wfn.org | Opponents to China trade bill hold vigil on Capitol steps

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May 25, 2000    News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202)
546-8722·Washington     10-21-33-71B{250}

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - On May 23, the day before the U.S. House of
Representatives was scheduled to vote on trade relations with China, an
unusual group opposed to the bill spoke out on the steps of the nation's
Capitol.

After opening remarks by the convener, Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich), the
first speaker was the Rev. Thom White Wolf  Fassett, top staff executive of
the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the denomination's public
policy and social action agency.

A rapid succession of others included Chinese dissident Harry Wu,
environmentalists, other members of the House of Representatives, officials
of both farmers and steelworkers unions and a representative of the
conservative Family Research Council. John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO
concluded the presentations.

Also weighing in against the bill were 17 United Methodist bishops who added
their signatures to a letter from Fassett and Bishop Charles Jordan,
president of the board's voting directors. He serves the Iowa Annual
(regional) Conference.

"We call on Congress to vote against the extension of permanent normal trade
relations to China until substantial improvements in religious freedom are
achieved," the May 19 letter reads. 

In addition to Fassett and Jordan, the letter was signed by bishops Sharon
Rader, Wisconsin Annual Conference; Alfred Johnson, New Jersey; Roy I. Sano,
California-Pacific; S. Clifton Ives, West Virginia; Ray W. Chamberlain Jr.,
Holston (southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee); Edward W. Paup,
Oregon-Idaho and Alaska Missionary; Elias Galvan, Pacific Northwest; Judith
Craig, West Ohio; Joe E. Pennel Jr., Virginia.

Other signers were bishops Kenneth L. Carder, Tennessee; Susan M. Morrison,
Troy (Northeast New York and Vermont), William W. Dew Jr., Desert Southwest;
Joel Martinez, Nebraska; George W. Bashore, Central Pennsylvania; Hae Jon
Kim, North Central New York and Western New York; Marshall L. Meadors Jr.,
Mississippi; and Mary A. Swenson, Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone (Colorado,
Utah, Wyoming and Montana).

In his statement, Fassett noted that John Wesley, Methodism's founder, had
advocated against labor abuses and for religious freedom. 

"The world cannot have one standard of human rights for apartheid South
Africa and another for an authoritarian Chinese state merely because China
is a bigger trading partner or a larger military threat," he declared.

Fassett said he does not advocate making China an enemy or cutting off trade
but believes Congress should continue to conduct a yearly review of China's
human rights status.  

"The government of the Peoples' Republic of China and its ruling Communist
Party continue to discriminate against, harass, jail and torture people on
the basis of their religious beliefs," Fassett noted. "Chinese law
criminalizes religious activity by members of religious groups that are not
registered with the state."

He called on China to improve its behavior on human and religious rights,
release from prison people who were jailed on religious grounds, and ratify
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He asked Congress
to continue its annual determination of progress in these areas.  Until
these concerns on behalf of Chinese people are met, China should not be
granted permanent trading rights, he argued.

# # #

The full text of the Fassett's statement follows:

REGARDING PERMANENT NORMAL TRADING RELATIONS WITH CHINA

MAY 23, 2000

Only General Conference speaks for the entire denomination. The General
Board of Church and Society is the United Methodist Church's public policy
and social action agency.

Trade, labor rights, and religious freedom have long been issues for The
United Methodist Church. More than 200 years ago, John Wesley, the founder
of the Methodist movement, denounced the practices of child labor and
sweatshops, prohibited his followers from purchasing goods made with slave
labor, and denounced those who would deny religious freedom.

Today, the U.S. Congress is debating these same issues with regard to China.
Some would have us believe that the issues of labor rights, forced labor,
and religious freedom in China can best be addressed by avoiding an annual
review of the U.S.-China trading relationship. They argue that a permanent
most favored nation status is the only way to bring about improved human
rights in the China. Trade is seen as a panacea that solves all problems.

Human rights and religious freedoms in China have improved since the dark
days of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution when churches and
temples were destroyed, but these rights still are not respected in China.
The world cannot have one standard of human rights for apartheid South
Africa and another for an authoritarian Chinese state merely because China
is a bigger trading partner or a larger military threat. I do not advocate
making China our enemy or cutting off trade but believe that a yearly review
of China's human rights status by Congress serves to promote human rights
and religious freedom. Granting of permanent trading relations to China will
signal that the U.S. considers trade benefits more important than religious
freedom or other human rights.

The government of the Peoples' Republic of China and its ruling Communist
Party continue to discriminate against, harass, jail, and torture people on
the basis of their religious beliefs. Chinese law criminalizes religious
activity by members of religious groups that are not registered with the
state. Most former Methodists and Evangelical United Brethren have some
freedoms because they affiliated with the state-approved Protestant body.
Still, even members of registered religious groups can engage only in a
limited range of state approved activities.

Religious communities that are not part of the five approved religious
bodies are often fined, harassed, detained, jailed, or sent to 'education
through labor camps.' Even groups that want to be recognized by the state
have been denied recognition. Catholics loyal to the Pope and Protestants in
house churches continue to be denied recognition. Their meetings are broken
up, their buildings confiscated or destroyed, and their leaders arrested and
jailed.

Indigenous Chinese religions are even more repressed, both older minority
religions or new groups like the Falun Gong and Zhong Gong. New "anti-cult"
provisions of the Chinese Criminal Code are being used to impose long prison
sentences on religious leaders.

The Chinese government even interferes in the selection of religious leaders
as in the case of the successor to the Panchen Lama. Chinese authorities
assert their right to control teaching in religious institutions of the
Tibetan Buddhist community. Muslim leaders in the border regions of
Northwest China are subjected to arrests, torture, and even execution.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has found that
China's practices with respect to religious freedom violate the standards of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights. We join with the Commission in declaring that
now is not the time to grant Permanent Normal Trading Relations to China.

Before China is granted permanent trading rights, China must improve its
respect for human and religious rights, release from prison all persons
jailed on religious grounds, and ratify the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights. In the meantime, the U.S. Congress and the
Administration should conduct annual reviews of China's human rights and
religious freedom as part of a review of U.S.-China trading relationships.

# # #

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United Methodist News Service
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