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.
Officials demolished an unregistered Catholic church and beat several Catholics who attempted to prevent the demolition on Pingtang Island in Fujian province on September 1, according to a September 4 AsiaNews report. The AsiaNews account said that officials warned the Catholics that they would demolish another unregistered Catholic church on the same island.
Hebei provincial officials released An Shuxin, formerly the unregistered auxiliary bishop of Baoding diocese in Hebei province, on August 24 after detaining him for over 10 years, according to an August 25 report of the Cardinal Kung Foundation (CKF), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Before officials released Bishop An, the government and Bishop An agreed that he would register with the government but would not be required to register with the Party-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), according to an August 26 AsiaNews report.
In July and August, provincial officials detained house church Protestants in Anhui, Henan, Hubei, and Yunnan provinces, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and placed a registered Protestant pastor under house arrest and evicted him from his parish in Shanxi, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China.
Chinese government officials attempted to defend the Catholic Patriotic Association’s (CPA) recent consecrations of registered Catholic bishops, according to Chinese press accounts. In April and May, the CPA coerced bishops to consecrate new bishops who were not approved by the Holy See. The CPA is the mass organization through which the government controls the practice of Catholicism in China by registered Catholics. Responding to the controversy over these consecrations, CPA Vice Chairman Liu Bainian denied that the Chinese government had a political motivation for the consecrations, according to a June 22 interview (in Chinese) published in Wen Wei Po of Hong Kong. Liu claimed, "We have no political purpose in our self-selection and self-ordination of bishops.