US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom: Statement Before the Human Rights Caucus -- Religious Freedom in China

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Human Rights Caucus, it is indeed a pleasure to appear before you today to report on the status of religious freedom in China. China is a nation of ancient and modern religions whose governments historically have attempted to control the worship of its citizens and, at their worst, acted as if religion threatened their survival. What I would like to do this afternoon is give you a detailed assessment of where things stand in China with respect to religious freedom, and then describe to you how we are attempting to address the substantial problems that exist. The Current Status Religious freedom -- meaning the internationally acknowledged right of every human being to believe and practice as he sees fit -- does not exist in China. It is true that millions of Chinese citizens worship without substantial interference by the state, but they do so under carefully defined limits -- limits sufficiently burdensome that their very presence precludes the emergence of what we and the international community recognize as religious freedom.

Before I address these problems, however, let me sketch for you a bit of context and acknowledge the existence of certain positive elements in the Chinese political-religious structure. Fairness demands as much, but it is also important to recognize structures and practices that could encourage better policy should the Chinese Government decide to embrace and fully implement religious freedom.

Seeds of Hope

The Chinese constitution provides for freedom of religious belief, as well as the protection of what the constitution refers to as "normal religious activities." It thus appears to acknowledge the sanctity of conscience and belief on the one hand, but not of religious practice on the other. In fact, freedom of religious practice and expression are not protected in China. But the concept of religious freedom is there -- however imperfectly rooted -- to be exploited by the voices of democracy and civil society. Such voices are heard only faintly now, but they will not be silenced. Indeed, they are likely to continue growing as the great economic forces now at work in China loosen political restraints.

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The problem, Mr. Chairman, is that the Chinese Communists do not value religion. They fear it and tolerate it only insofar as it serves -- or at least does not in their judgment undermine -- the purposes of the state.

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The Structure of Religious Persecution in China

Despite these and other hopeful signs in China, it must be said that the overall picture for human rights, and for religious freedom, remains poor. Beneath the constitutional veneer of religious freedom lies a substratum of laws and regulations which provide a juridical basis for state control and, in some cases, persecution of religious believers. The driving force behind these laws and regulations is, of course, the Communist Party. It controls the top positions in government at all levels, as well as in the Ministries of State Security and Public Security, the People's Armed Police; the People's Liberation Army; and the state judicial, prosecutorial, and penal systems. Officially, no member of the Communist party may be a religious believer, much less practice religion. If their membership in a religious organization is discovered, they are expelled from the party, and from any official position they hold. While there appear to be some believers among local authorities, and at least one in the National People's Congress, these seem to be the exceptions that prove the rule. And the "rule" remains one of official hostility to religion -- the conviction that religion cannot be permitted to grow unchecked, that it must be adapted to socialism, and that it must be free of foreign influence which might destabilize the communist regime. Under girding this official atheism is a regulatory system designed to permit some religious activity, but also to monitor and control it. The centrepieces of this system are the Religious Affairs Bureau, the Communist Party United Front Work Department, and their local counterparts. Together with security police and prosecutors, these people -- most of whom are not religious believers -- are responsible for providing policy guidance and supervision over the implementation of religion regulations, and over the role of foreigners in religious activities. There are five officially recognized religions -- Buddhism and Taoism; Islam, Catholics, and Protestantism. There is also an expatriate Jewish presence in a few large cities. All belief systems beyond these are labelled "superstitions." Article 300 of the Criminal Law as amended in 1997 stipulates punishment for organizers and practitioners of superstitious cults or evil religious organizations.

Amendments of the law late last year went even further, providing for harsh punishments against those the government labelled as "evil cults". These regulations provided justification for the severe persecution of the Falun Gong and the crackdown against "underground" Protestants and Catholics -- those who refuse to worship in government-controlled "official" churches.

The Face of Persecution

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Finally, Mr. Chairman, I want to mention Falun Gong. Although this group does not claim to be a religion, its activities derive from elements of Buddhism and Taoism, among other things. Falun Gong has a spiritual ethic which has captured the minds and hearts of millions of Chinese. Clearly, this aspect of Falun Gong threatens the Chinese Government. Whenever thousands of people are attracted by a particular way of thinking about life and purpose, and are willing to manifest it publicly, the Communist Party of China is alarmed. As you know, Chinese authorities have detained for short periods of time thousands of Falun Gong adherents over the past 8 months, and Falun Gong leaders have been sentenced to prison terms as long as 18 years, or sentenced to "re-education." What a lousy synonym that is for the abuse of human dignity. We recently received a report of a 60-year old woman who died as a result of beatings administered to her for being a practitioner of Falun Gong.

