By Elizabeth Kendal
To
fully appreciate the intent behind and likely outcome of China’s new Religious
Affairs Regulations, requires they be viewed and interpreted in the framework
of President Xi’s political ambition. Xi’s
goal is to transform China into a superpower so as to cement the power of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) and his role as leader into perpetuity. It is a task that
will require “stability maintenance” par excellence.
Religious Affairs Regulations
The
new Religious Affairs Regulations, Order 686, as promulgated on 26 August 2017,
will come into effect on 1 February.
While
Article 2 asserts, “Citizens have freedom of religious belief”, it quickly
becomes clear that religion – or at least that which the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) deems “normal religious activity” – may only be exercised in
accordance with strict CCP parameters and under the oversight of the CCP’s religious
affairs departments. Article 3 clarifies that, “The management of religious
affairs upholds the principles of protecting what is lawful, prohibiting what
is unlawful, suppressing extremism, resisting infiltration, and fighting crime.”
Article
4 states that, “The State, in accordance with the law, protects normal
religious activities [and] actively guides religion to fit in with socialist
society . . .” so as to “preserve the unification of the country, ethnic unity,
religious harmony and social stability”. Article 5 mandates that religious
groups must be independent and not controlled by “foreign forces”.
Article
8 lists “assisting the people’s government in the implementation of laws,
regulations, rules and policies . . .” as a function of religious groups. Article
63 proscribes, “Advocating, supporting, or funding religious extremism, or
using religion to harm national security or public safety, undermine ethnic
unity, divide the nation . . .” and allows for extra-judicial “administrative
punishments” to be delivered where no crime has been committed.
Generally
speaking, religious activities may only take place in approved, registered
Religious Activity Sites and only with the approval of the relevant CCP authorities.
Approval must be obtained for any “large outdoor religious statue”, presumably this
includes a cross. In fact approval must be sought for just about everything. The
requirement for churches to “submit an application” would probably be the most
repeated phrase in the text, along with the assurance that the authorities will
“make a decision”.
Clearly, all non-registered religious
activity is going to be stamped out. Registered religious groups meanwhile, will
find half their time will be taken up with administration, much of which is little
more than a means of occupying the Church’s time and keeping it from “causing
trouble”. Apart from being squeezed to the point of suffocation, churches find
they now have dozens of ways to fall foul of the law.
Article 65 notes that at various times the authorities may order religious groups, religious schools or religious activity sites to undergo “rectification”. If rectification is refused, then registration certificates or establishment permits will be revoked, rendering the group or school illegal. Illegal buildings and structures will be “disposed of” (article 71), and large outdoor statues will be “demolished” (article 72).
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| Linfen city, Shanxi Province, 9 January 2018 |
Finally,
Article 75 reads: “Where anyone is dissatisfied with administrative acts taken
by the religious affairs departments, they may lawfully apply for an
administrative reconsideration; where dissatisfied with the decision of the
administrative reconsideration, they may lawfully raise an administrative
lawsuit.” However, this article needs to understood in the light of the amended “Administrative Measures for Law Firms” which came into effect on 1 November 2016. The new measures prohibit lawyers from speaking out on human rights
abuses. Even silent protests, such as walking out of a courtroom without
permission, are prohibited. Lawyers who do not toe-the-line, and who take
on “sensitive” political cases, are at risk of losing their livelihoods.
South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported in September 2017 that house
churches across China were already breaking up into smaller groups and keeping
a low profile in the hope they might avoid massive fines and other punishments.
A
major nation-wide crackdown on religion looms, indeed, it has already begun.
See: Persecution of Church to escalate as Zhejiang experiment goes national
By Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 16 October 2016
By Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 16 October 2016
President Xi Jinping
Also
known as the “Core leader” and “Supreme Commander”, President Xi Jinping emerged
from the 19th five-yearly Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress (18-25
October 2017) as the most powerful Chinese ruler since Mao Zedong (Tse-tung). Though
China’s Constitution limits the presidency to two terms, Xi – who is supposed to step down at the next
Congress (i.e. at the end of his second term) – broke with tradition and didnot designate a potential successor. Many observers
suspect that Xi intends to rule China as “Chairman of Everything” and “Emperor”for life.
