ICC Note: 

As a result of China’s intense crackdown on religious freedom, the Communist Party of China is being seen as regressing into a Maoist regime. During the Mao Era, the citizens of China were terrorized and executed by the thousands for even slightly disagreeing or speaking against the regime. China Aid describes the Communist Party falling into these actions as they continue to place restrictive measures on religious freedom and executes its control over all forms of dissent by arresting or otherwise harassing those who oppose the stricture. These new laws against religious minorities can pose an immense threat to the imprisonment and mistreatment of hundreds of China’s citizens, especially that of Christians. 

10/13/2016 China (UCA News) – In the past year, ethnic and religious minorities in China have faced “egregious discrimination and violence” at the hands of the state, a U.S. government report concludes.

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“In particular, authorities in Zhejiang province continued to target Protestants with harassment and close monitoring in the past reporting year, for example, by continuing to implement a campaign launched in 2014 that has resulted in the removal of an estimated 1,500 church crosses from state-sanctioned churches, and in more than 20 cases, the complete demolition of churches,” says the report. “Some Protestant leaders have been sentenced to prison terms, and officials also detained those providing legal assistance to churches facing forced cross removal.”

In a statement presented to the E.U. Parliament last week, Texas-based Christian rights group China Aid echoed the report’s findings calling “2016 one of the most tyrannical years since the Cultural Revolution.”

“As China regresses into a more Maoist regime, the Communist Party continues to place restrictive measures on religious freedom and executes its control over all forms of dissent by arresting or otherwise harassing those who oppose the strictures,” said China Aid.

Kiri Kankhwende, press officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, told ucanews.com that while there was a “mixed picture” regarding the situation facing minorities, there had been a marked decrease in freedoms in recent years.

“For Christians the government is tightening control over registered churches at the same time as forcing unregistered churches outside the state-sanctioned structure to either register or disband,” said Kankhwende.

“This trend fits into a broader pattern under [President] Xi Jinping of shrinking space for civil society, a heightened sensitivity to perceived challenges to Party rule, and the introduction of legislation that curtails civil and political rights in the name of national security,” she said.

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