Chinese church leaders reportedly arrested

Christian Century, Sept 22, 1999

An 81-year-old bishop, who has already spent 20 years in prison, and three priests in China's underground Roman Catholic Church have been arrested, according to reports. The Cardinal Kung Foundation, based in Stamford, Connecticut, said September 14 that Bishop Lin Xili, who had been in hiding, was arrested September 7 in southeastern China.

In addition, two priests were arrested September 3 and another was taken into custody in August, reported the foundation, named after Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-mei, the bishop of Shanghai, Who spent 30 years in Chinese prisons. He now lives in the U.S.

China has two Catholic churches. One is officially recognized by the Chinese government. However, the underground church refuses to renounce its loyalty to the pope, making it an illegal group under Chinese law. Only government-sanctioned religious expression is legal in China.

The latest arrests follow actions taken August when Chinese police reportedly arrested 40 leaders of the Protestant "house church" movement. The new arrests bring to nearly 50 the number of church leaders taken into custody in late-August actions. The most recent in that series of arrests occurred August 24 as the 40 leaders gathered in a house in Henan province's Tange district, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.

On August 22 a leader of the house church movement, Zhang Rongliang--described as "a highly visible and outspoken leader" of Henan's Fangcheng Fellowship--was also arrested, according to a report by Newsroom, an evangelical Christian-oriented news service based in Oxford, England. Because China requires the registration of all religious groups, the house church movement is considered illegal and subversive by authorities and is largely underground. Zhang's arrest in turn follows the seizure August 18 of eight other leaders of the house church movement, Newsroom said.

The arrest of Zhang and the others coincides with China's crackdown on the Falun Gong sect, which was banned because it staged large demonstrations protesting harassment of its leaders. Reportedly, Falun Gong leaders may face life in prison because of the government's desire to show that it will not tolerate any activities it considers subversive.

Concerning Falun Gong, on September 10 an official Chinese newspaper said the movement should be eliminated entirely before it creates an underground structure. A commentary in the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main newspaper, called for the government to maintain "a high level of vigilance" in regard to Falun Gong and to arrest any leaders, of the group who have not already been taken into custody. "We cannot expect one storm to sweep away all the garbage," the People's Daily said in calling for continued action against the group. Falun Gong combines elements of Buddhism and Taoism with exercises and meditation. The People's Daily commentary came one day after a U.S. State Department report on religious freedom abroad harshly criticized China for "government intolerance" of free religious expression--a charge Beijing immediately rejected as false. --RNS