Freedom of Religion

An Anhui court sentenced house church pastor Wang Zaiqing to two years' imprisonment for "illegal operation of a business” in printing and giving away Bibles without government authorization, according to an October 20 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Anhui officials detained Wang in April 2006 and formally arrested him in May. On October 9, a local people’s court in Huainan city, Anhui province convicted Wang, sentenced him to two years' imprisonment, and fined him 100,000 yuan (approximately US$12,500). Wang plans to appeal to a higher court.

Officials detained Wu Qinjing, a Catholic bishop in Shaanxi province whose episcopal consecration was not approved by the government, on September 11 in Zhouzhi city, according to September 14 reports by AsiaNews and the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN). The reports say that officials struck Wu and forced him into a vehicle. The bishop was released on September 16. On September 17, Wu was admitted to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion that observers suggested may have resulted from official mistreatment while in custody, according to September 20 reports by AsiaNews and UCAN.

Chinese officials have agreed to discuss the prospect of cooperation with the Church of England, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury and an October 23 International Herald Tribune report. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, visited China in October for meetings with officials from the government and from Party-controlled religious organizations, and said that Chinese officials have agreed to discuss the possibility of Anglican theologians teaching in Chinese Protestant seminaries and of developing a program for Chinese seminarians to study at Protestant seminaries abroad. "We've talked quite a bit about this, and in detail, and we have a group which will be taking this forward," Archbishop Williams said.

The Beijing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee issued amendments on July 28 to its 2002 Beijing Municipal Regulation on Religious Affairs (Beijing RRA), making it the sixth provincial-level area to issue a new or amended regulation on religion since the national Regulation on Religious Affairs (national RRA) entered into force in March 2005.

Officials detained Liu after he posted Falun Gong material on Jinan city streets on October 17, 2005, and held him at the Changqing District Detention Center on suspicion of "organizing or using a cult to undermine implementation of the law" (a crime under Article 300 of the Criminal Law), according to the detention center release document available on the Minghui Web site. Liu was detained on October 25 and released the same day, after the Changqing district branch of the local public security bureau concluded that the circumstances surrounding Liu's actions were not serious, and that his actions therefore did not constitute a crime.

The Anhui Province People's Congress Standing Committee issued a decision on June 29 that amended its 1999 Anhui Province Regulation on Religious Affairs. The decision made the Anhui government the fifth provincial-level government to amend or issue a new comprehensive regulation on religious affairs since the national Regulation on Religious Affairs (RRA) entered into force in March 2005.