There have been reports in the Hong Kong media quoting the Christian community media in China as saying that Chinese e-commerce platforms have stopped selling the Bible. Almost as soon as the story was published, China’s State Council on Tuesday last week issued a white paper entitled “China’s Policy for Safeguarding Freedom of Religious Beliefs.”
The paper said that “it is a principle established in the Chinese constitution that religious groups and affairs should not be subject to the control of foreign forces.”
It also stated that policies guaranteeing religious freedoms should impose safeguards in accordance with the law and “actively guide religions to conform with socialist society.”
The paper also called on religious communities to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and uphold the socialist system.
In addition, a rumor spread over the Internet that the Chinese government had decided to completely remove all copies of the Bible from e-commerce sites because it wants to promote an alternative “Chinese version” of the Bible, and that the content of this version has been approved by the CCP and modified to incorporate “Chinese traditional culture” and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” to produce a “Catholicism with Chinese characteristics.”
This is a crucial time for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and China. One of the issues involved in this process is the question of whether or not Beijing will be allowed to interfere with the appointment of bishops in China.
However, the Holy See earlier this year asked Bishop Peter Zhuang Jianjian (莊建堅) of the Shantou Diocese in Guangdong Province to step down in favor of Bishop Joseph Huang Bingzhang (黃炳章), while Bishop Joseph Guo Xijin (郭希錦) of the Mindong Diocese in Fujian Province was asked to step aside for state-appointed Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu (詹思祿) and accept being demoted to auxiliary bishop.
Neither Huang nor Zhan has been ordained by the Holy See.
Following these compromises by the Vatican, the CCP will not only be able to exercise even tighter control over “underground” Catholics, it will also be able to use the global influence of the Catholic Church to its advantage, and expand and raise China’s prestige in the Catholic world.
Earlier this week, there were reports that Guo had “disappeared” the week before, and now there are reports that the Bible has been taken down from e-commerce sites. Perhaps these events mean that the Vatican will stop leaning so strongly toward China.
It is difficult to believe that the Vatican would find it acceptable that Chinese Catholics would have to read a version of the Bible published and annotated by the CCP, and it is even more difficult to believe that the Vatican would allow the Sinicization of the Catholic Church and accept that Catholic bishops serve the CCP.
Chen Kuan-fu is a graduate student in law at National Taipei University.
Translated by Edward Jones and Perry Svensson
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) recent visit to Beijing and her upcoming visit to Washington will serve as a high-level test of her diplomatic mettle. In Beijing, Cheng was received with symbolic gestures, a warm reception, and high-level access. In Washington, she will receive far less pomp and far sharper questions about the KMT’s vision for the future of Taiwan. Her challenge will be to persuade Washington that the KMT’s engagement with China can coexist with strong deterrence. Cheng’s April 7-12 visit to mainland China coincided with an intense period of conflict in Iran. Despite the strategic significance of Cheng’s trip,
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent the vast Asian chemicals industry into a tailspin. Deprived of the likes of Qatari natural gas and Saudi Arabian oil, the region’s fertilizer and plastics plants are slowing production or even shutting down. Everywhere except China, that is. In petrochemicals, China is unique. As well as a traditional industry that uses oil and gas as feedstock, it has parallel output that relies on its abundant domestic coal. Unsurprisingly, India and other regional powers want to copy and paste the Chinese method. This would not be easy — or climate friendly. The
US President Donald Trump recently repeated his claim that “Taiwan stole America’s chip industry,” reigniting public debate on the issue. As a former Taiwanese minister of economic affairs and an entrepreneur deeply involved in semiconductor supply chain development, I feel a responsibility to clarify this misunderstanding. From the perspective of global industrial evolution and the economic principle of comparative advantage, such a statement appears overly simplistic and risks obscuring the essence of the issue. The rise of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry was not built on “replacing America,” but rather emerged as a result of countries pursuing different development paths within the
The Presidential Office on Saturday reiterated that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation after US President Donald Trump said that Taiwan should not “go independent.” “We’re not looking to have somebody say: ‘Let’s go independence because the United States is backing us,’” Trump said in an interview with Fox News aired on Friday. President William Lai (賴清德) on Monday said that the Republic of China (ROC) — Taiwan’s official name — and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other. Speaking at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Lai said
RSS