Tuesday 19 July 2011

The persecution of Christians continues in China

The persecution of Christians by China´s communist regime continues unabated. Sadly, western political leaders, who only seem to care about trade and economic ties , are turning a blind eye to  China´s repressive policy.

The Catholic Online reports about the worsening situation for Catholics in China:

With our growing economic reliance and dependence upon the Regime in China: Are we sacrificing our fundamental obligation to defend human freedom and human rights because we depend on the economic assistance of a repressive regime? We should also ask the candidates running for public office their view on the right to religious freedom and our relationship with mainland China.

We have followed with alarm and concern the heavy handed efforts of the Regime in mainland China against the legitimate leadership of the Catholic Church in China. Though there appeared to be a warming in relations for a while, reports out of China in 2010 confirmed that the situation for faithful Catholics looked ominous.

The Chinese Regime forcibly coerced Catholic Bishops faithful to the magisterium of the Catholic Church to attend an illegitimate gathering of the Regime-sponsored "Patriotic Association" (PA) and "Council of Bishops". They used violence against Catholic Bishops, priests and lay faithful.


Like many deceptive governments, the regime in mainland China presents a public face of tolerance but acts with impunity against Catholics, other Christians and other religious believers. They use coercion and violence against Catholic Bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful.
For example, in 2010, in order to coerce his attendance at the illegitimate meeting Bishop Feng Xinmao was seized by 100 police officers and government agents. His priests and members of the lay faithful reportedly fought for hours to prevent his arrest. Eventually, the Bishop was arrested by Police and placed in isolation.


The Bishop was rescued by the faithful and returned to his home. However, the representatives of the Regime did not give up. They attempted to again seize the Bishop once again and the faithful fought for hours to prevent violence against him but were unsuccessful. The Bishop was then dragged to Beijing and forced to attend the illegitimate gathering.

Read the entire article here

Asia News comments on the unwillingness of western leaders to confront China:

A rosé of presidents further encourages this attitude (including the Italian president) as well as Secretaries of State, who visiting China never fail to eulogise the "positive path" taken by Beijing on human rights, while – beyond bishops and priests - thousands of activists, petitioners, artists and writers are imprisoned and forcibly silenced.

As the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to admit on her first trip to China "with Beijing we can talk about everything, including human rights, but without jeopardizing our economic relationship."

It is not just a case of simple greed, of interest in the Chinese market, it is a matter of short-sightedness in not seeing that attacks on religious freedom, sooner or later, become attacks on all freedoms. The Chinese workers, enslaved and under paid, the farmers cheated of their land, the children and disabled people forced to work in brick factories, in preference to adults because "more docile”, know this all too well. But even economic freedom is beginning to choke: by now there is not even one entrepreneur left who, having invested in China, was sooner or later robbed of his patents, or forced to pay bribes of up to 25 per cent of his turnover to be able to set foot on the Chinese El Dorado.

There is also short-sightedness in the Chinese leadership who instead of responding to the lack of political reform and respect for human rights with the change, prefers oppression and a police state and thus prepares the ground for an increasingly explosive social conflict. The 180 thousand riots that break out in the country every year are just a drop in the ocean of what might happen if China and the world continue to pat each others backs to exploit the Chinese people and together suffocate their human and religious rights.


Read the entire article here

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