Freedom House: U.S. Urged to Press China on Religious Freedom

Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC, July 29, 2004 -U.S. delegates to this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Singapore should pressure China to grant full religious liberty to its citizens, Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom said today.

Non-official Chinese churches and practitioners of Falun Gong are particularly persecuted by Chinese authorities. "Religious persecution is on the upswing in China," said Center for Religious Freedom director Nina Shea. "It is imperative that the U.S. delegation to APEC make clear to their Chinese counterparts that restrictions on religious freedom are intolerable."

Draconian measures have been taken against practitioners of Falun Gong, A peaceful spiritual movement founded in China that promotes meditation and physical exercises. In 1999, the government outlawed the movement, which has at least 100 million members. Hundreds of thousands of members have since been detained, and approximately 100,000 are estimated to have been sent to labor camps. At least 1,000 members have been killed in custody, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center, which monitors Chinese repression of Falun Gong.

According to a recent survey conducted by Forum 18, a Norwegian religious news service, the Chinese government blocks access to Internet sites related to Falun Gong, Protestant house churches, and major Protestant and Catholic organizations, including the Vatican.

The U.S. State Department has named China a country of particular Concern (CPC) for "systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations" of religious freedom.

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