fides released the names last week of 33 bishops and priests it said were
detained or under police surveillance in China. It said another 20
priests whose names were unknown were also in detention.
           Last week, the Committee for
Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China released a 141-page report from
New York saying nearly 24,000 Christians have been arrested for
worshipping in underground churches. It also published what it said
were top-secret government documents confirming an
ongoing crackdown that includes use of torture and infiltration by
secret agents.
           Especially harsh sentences were handed
out to three members of the evangelical South China Church, a Christian sect
banned by authorities under an anti-cult law. The three were
condemned to death in December. At least one had been charged
with rape and using a cult to undermine state law, according to
human rights monitors.
           The 1999 anti-cult law was originally
passed to eliminate Falun Gong, an exercise and spiritual movement founded by
a former Chinese grain clerk now living in exile in the
United States. It claimed hundreds of thousands of followers and
frightened the leadership for its ability to mobilize such a large
and devoted following without notice. Authorities have detained
tens of thousands of practitioners since 1999.
           The crackdown is happening as China is
experiencing an explosive growth in religion. From 2 million Christians in
1977, there are now 10 million Protestants and four million
Catholics, according to official government statistics. Those numbers are
dwarfed by the membership in underground Christian churches,
estimated to exceed 50 million, according to Bob Fu, executive director
of the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of
Religion in China.
           The fastest growth has been in the vast
countryside. While some Chinese have prospered after two decades of
wrenching market reforms, more and more people are losing out,
especially in rural areas. They are unable to find jobs or afford health
care, yet find themselves hit up for taxes and fees by corrupt
local officials.
           Some cope by rioting. But more are
finding salvation in religion. Beijing's greatest worry is losing control
over the countryside.
           ``If religion is combined with
unemployment in rural areas, it's very serious,'' said Frank Lu, who runs the Hong
Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
``Many people have become very poor. If their health is not good,
they will always want to believe in God.''
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           Lu said the current crackdown is part of
a political struggle in the run-up to the Communist Party Congress later
this fall, which occurs every five years. There will be a significant
turnover in
leadership and many officials are jockeying for key
spots.
           Specifically, the ministers of public
security, which covers
police agencies, and state security, which includes
some
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