On 24 October 2017, the CCP Congress agreed to enshrine “Xi Jinping Thought on
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, into the CCP’s Constitution.
The amended CCP constitution reads:
Since the 18th Party Congress, Comrade
Xi Jinping has been the primary representative of the CCP….[his] ‘Thought on
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’ is a successor and
development of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the
important thought of Three Represents (Jiang Zemin’s core contribution) and the
Scientific Outlook on Development (Hu Jintao’s) and is the result of the
sinification of Marxism….
Subsequently,
at a high-level meeting in Beijing on 19 January, the Central Committee of the CCP proposed enshrining “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese
Characteristics for a New Era” into China’s national constitution. The proposal
now goes to the National People’s Congress – the parliament that meets annually
in March – where it will be approved. Once amended, the Constitution of the
People’s Republic of China will provide a legal basis for any policy Xi should
dictate.
So what is Xi Jinping Thought?
As China expert Peter Woods explains, “Xi Jinping Thought can be understood as an
umbrella for a number of ideas and policy initiatives that include, most
famously, the China Dream, Strong Military Dream, and Four Comprehensives. . .”
In
a 21 September 2017 analysis for The Jamestown Foundation entitled “What is Xi Jinping Thought?” China expert
Willy Wo-Lap Lam explains that, unlike Mao Zedong Thought or Deng Xiaoping
Theory, Xi Jinping Thought does not offer China anything new. The core idea is
said to be Xi’s “Chinese dream”, which, as Lam explains, “is a
super-nationalistic narrative about China becoming a superpower”. This is to be
achieved through “comprehensively deepening reform and upholding the mass line”.
As Lam notes, there is nothing new here; Xi is simply reviving Maoist ideology.
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| Beijing souvenir |
As
Lam also notes, Xi “has reiterated that ‘ideological and thought work’ – a reference
to brainwashing and Mao-style ideological campaigns – is ‘an extremely
important task of the party’.”
According
to Lam, “the biggest difference between Mao Zedong Thought and Xi Jinping
Thought is that the former is oriented toward the future [i.e. the pursuit of a
Marxist utopia in which China dominates the world], and the latter is consumed
with self-preservation”.
“Xi’s
obsession,” observes Lam, “is to preserve the ‘perennial ruling party’ status
of the CCP as well as his status as undisputed leader.”
Stability Maintenance
Integral
to all this is wei-wen, “stability
maintenance”; for “upholding the mass line” necessitates the rooting out of
“destabilising elements”. To
this end, China is rapidly developing as a world leader in police-state hi-tech
surveillance.
In
a 21 July 2017 analysis for The Jamestown Foundation entitled Beijing Harnesses Big Data & AI to Perfect the Police State, Willy Lam
exposes this most disturbing aspect of China’s emerging “New Era” reality. “Specialized weiwen cadres
have the full cooperation of the country’s social-media and e-commerce
platforms, as well as cloud-computing and related high-tech firms in establishing
a seamless and all-encompassing intelligence network that would do George
Orwell’s Big Brother proud.”
 |
| A government official installs cameras at a Wenzhou church. World Magazine (Photo: Robert Katz) |
Having rolled out millions of facial recognition cameras nation-wide, China is already amassing a “social credit system” which will allow state officials to assess a citizen’s financial records and social connections, and review their consumption habits, relationships, communications and travels and respect for the law. Acts deemed loyal to the CCP generate positive “social credit”, which in turn will guarantee “loyal” citizens will have access to the best colleges, jobs and hospitals, as well as permission to travel etc. Negative “social credit”, however, will doubtless cause all sorts of problems for those who fall fowl of the CCP.
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 415, 19 July 2017.
The CCP versus the CROSS
The CCP versus the CROSS
In
November, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported how in Yugan county, Jiangxi
province, privileges such as poverty relief are only for those upholding the mass line.
