CHINA lodged a protest with the United States after a U.S. government commission said Chinese violations of religious freedom were “severe” and “systematic”, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday (May 4).
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan U.S. federal government body, said in a report last week that there were “unprecedented violations” against Christians, Buddhists and Muslims in China last year.
The report urged the U.S. Department of State to re-designate China’s government as a top-tier violator, along with 16 other countries, including Myanmar, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.
“The Chinese government respects and protects citizens’ religious freedom. Chinese citizens also, under the law, enjoy ample religious freedom rights. The report you mentioned from the so-called U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is full of political bias and makes arbitrary and unfounded criticism of China. We express our firm opposition to this. The Chinese side has already made representations to the U.S. side and urged the U.S. to cease using religious issues as an excuse to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.
The report said the U.S. State Department had listed China as a “country of particular concern” since 1999.
China has long said that it guarantees religious freedom. However, critics note that the officially atheist ruling Community Party recognises only a handful of state-approved religions – Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism and Protestantism – followers of which must worship under the watch of patriotic religious associations.
Religious minorities, particularly Muslim Uighurs in China’s western Xinjiang region and Buddhist Tibetans, chafe at strict government controls on their faith, which exiles and activists say have spurred social unrest and violence.
The government describes resistance to its rule in Muslim and Buddhist communities as inspired by outside forces trying to split the country, and regularly cracks down on unregistered religious groups and underground house churches.