c. 1999 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ A State Department report Thursday (Sept. 9) criticized China for its”government intolerance”of free religious expression, just days before President Clinton is expected to meet with China’s president at an Asia-Pacific summit in New Zealand.

The criticism came in the department’s first annual international religious freedom report, a 1,100-page document covering 194 nations and territories that said”much of the world’s population lives in countries in which the right to religious freedom is restricted or prohibited.” The report noted religious persecution, discrimination or stigmatization in such often cited countries as Afghanistan, Iran and Sudan _ nations that regularly turn up on U.S. lists highlighting the denial of religious and other human rights.

But it also cited such U.S. allies as Saudi Arabia for prohibiting all public non-Muslim worship, Turkey for banishing Muslim womens’ head coverings from government buildings, and Belgium and France for drawing up official lists of minority and new religious movements that label them threatening”sects.” However, with Clinton expected to meet in the coming days with Chinese President Jiang Zemin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in New Zealand, the report’s harsh criticism of China took center stage. China’s entry into the World Trade Organization is expected to be high on the agenda when the two leaders meet.

The report could complicate the talks by providing those U.S. religious leaders, human rights groups and members of Congress who oppose Clinton’s China policy of constructive engagement with new ammunition _ thereby increasing the domestic political pressure on the White House to take a firm stand against Beijing.

Robert Seiple, the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom issues, said the document’s criticism of China should”absolutely”be on the table during the Clinton-Jiang discussions.

According to the report,”serious problems continued in violation of internationally recognized norms”in China during the 18-month period ending in mid-1999.

Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims in western China, Protestants and Catholics who worship outside the government’s official church structure, and members of the Falun Gong movement, which combines elements of Buddhism and Taoism, have all been subject to persecution, it noted.

Beijing’s hostility toward religious activities not regulated by the government has led”to persecution of people, on the basis of their religious practice, through harassment, prolonged detention and incarceration in prison or `reform-through-labor’ camps”_ despite the Chinese constitution’s official sanctioning of religious freedom.

The report cited”police closure of places of worship and other holy places”and”credible reports on incidents of abuse or torture of (Tibetan) Buddhist monks and nuns.” China immediately dismissed the document, as it has earlier U.S. expressions of disfavor over its handling of religious expression.”Nobody has been arrested or detained because of religious beliefs,”Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said in Beijing.”If religious believers are arrested, it is not because of their religious beliefs but because they have taken part in criminal activities.” The spokesman’s comments came even as reports surfaced Thursday of new arrests involving members of Falun Gong and the Protestant”house church”movement in central China.

House churches are Christian groups _ primarily evangelical and charismatic, although some are Catholic _ that prefer on theological grounds to operate apart from government control. Since Beijing insists on regulating all religious activities, house churches are illegal under Chinese law.

A White House spokesman said Thursday that Clinton was not expected to comment immediately on the report.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was in the process of reviewing the document to determine”what if any additional steps we may take”in light of the report’s findings, said State Department spokesman James Rubin.

The State Department report was mandated by 1998 legislation that made the treatment of religious believers abroad a distinct U.S. foreign policy concern. The law mandates that the White House take action against nations deemed to be serious violators of international norms governing religious freedom.

Those actions range from wide-ranging economic sanctions to discrete, private diplomatic notes at the president’s discretion. Under the new law, Albright must recommend which, if any, nations should be subjected to U.S. actions based on Thursday’s report.

Steve McFarland, executive director of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a newly constructed independent advisory body, said”we’ll wonder why”if she does not single out China, as well as Sudan, for some sort of U.S. action. The commission, which will issue its own report on religious freedom abroad in May, also resulted from the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.

The report concluded that Sudan’s fundamentalist Muslim government was guilty of widespread”abuses”against”Christians, practitioners of traditional indigenous religions, and Muslims who deviate from the official interpretation of Islam.”The abuses include forced conversion to Islam, prolonged imprisonment, violence and killing.

DEA END RIFKIN