The avowedly atheistic Communist Party of China (CCP) has taken a much more aggressive stance against religious practices in the last several years under Xi Jinping’s leadership, including the creation of new rules limiting foreign influence on religion in China. Its intent has been to forcibly align the religions and the religious institutions remained aligned with the ideology of CCP. Xi’s administration is all geared up to introduce a set of new regulations to control the religious activities of foreign worshipers in China in line with the Chinese religion or say, religion with Chinese characteristics.
The draft regulations for "Provisions on the Administration of Foreign Religious Activities in the People's Republic of China", published by the Ministry of Justice in mid-November were in open to public comments till December 17 and are expected to become law early this year. The draft law comprises 40 Articles clustered under 5 Chapters.
Chapter-I (Article 1-5) primarily focuses on defining terms such as 'foreigners' and 'religious activities of foreigners in China'. The Article-5 states that 'Foreigners in the territory conducting religious activities shall abide by China’s laws, regulations and rules, respect the principles of Chinese religion's independence and must not violate public order and good customs in China.'
Use of the phrase 'China's religious independence' in Chapter-1 of the new rules underlines the government's effort to rid the country of foreign influences. It is primarily aimed at Christian groups as Christianity is one of the fastest growing religions and lately foreigners have had some freedom in China to live as Christians. With implementation of the new regulations, China also aims at pre-empting any possible move from the Vatican towards religious liberties for Christians in China and filling of vacant seats of bishops as well as any possible pressure from Vatican to have its representation in Beijing.
Chapter-II (Article 6-21) stipulates that foreign worshipers who want to host religious activities in China shall be required to apply for a permit. It further specifies what documents foreign missionaries need to provide, when applying for a permit, viz., describing the primary religious texts used, listing all attendees' names, visa status and nationalities, giving a detailed program of the service, etc. It forbids the foreign missionaries from carrying out religious education & training, converting new believers, or accepting religious donations from Chinese citizens, and any such activity that undermines China's national unity. Under Article 17, the religious activities, organized by foreigners in China are limited to be attended by only foreign citizens.
The phrase 'China’s national unity' is primarily a reminder of the unquestionability of Xi’s administration. China has long been disallowing its citizens the right to belief and expression in name of national unity. To this end China has adopted a strategy of 'sinocization of religion' or promoting 'religion with Chinese characteristics'. The Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang have been victimized for years to fulfill Xi Jinping’s desire to have control over religion. Some recent reports, such as “China: Big Data Program Targets Xinjiang’s Muslims” by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and “Coercive Labour in Xinjiang: Labour Transfer and the Mobilization of Ethnic Minorities to Pick Cotton” by Centre for Global Policy, has uncovered that the CCP has reached a new low by detaining and enslaving ethnic minorities to impose upon the so called "religion with Chinese characteristics".
Source: Zee News
BDST: 1920 HRS, JAN 03, 2021
AP
