These and other measures to repress religions are part of China's accelerated sinicization that clamps down on freedom of religion, according to the US State Department's 2019 International Religious Freedom Report.

The annual report released last week, says the Chinese government, in line with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has "significantly intensified its campaign of mass detention" of members of minority groups.

The government campaign of religious sinicization aims to bring all religious doctrine and practice in line with CCP doctrine. The government adopted a formal five-year plan in January, the report says.

During the past three years the government has detained over a million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Hui and other Muslim groups, including Uyghur Christians. They are interned in specially built or converted camps in Xinjiang.

The report says the detainees are subjected to "forced disappearance, political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, including forced sterilization and sexual abuse, forced labor and prolonged detention without trial because of their religion and ethnicity."

Although the Chinese government recognizes only five official religions — Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism — the faithful can only practice their faith if they join one of the five state-sanctioned "patriotic religious associations."

The report says Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, leader of the underground Catholic Church in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, has been detained five times since 2016. He refused to register with the state-sanctioned Church and Patriotic Association. His detention included being sent for "re-education."

Authorities in Shandong province arrested over 6,000 members of the Church of Almighty God during a government-wide crackdown last year. The government considers the group an "evil cult."

High-level political prisoners are forced to undergo extralegal detention. They included the Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Shanghai a writer, Uyghur scholars, activists Wang Bingzhang, activists, a Pastor and Falun Gong practitioners.

The report says authorities use technologies to monitor and intimidate political dissidents and religious, including facial recognition and "gait recognition" video surveillance, which can identify individuals in crowds quickly.

Other government measures include denying activists and religious leaders permission to travel or keeping them under unofficial house arrest.

Religious congregations and assemblies are targeted as they pose a threat to "party leadership" or infringe upon the "interests of the state," the report says. Surveillance cameras have been put in houses of worship as a condition of allowing them to continue operating.

The US State Department report follows President Donald Trump's signing of an executive order that prioritises religious freedom worldwide.

Since 1999, the US has designated China as a country of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for violating religious freedom.

The State Department wants the US to maintain restrictions on exports of crime control and detection instruments and equipment to China.

Source

• UCA News
• Image: The Diplomat

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who carried out the arrests, said in negotiations with the U.S. Iraq had "agreed to accept" the individuals.

ICE said those arrested had criminal convictions, including for murder, rape, assault, burglary, weapons violations and drug trafficking.

The unexpected arrests caused significant distress.

It was "a very strange and painful day for our community in America," said Bishop Francis Y. Kalabat, who is the head of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle.

"With the many Chaldeans that were awakened by Immigration Customs Enforcement agents and consequently picked up for deportation, there is a lot of confusion and anger," he added.

About 40 people were arrested near or at their homes on Sunday. News reports say they were put on buses and taken to a federal detention center. They will be sent to Iraq.

Kalabat said the Eparchy was working with many agencies to try to stop the arrests and deportation.

They are seeking support from the U.S. State Department, members of Congress, the Iraqi Embassy, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and "any agency that could file an injunction to keep anyone from being deported".

While agreeing that those arrested have criminal records, the bishop said "many who were picked up are not hardened criminals but for the last decades have been great citizens."

"As a community, we're all suffering, seeing the loss of our loved ones," local priest Father Anthony Kathawa said.

Source

• National Catholic Register
• Catholic News Service
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Canadian priest who works with the Vatican's press office, was quoted by CNN as saying that the proposed US move satisfies those requirements.

Rosica also praised Ken Hackett, the new US ambassador to the Holy See, telling CNN that "at this critical time in history, he brings eminent credentials to represent the United States to the Vatican."

He added there is "a very good feeling right now" between the two countries.

Another Vatican official, not authorized to speak on the record about diplomatic relations, told CNN the Holy See understands security concerns are an issue for some countries and this move is "an exception, not the ideal, but not the end of the world."

The Washington Times, however, described the move in its report as "an egregious slap in the face to the Vatican."

It's a "massive downgrade of US-Vatican ties," said former US Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. "It's turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, and … [it's] an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican."

Former ambassadors to the Holy See said moving that embassy would diminish the stature of the mission and conservative Catholic activists seized on the issue.

The State Department dismissed complaints that the move was hurting the US relationship with the Vatican, saying that the embassy to the Holy See will be much closer to the Vatican and there will be "no reduction in diplomatic staff. There's no reduction in ambassadors, there's no reduction in mission."

Sources

CNN
Washington Times
Time
Image: Getty Images/CNN

Kerry announced on Wednesday the creation of a new "Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives" within the State Department.

"I want you to go out and engage religious leaders and faith-based communities in our day-to-day work," Kerry told State Department workers.

"Build strong relationships with them and listen to their insights and understand the important contributions that they can make individually and that we can make together," he added.

The State Department said the new office will set department policy on engagement with faith-based communities and will work in conjunction with bureaus and posts to reach out to those communities to advance the Department's diplomacy and development objectives.

"It will also work closely with faith communities to ensure that their voices are heard in the foreign policy process, including through continued collaboration with the Department's religion and foreign policy working group," it added.

The new office has been met with a mix of excitement and apprehension from noted policy analysts and religious scholars, who realize the important role that religion plays in civil and political society while questioning the role of government in such circles.

Sources

Huffington Post

The Christian Post

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