The Chinese government has recently introduced new draft regulations to further restrict the religious activities of foreigners in China, and the religious activities of overseas Chinese and religious figures in the three regions across the Taiwan Strait have also been regulated. Analysts point out that Chinese authorities do this out of fear that foreign religious forces will infiltrate house churches around the country, which they see as a destabilizing factor.
Further Restrictions on Religious Activities of Foreigners in China
China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs (SRA) announced on November 18 that it is seeking comments on the draft of the Implementing Rules for the Regulations on the Administration of Religious Activities of Foreigners in the People’s Republic of China, with a deadline for public comments of December 17.
The latest rules are divided into five chapters and 40 articles, as opposed to 22 articles of the previous law, published in 2000, which were not divided into chapters, and 13 articles of the 1994 law, which were even fewer. China’s regulations are clearly being refined, but it remains to be seen how well they will work in practice.
One feature of the new draft regulations is that they are “different inside and outside”. For example, Article 4 states that China respects the freedom of religious belief of foreigners in China, and protects the religious activities of foreigners in China in accordance with the law. However, Article 17 stipulates that collective religious activities organized by foreigners in China are limited to foreigners in the country.
Authorities’ Concerns About Overseas Missionary Ties to House Churches
What is the purpose of China’s increased regulation of the religious activities of foreigners? According to Professor Massimo Introvigne, editor-in-chief of Winter magazine and an Italian religious scholar who specializes in reporting on religious freedom and human rights in China, the Chinese authorities are primarily concerned that organized religious activity within their borders, such as the numerous house churches in both urban and rural areas, will become more active as a result of foreign missionary activity, which appears to be the case.
The only concern of the Chinese authorities is that there might be a link between domestic sectarian activity and overseas missionary activity,” he told VOA. The sizable North Korean minority in China often receives missionaries from South Korea. These Korean missionaries are given tourist visas, otherwise there are no other visas to enter China.”
Mr. Zhang, a Chinese house church member, told the Voice of America, “Religion has been growing very fast in China over the years, and there are a lot of foreigners coming to mainland China to preach Christianity, for example, Korean people often come to our mainland China to preach Christianity, and they are very devout, and they work very hard to preach the gospel.”
The Chinese official media, Globe.com, reported on February 24, 2017, titled “Korean missionaries are active in China, please cover your souls,” that the souls of Chinese people have been targeted by many people. Half of Korea’s overseas missionaries are in China. Their activities are underground due to Chinese laws and regulations, but their potential impact on China cannot be ignored and is growing.
“The Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom (ADHRRF) reports that in recent years, Chinese authorities have stepped up their crackdown on religious freedom, often citing the need to “defend against religious infiltration from abroad” as the reason for cracking down on foreign missionaries preaching in China.
In late August 2018, South Korean pastors Kim and Park were arrested by local police at their hotel in Jilin province after visiting their church. In June of the same year, two Japanese missionaries from Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, Mr. and Mrs. Kang Ping, were expelled by the authorities.
In January 2017, Chinese authorities also expelled 32 South Korean missionaries, and in February arrested a South Korean missionary, a Korean-American pastor, and four others at a hotel in Yanji.
New draft rules apply to overseas Chinese and people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait
The new draft rules clarify that this law is applicable to overseas “overseas Chinese” and people from the three places across the Taiwan Strait. Article 39 states that “the religious activities of overseas Chinese in China, Taiwan residents in the Mainland, and Hong Kong and Macao residents in the Mainland shall be implemented with reference to these Regulations. The expansion of the target audience of the new law highlights the potential religious influence of these groups.
According to a recent article by Prof. Interlovichi, the draft regulations show that the authorities are afraid of foreigners coming to China to discuss religious issues in various capacities, and therefore require them to obtain prior permission from the authorities to participate in various religious activities, some of which are unbelievable.
For example, the new draft regulations stipulate that “foreigners in China who wish to organize collective religious activities in monasteries and churches shall submit a written application by the convener to the religious organization of the municipality (prefecture, state or league) where they are located” and that “when applying for the establishment of a temporary location, at least three conveners shall be elected”.
Restrictions on “Overseas Chinese” and “Ethnic Chinese” missionaries, too
Residents of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as “overseas Chinese” in mainland China, are also included in the scope of the new regulations. The new draft regulations stipulate that foreigners, including overseas Chinese, “may not illegally preach, develop followers among Chinese citizens, or accept religious donations from Chinese citizens; they may not conduct religious education and training” after entering China.
The reality is that for many years, overseas Chinese churches have advocated and promoted “short term missions” and “evangelism” to China. It is not uncommon for these groups to return to mainland China for missionary work and to organize or participate in “training. Their return to China as missionaries, either specifically or incidentally, is as large as that of the Korean missionaries.
Pastor Lin of the Wuxi House Church in Jiangsu Province told the Voice of America that it is impossible to quantify the number of overseas Chinese who have gone to China as missionaries. There are quite a few,” he said. What they do is basically training, that is, short-term training, and now the authorities are very strict in their control, and the authorities are mobilizing students in schools to supervise teachers and teachers to supervise students, so it’s a mess.”
However, Pastor Lin says that overseas Chinese returning to China as missionaries are very popular. In terms of results, “some of them are still good, depending on the needs of individual churches, and when the requirements of the churches are met, it helps quite a bit.”
However, Winter’s Interlovichi told VOA that for Chinese living abroad, including churchgoers in the U.S., it is simply impossible for Chinese authorities to allow someone to travel to China if they believe that person has criticized China on issues such as the Uighurs in Xinjiang, Tibet, and house churches.
The Future of Religious Activities of Foreigners in China
How do foreigners respond to enhanced regulation in China? Mr. Zhang, a Chinese house churchman, told the Voice of America, “I think religion is helpful for social stability and for calming the manic and impetuous attitude of the people in society. However, every religion has its own god, and every religion has its own supreme god. In our country, God is the party and its leader, which is in conflict with the outside.”
Mr. Zhang believes that foreigners coming to China should adjust their strategies after recognizing the conflict, saying, “You don’t have a big scale, but the authorities basically turn a blind eye to the fact that the scale of religious activities is too big. (The authorities) are relatively strict in their management, including expelling foreigners who preach, including the disbanding of meeting places, which I think is understandable. These foreigners should be aware of China’s special circumstances, because we are not like Taiwan, the U.S., or South Korea, and our political systems are fundamentally different from each other.”
As the new draft regulations were being published, Professor Introvichi, editor-in-chief of Winter magazine, received an invitation to an academic conference on religion at a university in mainland China. He said that, in light of the epidemic and the new regulations that would soon be implemented, it was impractical for him, as editor-in-chief of Winter magazine, to travel to China at this time.
However, he told the Voice of America, “In light of the coronavirus outbreak, such academic conferences may be held online. Of course, I would probably have no problem participating in an online exchange from outside the country. However, it will be interesting to observe whether such a conference, even if held virtually online, would be subject to censorship by the authorities.” On this point, however, the Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Religious Activities by Foreigners in China appear to be silent.
“In its 2020 report on the state of religious freedom in China, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said that the purpose behind the “China-oriented” and “socialist-adapted” approach to religion introduced by the top Chinese government under Xi Jinping is to eliminate independent religions and bring all religious activities under state control.
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