A southern Chinese city is offering cash rewards for information about “illegal religious groups” as the ruling Communist Party continues to tighten its grip over faith communities. A notice posted on the official website of the Guangzhou Department of Ethnic and Religious Affairs said up to 10,000 yuan ($15,000) would be paid for verified information Read more
Posts Tagged ‘China’
Human rights and Ardern’s visit to China
Thursday, March 28th, 2019Fairly and otherwise, the media often gets criticized for not speaking truth to power, especially on human rights issues. At this week’s post-Cabinet press conference, PM Jacinda Ardern gave us a glimpse into how formulaic the raising of such concerns has become. Read more
Human rights report finds women trafficked into sexual slavery
Monday, March 25th, 2019A new Human Rights Watch report says young Burmese women are being trafficked to China as ‘brides’ then locked in rooms and raped until they become pregnant. Read more
Vatican says China should not fear Church
Monday, March 18th, 2019A Vatican official says China’s government should not fear “distrust or hostility” from the Roman Catholic Church, amid speculation over whether President Xi Jinping will meet Pope Francis this week. Read more
Western powers use religion for subversive purposes
Thursday, March 14th, 2019
Western powers are trying to use Christianity to influence China’s society and even subvert the government, says the head of the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China. Xu Xiaohong is vowing to rid Christianity in the country of any Western “imprint,” calling for further “sinicisation” of religion. Xu Read more
Turkey urging China to close mass detention camps
Thursday, February 14th, 2019Turkey is urging China to close mass detention camps estimated to hold 1 million people. Turkey, which is a majority-Muslim country, says China’s mass repression of its Uighur Muslim ethnic minority is a “great shame for humanity”. Read more
How Xi Jinping is attacking religion in China
Monday, December 10th, 2018
China is waging an unprecedented war on religion. Over the past year alone, China has detained Muslims because of their faith, forced Buddhists to pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, and coerced Christian churches to take down their crosses or shut down. The sinicization of religion The Party, which is officially atheist, has for Read more
Bishop says China’s one-child policy leads to trafficking
Thursday, October 25th, 2018China’s one-child policy is leading to human trafficking, says Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar. Speaking at the current synod on youth taking place in Rome, Bo says during synod he was reflecting on the situation for young people in Myanmar. He says the position young people in Europe are in is “quite different” from young Read more
Eight priests, nuns and teachers expelled from Myanmar
Thursday, October 18th, 2018Eight priests, nuns and teachers have been expelled from Myanmar’s northern Shan state. China-backed ethnic minority Wa State Army have ordered them to leave the Wa Hills, which border China. They were only allowed to take what they could carry. Read more
The Vatican’s deal with China
Thursday, September 27th, 2018
Finally, the Vatican has done a deal with China, or rather with the ruling Chinese Communist Party that has been conducting an escalating program of repression against religion. The deal is already drenched in controversy and opposed by many Chinese Catholics and anti-pope conservatives. But the Vatican hopes it is just the first fruit of Read more