Testimony of Joseph K. Grieboski, Founder of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus

Chinese Harassment of Americans on Religious Issues
June 11, 2002

As the State Department report on International Religious Freedom points out, "the Constitution of China provides for freedom of religious belief and the freedom not to believe; however, the Government¹ seeks to restrict religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups." Membership in many faiths is growing rapidly; however, while the Government generally does not seek to suppress this growth outright, it tries to control and regulate religious groups to prevent the rise of groups or sources of authority outside the control of the Government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and cracks down on groups that it perceives to pose a threat.

During 2001, the Government's respect for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience worsened, especially for some unregistered religious groups and spiritual movements such as the Falun Gong. The Government intensified its repression of [certain groups] in general, and of the Falun Gong. Various sources report that tens of thousands of Falun Gong adherents have been arrested, detained, and imprisoned, and that over 300 Falun Gong adherents have died in detention since 1999 [latest official number is 513 -ed.]. Separately, under the guise of urban renewal and cracking down on unregistered places of worship, authorities in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province razed an unknown number of churches and temples in late 2000.

The Government of China - recognized as a country of particular concern as a major violator of human rights and persecutor of religious believers by the US Department of State, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, NGOs, and others - has attempted to carry out similar heavy-handed tactics against media and elected officials in the United States who use their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights of free speech, free assembly, and freedom of religion to raise awareness of the treatment of believers from across the religious spectrum in China.

Falun Gong followers outside China have responded to the state-sanctioned terror committed against its believers in China by seeking gestures of public and political support on all levels. It is a widespread and largely decorative habit of U.S. political leaders, in particular mayors, state legislatures, and governors, to issue proclamations on various and sundry issues, celebrating a great flurry of groups, themes and causes of the day. Then-Governor George W. Bush of Texas declared a "Jesus Day" in 2000. Falun Gong practitioners here in America have asked many mayors, governors, and state legislatures in recent years to issue proclamations honoring their movement.

The Chinese government, not content with persecuting religious groups, particularly the Falun Gong in China, has responded by pressuring local American policymakers to rebuff or even harass them at home in America. Tactics include letters, phone calls, or personal visits from a Chinese official based in the embassy in Washington or one of its numerous consulates. The officials tend to use blatant disinformation and scare tactics; in some cases, reticently implying diplomatic and commercial pressure.

In particular, Beijing has been placing great pressure on hundreds of American mayors, in big cities and small towns, all across the country. The Peoria Journal Star noted last April 26 that "a routine, seemingly harmless proclamation recognizing a Chinese religious group has thrust a group of Illinois mayors into the unlikely realm of foreign diplomacy."

The reach of the Chinese government extends beyond harassment of local government officials into domestic American media and public relations. [...]

Considerable and verifiable evidence also exists that the Chinese government has infiltrated and influenced Chinese-language media - radio, newspapers, and television - here in the United States. Such use of the media by Chinese authorities leads to public perceptions of the United States and Falun Gong that are erroneous. The nature of reporting is dangerous. In most cases journalistic standards are clearly far below those of their English-language counterparts, with half-truths and even gross misinformation sometimes being panned as "news." Analysis of the reporting that takes place in this arena is in great need of careful examination, and such an endeavor is of course beyond the scope of this testimony. But for many of the United States' 2.4 million Chinese-Americans, such reporting might be all that they read, hear or see. Few or, in some cases, no alternatives exist. The "outside world" and current events are filtered and presented through a limited number of media, the majority of which are influenced--or even run, as we have now seen--by Beijing's communist government.

The Chinese government regularly insists that American monitoring and reporting of human rights and religious freedom violations is an intrusion in Chinese domestic affairs. If Chinese officials truly believe this to be the case - rather than use that claim as an excuse to play down the role of the national and local governments in persecution - then I call upon the Chinese Government to hold to that principle in practice by not interfering with the domestic affairs of local politicians to support freedom of conscience in the United States and support for the rights of individual religious groups.

Madame Chairwoman, the United States Congress should:

• Call on the US Department of State to issue an official public demarche - a protest - with Chinese officials in the United States and with the Chinese Foreign Ministry for serious violations of basic human rights ensconced in international covenants to which China is a signatory;
• Call on the Department of State to work more closely with Chinese-Americans to identify Chinese authorities who have been personally responsible for acts of violence and persecution in China, and to implement Section 405 (a) (7) of the International Religious Freedom Act: "The denial of one or more working, official, or state visits;"
• Draft and pass a resolution in support of Chinese religious believers, in particular the Falun Gong, and their inherent right to exist.

While these are only small first steps, they would be a sign to the Government of China that the United States Congress does not appreciate its disregard for the rights of American political leaders, media, and citizens, and for the rights enshrined in the Constitution.

1 Note: Many high ranking government officials, Communist Party members, and military officers were practitioners of Falun Gong before Jiang Zemin and a few of his cohorts launched their persecution in 1999; so for the sake of accuracy, we attribute the current illegal suppression of Falun Gong in China to the "Jiang regime" rather than the "Chinese government."

http://www.house.gov/lantos/caucus/briefs.htm