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TechnoratiA Christian religious freedom group gave approval for the U.S. State Department’s removal of China from its human rights blacklist despite reports of the government’s increased crackdown on house churches ahead of the Olympic Games.
(Photo: AP Images / Andy Wong)Chinese police officers with dogs patrol at the Tiananmen Square near the Great Hall of People in Beijing Monday, March 3, 2008.
Open Doors International, which defends the right of house churches to freely worship, explained that although it condemns government persecution of “unofficial” churches, it also recognizes that religious freedom has significantly improved in China in recent years.
“China has had a lot of improvements in the last five to 10 years,” explained Johnny Li, minister at large at Open Doors International, Thursday to The Christian Post. “Religious freedom in China compared to five, 10 years ago is in much better shape now.”
But he was quick to note that China was not perfect and that it still has a lot of room for improvement.
“China can do much better,” said Li, who was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to the United States in 1996.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday released its annual report on human rights which dropped China from its list of the world’s worst human rights violators.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended removing China on Wednesday by pointing to renewed dialogue with Beijing on human rights issues. She also explained that the top 10 list highlights countries that are extremely closed off to the world, like Burma (Myanmar) and North Korea, and it is not meant to be understood that those not on the list have good human rights records, according to Agence France-Presse.
"[I]t is by no means suggesting that there is not significant emphasis on human rights problems in China," Rice said, according to AFP. "If you read the report on China, it is quite harsh, and properly so, about human rights problems in China."
The report emphasized that China’s “overall human rights record remained poor” in 2007, as it specifically mentioned restrictions on religious freedom.
Open Doors’ Li said some of his friends are currently detained in Chinese prisons because of their faith. He also noted that he has received many phone calls in recent weeks from friends who are on the run and in “dangerous circumstances” because of their involvement in the house church movement.
But he still supported the removal of China from the U.S. human rights abuser list. He compared the situation to a parent disciplining a child. When the child is “naughty” then the parent disciplines him, but when the child “gets better” then the parent should reward the child.
“We give them (children) candy but this does not mean that the children are perfect,” Li said. “The children still have a long way to go, a lot of things they need to learn.”
Li believes that while the Chinese government needs to be “pressed” to change, it should also be “encouraged” to improve.
Speaking from the perspective of a Chinese-American, Li pointed out that Americans and Westerners have an easier time understanding religious freedom than the Chinese government.
Americans understand that the U.S. government cannot put all Christians under one denomination. Christians cannot all fit under the Baptist denomination or under the Methodist denomination because they practice their faith differently. Continue »
