01. Mar 2006
Religion in China still restricted, HRW says
(Reuters) Despite China introducing new regulations on religious rights one year ago, freedom to worship remains restricted, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The rules that took effect in March 2005 enshrine religious belief as a basic right of all citizens, but China still forbids worship outside designated religious organizations, fearing the growth of groups that could challenge Communist Party rule. "Local officials continue to repress religious activities that they determine to be outside the scope of the state-controlled religious system," said Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW. The 2005 regulations were deliberately vague, he claimed. "There is nothing accidental about the vagueness - it gives officials the room they need to legitimise closing mosques, raiding religious meetings, 're-educating' religious leaders and censoring publications", he said. In Tibet, government interference in Tibetan Buddhist religious affairs continued unabated in 2005. Most significantly, an official Chinese publication described the Chinese-chosen Panchen Lama as “the leader of Tibetan Buddhism” and claimed that he was “the highest ranking figure in Tibetan Buddhism”. This accreditation has never been given to anyone before except the Dalai Lama. In return, the 15-year old pledged to “live up to the expectations of the Chinese Communist Party and the central government”. The whereabouts of the Dalai Lama-chosen Panchen Lama remain unknown. A new round of ‘patriotic education’ was launched in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and in autonomous prefectures and counties in Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Yunnan provinces. Monks and nuns were subjected to mandatory examinations based on texts devoted to the official Chinese version of Tibetan history, religious politics, legal matters, ethics, and policy on “crushing separatists”. Those who refused to accept these terms faced expulsion from their monasteries. In July, a monastic official from a leading Lhasa monastery was removed from his post for alleged clandestine support for the Dalai Lama. Expulsion of monks for the same offense from another Lhasa monastery prompted a silent protest by many resident monks. Other reports cite the expulsion of some 40 nuns from a convent in Lhasa on the same grounds.