wfn.org | U.S. must keep emphasis on rights in China, United Methodist

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executive says

July 2, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York       {394}
  

By United Methodist News Service

President Clinton has spoken out for expanded human rights and religious
freedom in China, but now those words must be followed by actions,
according to a United Methodist agency executive.

"We're generally pleased with what Mr. Clinton has done in his China
trip," said Jaydee Hanson, assistant general secretary of the churchwide
Board of Church and Society, in a July 1 telephone interview. "I think
he has emphasized human rights as a key part of the visit as well as
religious freedom. It's going to be important to see whether when he
returns the administration will continue with the same kind of emphases.
It's important that action follow up the symbolic actions."

Even as Clinton encourages more openness, China is making progress in
some areas, according to both Hanson and Jean Troy, an 82-year-old
United Methodist who grew up there.

Clinton's visit is comparable to that of President Richard Nixon in
1972, said Troy, who lives in Chattanooga, Tenn. "Each was
history-making in its own way," she said. However, she added, "no other
American president has had the freedom that Clinton has had to approach
the Chinese people."

In advance of Clinton's trip, Hanson and other religious leaders met
June 18 with the president  and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright to discuss religious freedom and human rights issues in China. 

China has official organizations for Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants
and other faith groups, Hanson said. People are not supposed to belong
to unofficial churches, which "makes it very difficult for persons that
don't fit" into those official groups, he said.

"Chinese still do not have the right to worship freely outside of
officially state-sanctioned religious groups," Hanson said in a
statement coinciding with Clinton's trip. "In addition, the release of
well-known religious leaders has not been extended so all Chinese can
experience religious liberties, particularly minority groups in China.
Tibet has received much attention in the news, but Tibetans are only one
of China's 56 minority ethnic groups."

"China's made much progress," Hanson said. "This year, the General Board
of Church and Society has not called on Congress to suspend most favored
nation status for China. Part of the reason for that is that we do see
there is progress being made, and we do see that the administration is
taking more seriously issues of human rights, labor rights and religious
freedom."

However, contradictions exist in the U.S. position, Hanson said. For
example, the Clinton administration has said China needs to do more to
address its global warming problem, but during the president's trip, the
World Bank announced coal-fired plant projects for China, he said. That
announcement couldn't have been approved without U.S. support, he said.

"Mr. Clinton's got the rhetoric right, but we need to make sure that the
rest of our governmental policies follow that rhetoric."

Methodists have been involved in China ever since the church's first
missionaries went there in 1846. In recent decades, Methodists have been
part of a "post-denominational" Protestant church, referred to as the
Three-Self Movement. The name reflects the movement's self-evangelizing,
self-governing and self-supporting character. Currently, the United
Methodist church does mission work through the Amity Foundation, the
social services arm of the China Christian Council.

Troy's knowledge of China and its people embraces both the past and the
present. She was born there to the Rev. John C. and Jean B. Hawk, who
were serving in Soochow (now Suzhou) as missionaries for the Methodist
Episcopal Church South. She graduated from the American School in
Shanghai before leaving in the 1930s to attend college in the United
States. She wasn't able to return again until 1977, but since then she
has traveled to China 29 times.

"Americans are not aware of how fast China is rushing into the 21st
century," Troy said. She recently returned from China on May 8, after
leading a 17-day tour there. "The last five years have altered China
more than anyone can imagine."

Even in the year between her trip this spring and a trip in spring 1997,
Troy noted changes in terms of more openness and a greater availability
of options for the general population.

The church, too, has experienced drastic change. In 1977, Troy found
only 35 worshippers at the Catholic church she visited in Beijing. Two
years later, at the same church, 1,500 people were in attendance, "which
said to me that the Christians were there, just waiting, just biding
their time until it was possible for them to come out in the open."

She has attended worship services in churches in each of China's major
cities, including the Chongwenmen Church in Beijing, where Clinton
worshipped on June 28. Before 1949, Chongwenmen was Asbury Methodist
Church. It is now a historical landmark and the largest Protestant
church in Beijing.

Troy finds it amazing that China has an estimated 12 million
Protestants, along with uncounted others in small house churches. She
knows her Christian friends endured terrible persecution during China's
cultural revolution, but said they don't feel constrained in practicing
their religion today.

"I think the church is optimistic about itself," she said.

Troy admitted that she is disturbed by "some of the negativism"
displayed toward China in the United States.

"I think we try to measure them by our standards, not necessarily by the
way things are here but by the way we want them to be. Ours is not a
country where individuals all have the same rights, any more than
China." 

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