According to the SCMP, thousands of poor Christians in Yugan county, Jiangxi province, have
been told that if they want to access the local government’s poverty-relief
programme, they will first need to take down their crosses, Bible texts and
others religious artefacts and replace them with images of President Xi. As Nectar Gan explains,
this practice “hearkens back to the era of the personality cult around late
chairman Mao Zedong, whose portraits were once ubiquitous in Chinese homes”.
“In Yugan,” writes Gan, “the officially
atheist party is competing for influence with Christianity, which has spread
rapidly in both poor rural villages and prosperous cities since the end of the
Cultural Revolution more than 40 years ago. . .
“A local social media account reported
over the weekend that in Yugan’s Huangjinbu township [which is home to about
5,000 to 6,000 Christian families, or about a third of the total] cadres
visited poor Christian families to promote the party’s poverty-relief policies
and helped them solve their material problems. The officials successfully ‘melted
the hard ice in their hearts’ and ‘transformed them from believing in religion
to believing in the party’, the report said. . .
“Qi
Yan, chairman of the Huangjinbu people’s congress and the person in charge of
the township’s poverty-relief drive [said], ‘Many rural people are ignorant. They
think God is their saviour … After our cadres’ work, they’ll realise their
mistakes and think: we should no longer rely on Jesus, but on the party for
help.’ . . .”
There
is nothing new about this either. Every totalitarian regime knows that the best way to
control people is to make them totally dependent on the regime.
Dangerous Situation
In
his recently published “2016 Report on Human Rights in China” [Briefing and
summary & Full Text ] persecuted human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng
observed that “most of the human rights abuses committed in China today are
committed by the Communist regime. Consequently, being a human rights defender
is about the most dangerous thing a person can do in China.”
 |
| Human Rights lawyer and devout Christian, Gao Zhisheng |
Concerning
religious freedom Gao wrote: “Religious belief is a natural human trait, a
common behavior shared by people everywhere, and therefore a part of human
nature. Religious persecution not only erodes natural law, but also castrates
human nature and degrades the human race to the level of animals. It is the
most unforgivable crime against humanity.”
For this, Gao is once again being forced to endure the cruellest punishment at the hands of a brutal regime that should not be permitted to call itself “civilised”.
Religious
Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 432, 15 Nov 2017
China
is entering a “New Era” of repression and persecution. The primary difference between
the repression under Mao and the repression under Xi will be that China’s “New
Era” repression and persecution will be even more suffocating because it will be
enabled by cutting edge technology.
What remains to be seen is whether Xi will over-reach. Suffocating repression, systematic persecution, “stability maintenance” and “upholding the “mass line” can only be achieved with the full co-operation of the security forces. And this is where the CCP’s system hides a potentially fatal flaw.
As Gao Zhisheng makes clear in his revealing,
ground-breaking and must-read book, Unwavering Convictions, (Carolina Academic Press, 2017), the
entire system is built around pillage, corruption and violence.
“Pillage,” writes Gao, “is the foundation and purpose of CCP power,” explaining that while
Mao’s political reforms were catastrophic, so too were Deng’s economic reforms through
which state-owned assets became the private property of the elite. “Today,” writes
Gao, “the CCP bureaucratic group’s privilege and corruption damage is greater
than that of any other time in history.”
Meanwhile, violence is used to elicit obedience.
However, violence tends also to elicit intense hatred and a burning desire for
revenge.
According to Gao, even though the principle
job of the armed forces is “stability maintenance”, “the government controls
the armed forces through coercive power and violence”. According to Gao,
tensions between senior officers and lower ranked soldiers are always at their
highest when soldiers are about to be demobilised. Having been treated like animals
by officers who are free to brutalise and terrorise the lower ranks at will, most
demobilised soldiers dream, and even talk of nothing but revenge.
As for the extensive brainwashing
sessions all soldiers must endure, Gao maintains the CCP knows they don’t work,
but persists with them “purely a means of occupying soldiers’ time and keeping
them from causing trouble”.
Dangerous times indeed – for everyone!
-------------------------------------------------
She
has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response
to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday:
Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene,
OR, USA, June 2016).
