[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23275-23276]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN CHINA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, what is America if not a Nation that stands up 
for basic decency and human rights? What is America if it is not a 
people that speaks out for those who cannot speak out for themselves? 
And what will America become if we fail to speak out against dictators 
and despots who oppress and brutalize their own people?
  China has for too long been at liberty to detain and torture and 
intimidate and oppress good men and women for their religious beliefs. 
As the world's greatest democracy and the symbol of hope for millions, 
America has a duty and an obligation to speak out for the oppressed 
people of the world. We fail in our duty if we do nothing.
  It was the British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke who said 
that Representatives owe you not just their industry but also their 
judgment. As Representatives and beholders of American ideals, we 
should speak out on the issue of the persecution of those of faith in 
China.
  The litany of abuses committed by the Government of China toward its 
own people is long and senseless. I recently held a meeting with a 
number of groups who have spent years in documenting the numerous 
abuses committed by the Chinese Government upon the Chinese people. In 
the coming days, I will be highlighting the plight of different groups 
of long-suffering Chinese people so that colleagues can better 
understand the depth of this problem in China. The material I will be 
submitting today was prepared by the International Religious Freedom 
Commission, and I hope Members will read it.
  As I close, 10 Catholic bishops are in China today under house 
arrest, and this government, our government, our Congress and the 
administration, does not act. The Protestant Church is being abused and 
beaten in China and we have refused to speak out. The Chinese have 
plundered Tibet, and yet the West is quiet. Muslims are being 
persecuted in the northwest portion of China, and yet the West speaks 
out not at all. The Falun Gong are being persecuted almost on a daily 
basis.
  I think this is an opportunity to hear, in their own words, what all 
of these groups have to tell us in the Congress and us in the United 
States and us in the West about what is taking place, so that we know 
we should speak out on their behalf, particularly next year when the 
Geneva resolution with regard to condemning China on human rights comes 
up.
  Depending on the religious organization in question, the Chinese 
government provided various justifications to defend its policy of 
repression. Its action to restrict religious belief and practice, 
however, go far beyond what is necessary to protect legitimate state 
interests.
  Since 2001, the Communist government has engaged in a persistent 
campaign of banning some religious groups while insisting on 
registration for others. Many groups, particularly Christian house 
churches, have refused, understandably fearful that providing 
membership rosters would lead to regular surveillance by party and 
government agencies.
  The government's policy of designating religious or spiritual 
organizations as ``cults'' has led to tragic outcomes for millions of 
religious believers. All too often victims are sentenced to ``re-
education through labor camps,'' administered by the notorious Ministry 
of Public Security, which appears to perpetrate human rights abuses 
with absolute impunity. Persons adhering to ``unacceptable'' faiths 
have been given prison sentences of up to three years without a right 
to a hearing, without counsel and without judicial determination of 
their cases.
  There are at least 30 million Protestant Christians in China. Mostly, 
believers belong to independent house churches. Purely on account of 
their faith, properties belonging to or used by such groups have been 
confiscated, closed, or destroyed and members have been detained, 
tortured, and subjected to other forms of government harassment.
  In June 2003, 12 members of a house church in Guna Village in Yunnan 
province were arrested after they sought registration with the local 
government. On June 6, in response to the government's ``invitation'' 
to complete the registration process, the 12 church leaders were 
arrested for engaging in ``feudalistic superstition.'' Eight of the 12 
were immediately sentenced to three years in ``re-education through 
labor'' camps, while the other four were indicted and are being held 
for trial.
  In late August 2003, local officials arrested 170 house church 
Christians in Nanyang county, Henan province after local police 
reportedly raided the meeting place where the worship service was being 
conducted. The report indicates that the 14 leaders of the group are 
currently being held in detention, possibly facing serious charges, 
while the other members were released after having been fined, 
fingerprinted, and warned against continuing their activities.
  The Chinese Communist state has, since the 1950s, banned the Roman 
Catholic Church, replacing it with the state-approved Catholic 
Patriotic Association. Through this state organization, the Communist 
government has claimed the exclusive right to appoint Chinese bishops. 
Most Chinese clerics, however, have refused to accept the legitimacy of 
government appointees. As a result, many Roman Catholic bishops and 
priests have been harassed, detained, or imprisoned.
  According to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a number of Catholic 
bishops and priests who refuse to submit to government tutelage remain 
in prison or in detention and the status of other priests and lay 
persons remains unknown. As of August 2003, at least 10 Catholic 
bishops, including Bishop Su Zhimin, whose whereabouts are unknown, are 
imprisoned, in detention, under house arrests, or under surveillance.
  In Tibet, Buddhist monks and nuns serve lengthy sentences for voicing 
their allegiance to the Dalai Lama. In point of fact, the great 
majority of Tibetan political prisoners are monks and nuns.
  The longest-serving Tibetan political prisoner, Tagna Jigme Zangpo, 
was granted a medical parole to come to the United States in summer 
2002 when he was in the middle of a 28-year sentence before his 
``early'' release. Ngawang Sandrol, a member of the famous Tibetan 
``Singing Nuns'' who was released last year, had served over 10 years 
in the infamous Drapchi Prison before her release. According to the 
Tibet Information Network, the State Department, and the testimony of 
former Tibetan nuns like Ngawang Sandrol, many of these prisoners have 
been severely beaten and subjected to other extreme forms of 
punishment. Some have died in prison.
  The Chinese government has denied repeated requests, including from 
the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, for access to the 12-year-
old boy whom the Dalai Lama recognizes as the 11th Panchen Lama. 
Government officials have stated that he is being ``held for his own 
safety,'' while at the same time insisting that another boy is the true 
Panchen Lama.
  The Chinese government's official ban on the Falun Gong movement, in 
1999, has meant heightened government repression for all religious 
organizations designated by the government as ``cults.'' According to 
Falun Gong practitioners, as many as 100,000 of their members have been 
sent to labor camps without trial. They claim that as many as 700 may 
have died as a result of police brutality either while in prison or 
after their release.
  In largely Muslim Xinjiang, religious freedom is severely curtailed 
by the government, which indiscriminately links Muslim religious 
expression with ``separatist'' or ``terrorist'' acts. The 
indiscriminate repression of the Uighur people is best exemplified by 
the arrest and imprisonment of Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uighur 
businesswoman and activist, who was arrested in 1999 after she met with 
a visiting U.S. congressional delegation. Close supervision of all 
mosques in the region by local Communist Party officials is now 
commonplace.
  China repeatedly engages in severe--systematic, egregious--violations 
of religious freedom. If our ideals and what America stands for--both 
at home and abroad--are to mean anything, then we must not shrink from 
this issue. We must not allow human considerations to come secondary to 
the pursuit of trade.
  We must dare to speak out for those who have no voice.

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