c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ As President Clinton hosted Chinese President Jiang Zemin for a major U.S.-China summit Wednesday (Oct. 29), a host of religious leaders and human rights groups urged policymakers to examine China’s religious freedom record before shaking hands on economic issues.

Protesters staged a”Let Freedom Ring”rally near the White House, held a Congressional hearing, and mounted a news conferences to express their dismay at China’s rights record.

While Zemin met with Clinton in the White House, some 2,000 protesters stood across the street in Lafayette Park recalling the Tiananmen Square massacre.”America must stand with the freedom-loving people of China and not with the tyrants who persecute them,”said Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, the Washington-based conservative lobbying organization.”Eight years ago, brave Chinese students with the same hopes and dreams as millions of Americans rallied in Tiananmen Square for political and religious liberty,”he said.”They didn’t ask for more trade. For this affront to tyranny, hundreds were killed. Our foreign policy must stand on the values those students embraced _ just as our foreign policy stood on those values when it came to Chile, South Africa, and the Soviet Union,”Bauer said.

Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom’s Freedom House, said the rally was an important move in the fight for China’s religious freedom.”Thousands of Christians have been imprisoned”in China, Shea said.”If during the meeting between President Jiang Zemin and President Clinton religious rights are not clearly addressed, there is little hope for the world,”Shea said.

On Tuesday (Oct. 28), Shea told the House Committee on International Relations that China has more Christian prisoners and detainees than any other country in the world.

Repeating much of her testimony at the rally, Shea said,”Protestants are being arrested and tortured for holding prayer meetings, preaching, and distributing Bibles without state approval. Roman Catholic priests, including 10 bishops, are currently imprisoned under some form of house arrest or have disappeared for celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments without official authorization.” China requires all religious groups to be approved by the government.

Prior to the presidential meeting, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops also expressed their concern about religious freedom in China in a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.”Despite some improvements in religious freedom since the harshest years of the Cultural Revolution, there still remains a profound lack of understanding on the part of Chinese authorities as to the meaning of religious faith and the role of the Christian churches,”wrote the Rev. Drew Christiansen, director of the U. S. Catholic Conference’s Office of International Justice and Peace.”I urge you to continue pressing the issue of religious freedom with President Jiang Zemin whenever the occasion arises,”he wrote.

MJP END IRVIN