Freedom of Religion

Politburo Standing Committee Member Jia Qinglin told religious leaders at a meeting on January 22 that religious work should carry out party policies, contribute to the country's development, and resist foreign infiltration, Xinhua reported that day. (Click here for an abbreviated Xinhua report on the event in English.) Jia added that religious work should focus on safeguarding national security and social stability. A summary of religious work in 2005, which was posted January 27 on the State Administration for Religious Affairs Web site, said that upholding social stability is the "number one responsibility" and enduring theme of religious work.

An official from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) urged Chinese pilgrims to Mecca to make the trip under the auspices of the China Islamic Association, according to a January 19 report from Xinhua. Guo Chengzhen, deputy director of the Muslim affairs department at SARA, said that the delegation organized by the state-sponsored China Islamic Association "enjoys better transportation and accommodation facilities." Guo called Chinese pilgrims who do not join official groups an inconvenience to other pilgrims and the Saudi government. Four participants from Qinghai province, on the official pilgrimage, were trampled to death in Mecca on January 12; Chinese news media reported the deaths shortly after the event.

Chinese officials in Beijing municipality and Jilin province disrupted two Protestant house church services and briefly detained one house church leader in separate incidents in late 2005 and early 2006, according to a January 16 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors the religious freedom of house church Protestants.

Government officials, religious leaders, and scholars met on December 30, 2005, to announce the establishment of the China Religious Culture Communication Association (CRCCA), according to a report posted on the Web site of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) and an article posted on Xinhua's English-language Web site. The CRCCA is a non-profit social organization led by SARA Director Ye Xiaowen that seeks to promote religious exchanges and cooperation between China and other countries.

Officials broke up two Protestant house church Christmas celebrations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and detained 12 house church leaders, according to a December 27, 2005 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors the religious freedom of house church Protestants. On December 24, officials broke up a Christmas celebration taking place in Korla city in the XUAR at which about 100 house church members were present. On December 25, officials raided a Christmas celebration taking place in a rented commercial facility in Manasi county in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture in the XUAR. Approximately 200 house church members were present. Officials presented a search warrant, declared the celebration an "illegal religious gathering," and detained 12 leaders and confiscated without receipt private property including two motor vehicles.

Falun Gong practitioner Charles Lee arrived in San Francisco on January 21 after Chinese authorities released him from prison and expelled him from China upon completion of his three-year sentence, according to a Radio Free Asia report (in Chinese) and a Falun Dafa Information Center news release (in Chinese) dated the same day.

Officials detained Wang Wenzhi, an unregistered Catholic priest of Yongnian diocese in Hebei province, on December 11, according to a January 4 report of the Cardinal Kung Foundation (CKF), a U.S. NGO that monitors the religious freedom of Chinese Catholics. Security officials detained Father Wang after he finished celebrating Mass in the private home of a Catholic believer in Fengfeng city. Officials have pressured him to register with the Catholic Patriotic Association, the organization through which the government controls the registered Catholic community. The CKF reported that officials are holding Father Wang in the Guangping county detention center, while a January 5 AsiaNews report said that Father Wang is being held in a hotel.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports that two monks of Chogri Monastery, Dzokar and Tobden, and layman Lobsang Tsering were detained last July in Luhuo County (Tibetan: Draggo), in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Tibetan: Kardze), Sichuan province. According to RFA's sources, police suspected the three of putting up pro-independence posters on local government buildings. They were sentenced to three years imprisonment.

The men were among 60 Tibetans detained during a reception for a Tibetan Buddhist teacher visiting from Switzerland. Witnesses told RFA that a religious banner was displayed at the ceremony that featured a snow lion motif, thus resembling the banned Tibetan flag. Most were released after a few days, but authorities continued to hold the two Chogri monks and the third man in connection with posters that had appeared the same month.