ReligiousFreedomforChina.org

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April 24^th, 2002

 

Mutual Exclusivity Between

 God and Party in Today’s China

 

Amnesty International Asks:

How do people in China practice their religious belief and cultural heritage?

 

Li Answers:

In Today’s China it is mutually exclusive to trust God and to trust the Party.  To appease world opinion that demands religious freedom for the Chinese people, the ruling communist party has invented deceitful policies to maintain ever-tighter control of religious activities among the masses.  It allows a handful of “Government Sanctioned” religious professionals to carry on religious practices openly for public consumption. These government appointed bishops, priests and ministers are under constant surveillance and control by the secretive religious affairs operatives of the communist party.

The millions of Christian believers in China clearly recognize that their belief is based on their spontaneous worship and trust of God.  It is a sacred and solemn choice they made with God.  They will not subject themselves to the leadership of the party sanctioned religious professionals who appear to be more religious than others but deny God in their heart, and who profess allegiance to the Party and not God.  Therefore, they refuse to join the government sanctioned “Three-self church”.  Even though they are required to register with the government for their involvement in the house churches, they refused to do so for fear of being put on the black list.   It is in these unregistered underground house churches that the majority of Christians in China practice their religious beliefs, including Bible study, preaching of the Bible, singing hymns, baptismal services and holy communions.

 

Amnesty International Asks:

What are the legal constraints the government imposes on religious practices?

 

Li answers:

The Chinese government has repeatedly announced to the world that according to its constitution, the citizens of the People’s Republic of China have freedom in religious belief.   President Jiang Zemin even informed an American Congressional delegation of his desire to someday see a church and a Mosque in each village in China.  But what is there to prevent such a noble wish being fulfilled?  It is none other than the core group of people surrounding President Jiang, whose sole purpose is to carry out the desires and policies of the Party leadership.  Maybe it is truly a “State Secret” only known to President Jiang himself.

A series of top secret documents, directives and edicts that we have obtained, it clearly revealed how the various levels of the government machinery of operatives followed the instructions and devised practical and extreme measures to control and eliminate the practice of religious freedom throughout the country in a manner similar to the tactics of terrorists.  Armed with these instructions from the highest level of central government, local cadres are given the power to use whatever means available to them to suppress dissent with no regard for accountability or legal consequences. 

The government officials truly believe that it is their rights to interpret the rules of law to suit their extreme measures to suppress religious dissidents in order to create an image of harmony and peace to the world.  With such oppressive measures, they hope to manipulate world opinion about China and to hide the truth from the outside world.  Their brutal actions are praised by the leadership because it provides President Jiang with a pretext to entice foreigners to do business with China.

 

Amnesty International Asks:

What kind of brutal measures does China use to oppress these people?

 

Li answers:

China, which is a signatory of the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, not only uses the forbidden cruel means to persecute these practitioners of religious belief including modern means of torture  advanced by the Communist party in recent years.  With silent admission and tolerance from the community of world opinion, these cruel method of torture are daily used on thousands of Christians who would rather endure the pain and suffering than deny their faith.  Their only reaction is silent non-resistance and steadfast faith in God.

Just recently, we reported a case in Hubei province of a young woman being jailed and tortured in order to provide false testimony against the leader of her church.  The following is an excerpt of her personal account of the torture.

“After half an hour of questioning, the police started beating me, pulling my hair, grabbing my cloth and  tearing them off from my body.  At the same time, they forced me to admit that I had slept with my pastor.  I fought hard to prevent them from taking away all of my clothes, holding on to my blouse and pants.  Then they thrust a fully charged electrical stock stick against my chest, between my thighs and groin.  The pain and shock was so severe that I could hardly stand up.  At the end I crouched on the floor holding on to my clothes and bending my knees from being hurt.  They beat me again and again on my back forcing me to sit up straight.  At midnight a policeman with only his underpants on came into my cell and started so called “private interrogation”.  I was prepared to die by banging my head against the wall in order to save myself from the disgrace about to be imposed on me…”

This is just one example from thousands of similar cases.  Such cruel tortures are the fate of thousands of Chinese Christians whose faith in God sustain them through these kind of trials and tribulations!  It will be difficult for them to comprehend that so many, including Christians, would put business profit above moral principals to help prolong the control of the Chinese Communist party in China.        

