ICC Note:
China Aid has released a report on persecution of religions in China for 2016. The report notes a shift in Beijing’s approach from encouraging churches to adapt to socialism to “Sinicization,” or “forcing them to conform to the Chinese government’s agenda.” In response to this shift, local government have implemented crackdowns on churches outside of the state run church, and attempted to coerce many into joining the state run church called the Three Self Patriotic Movement.
1/23/2017 China (China Aid) – China Aid recently released a summary of religious persecution across in China in 2016, noting how Communist Party terminology shifted from guiding religions and socialism into mutual adaptation into a promoting the full-on Sinicization of religious beliefs.
According to the summary, 2016 brought a major change in the Communist Party’s approach to religious management. Under the administration of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, the role of the Party in regards to religion was to encourage it to mutually adapt with socialism. In April of last year, however, current Chinese president Xi Jinping convened National Religious Conference for the first time since 2001 and introduced the idea of “Sinicizing” religions; that is, forcing them to conform to the Chinese government’s agenda.
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