U.S. Policy

Mr. Chairman, I know that people of good will can, and do, disagree over where this analysis of Chinese human rights abuses ought to take U.S. policy. Some believe that it should prevent the establishment of "Permanent Normal Trade Relations" (PNTR), or cause us to oppose Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization. I understand and respect this point of view. It is premised on the belief that we can change Chinese human rights behaviour by withholding U.S. trade. Diplomacy, of course, is not a science. I cannot prove that people who hold such views -- many of whom are my friends -- are wrong. I can only say, with great respect, that I believe we must increase our engagement with the Chinese, not decrease it. In order to influence Chinese behaviour, we must have Chinese attention -- in both a positive and, if necessary, a negative sense. We must have a sustained relationship on many levels in order to help convince Chinese leaders that 80-year old bishops are a boon, not a threat, to the Chinese nation.

My job, and that of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour at the State Department, is to ensure that our trade relationship is not the only level at which we communicate, and that our diplomatic intercourse always includes the issue of human rights. I view it as my responsibility -- as does Assistant Secretary Koh -- to let the Chinese leaders know that China will never be considered a member in good standing of the world community until the day comes when they move beyond words and implement policies that protect human dignity. One bellwether of such a day would, of course, be the full acceptance of freedom of religion and conscience by the Chinese Government. Such a policy would signal, as it does in other countries, that the Government of China recognizes a fundamental distinction between the individual and the state that is essential in any just society. It is the recognition -- as political scientists might put it -- that society precedes the state, not vice versa. Because religious freedom entails the inviolable right of every human being to seek the truth, no government should consider the control or management of that process within its province.

Quite frankly, Mr. Chairman, I believe that the Chinese Government will not come readily to the acceptance of these policies. Indeed, to the extent that the leadership is still under the influence of a Communist worldview, true religious freedom will be that much more difficult to attain. Communists consistently, have treated religion as a powerful and deadly enemy. Under Mao, they created a daunting propaganda machine to combat it and ruthlessly suppressed those clergy who were most committed to the proletariat and the peasantry. In the economic and social spheres, the Chinese have moved a long way from the deadening effects of Maoism. In the religious sphere, their continuing attempts to control religious belief and practice constitute an unstable half-way house between communism and religious freedom.

The real question for us is how to keep the train moving in the right direction. A policy aimed at isolating China through economic sanctions or the withholding of trade cannot work, if for no other reason than the international economy would quickly fill the void should the United States leave the field. But there is another reason -- one grounded in human rights -- for us to encourage trade. It is the need to encourage the spread of those economic forces which are broadening the entrepreneurial class in China and bringing pressures against the creaking post-Maoist structure of control and persecution.

However, a policy of engagement in trade must be complemented by a strong and consistent human rights policy. As our economic relationships with China broaden and deepen, we must press Chinese leaders ever harder to accept and implement human rights based on the universal dignity of the human person. We must hold them accountable on all fronts -- religious freedom, labour rights, freedom of association, free speech, rule of law, and the other core human rights. When China abuses these rights, we must hold its government up to the world in which it is increasingly engaged. We must do so swiftly and relentlessly.

This is our policy. As you know, Mr. Chairman, we have used the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 as one vehicle against Chinese human rights abuses. In October of last year, the Secretary of State designated China a "country of particular concern" for having engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom. This designation put China in very bad company. Secretary Albright also named Burma, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Serbi, and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Chinese were very unhappy with this designation; it stigmatized them, in effect, as among the worst religious persecutors of today. The Human Rights Caucus is also aware that the Administration has introduced a resolution on China at the current UN Human Rights Commission session in Geneva. We have not been able to pass this resolution in the past, but I was in Geneva last week and I can tell you that we have implemented a "full court press" to convince other members of the Commission to vote with us. The Secretary also flew to Geneva from India to press this issue. But whether we win this resolution or not, Mr. Chairman, we will not back down from telling the truth about Chinese human rights abuses. China seeks to become a member in good standing of the international community of nations. It places a great deal of store on "face," by which it means respect. Our message to China is that it will not have the respect of the world until it changes its policies on human rights in general, and freedom of religion, and conscience in particular.

I want again to thank the Caucus for holding this hearing and giving me the opportunity to report. I'll be glad to take any questions that you have.

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