In China, anyone who is trapped by the law enforcement agency, loses his or her basic human rights.  This applies to the children of high level government officials who lost power too.  Chinese text books on law clearly state that “Law is set up to protect the interests of the ruling class. “ The ruling class in China is the Communist party which is entirely made up of all atheists.   To protect its ruling class’s interests, all extreme measures the party uses against religious believers who do not trust the party are legitimate in its legal thinking.

According to the data which we have collected from eye-witnesses from 530,000 house churches scattered throughout China in 22 provinces, 207 cities and numerous rural villages, in the last 19 years 25,354 people were arrested because of their religious activities.  Of these, 4,077 were sent to labor camp. 7 became fugitives.  1,828 were forced to go into hiding or missing.  130 were tortured to death.  209 were crippled by torture. 1,200 were put under constant surveillance, and 10,522 were freed by paying exorbitant ransom. 

We have in our possession the names, addresses and pictures of bodily injuries of these victims.  They are willing to testify against these crimes if given a chance in an international court of law.

Our friends in the free world, do you really want to know more about the cruelty the Communist government imposed on the God loving people of China in order to suppress their religious freedom?

 

Amnesty International Asks:

What do the Chinese Christians wish to happen to themselves?

 

Li answers:

Those, who live in fear because of their religious belief, desire to have the true “religious freedom” promised in Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution. They would want the government to fulfill the promises which they made in the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights. They would want the government stop the practices of intimidation, wanton arrest, detention and torture. They would want the government to adhere to the basic international standard of human rights, including the right to life. 

We hope that the millions of law enforcement professionals in China would have a chance to read United Nation’s publication “Human Rights and Law Enforcement” and “The Istanbul Protocol” in their entireties.  Of course, the communist party will limit the access to these books from the police in China by various ways, because it is clearly stated in “Human Right and Law Enforcement” that

“… the Charter is a legally binding treaty to which all Member States are parties. These provisions had the legal effect of, once and for all, putting to rest all arguments as to whether human rights and their enjoyment by individuals were subjects for international law, or merely matters of States sovereignty. Consequently, that police are bound by such rules is now beyond dispute”,

            that “the Charter of the United Nations, which encourages universal respect for the human rights of all human beings without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion;”

            and that “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

            It is also pointed out in “Human Rights and Law Enforcement” that

“State terrorism-(is) committed by agents of a State for the purposes of repression”.

            In “The Istanbul Protocol”, it is stated that

“Torture is a profound concern for the world community. Its purpose is to deliberately destroy not only the physical and emotional well-being of individuals, but the dignity and will of entire communities. It concerns all members of the human family because it impugns the very meaning of our existence and our hopes for a brighter future”,

and therefore, according to general international laws or to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, all the States are obligated to investigate the allegations of torture.

Furthermore, in “Human Rights and Law Enforcement”, it is written that

“No law enforcement official may inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor may any law enforcement official invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances such as a state of war or a threat of war, a threat to national security, internal political instability, or any other public emergency as a justification of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”,

and that “It should be emphasized to law enforcement officials that there are no circumstances under which torture may be inflicted legally, or where it is justifiable”.

and that “The Convention includes provisions for bringing persons accused of torture to justice, regardless of their nationality or of where the crime is alleged to have been committed.”

At least, these Chinese law enforcement officials have to respect the authority of the Constitution, and take actions to enforce the law based on the Constitution but not those “State Confidential” documents which dare not face the public.

We hope that those business men and politicians rushing to China to make a fortune can reflect late at night with the sobering thought that whether every penny that you have earned was stained with the blood and tear of the Chinese people, because you have greatly sustained and encouraged the evil power of Chinese communist party at the expense of its millions of oppressed people. 

 

It is also my hope that those who conduct business with China will awaken in the middle of the night with the sobering thought that every penny earned in China is tainted with the blood and tears of the Chinese people, that actions which support the current government without protest also prolong the oppression of the Chinese people. I also hope the people living in the free world will speak out for truth, because we do not have to worry about being arrested for speaking out. You will not be tortured to death because you speak the truth. May God grant you the courage and a strong sense of justice to tell your friends and relatives the true sufferings which Christians are enduring under the Communist government in China. 

 

President of CIPRC    Shixiong Li

 

 

CIPRC website: www.religiousfreedomforchina.org

 

Note: Attach with “Some Statistics of the Continuous Persecution on House Churches by the Chinese Government”