New rules on religious affairs in China will not lead to more freedoms and instead could signal a tougher time for underground churches and groups not officially sanctioned, analysts said yesterday.
The regulations, to take effect on March 1, were made public Sunday by official media which said they were to safeguard religious freedom and human rights.
But the main tone of the regulations has not changed -- they still stress the overruling importance of state interests over religious affairs.
"Religious bodies, activities and believers should abide by the Constitution, laws and regulations to safeguard national unity, racial harmony and social stability," a clause says.
Analysts said the rules, which protect only the legal rights of state-sanctioned religious groups, meant non-state-sanctioned ones such as Christian house churches or other religious sects would be worse off.
"It is a two-edged sword," said Chan Kim-kwong, a China expert at the Hong Kong Christian Council. "In terms of implementation, it is now clear what they should supervise, or what they shouldn't bother with."
Under the clearer regulations, there would be less room for maneuver for individual groups not registered with the state -- as in the often ambiguous rules of the past, he said.
"For those which are not registered, Chinese government's dismissal of them in terms of banning or punishment will be stepped up," he said.
"These groups will have even less room for survival. When the grey areas have gone and if you're not registered, you won't be in the game anymore," he said.
China, largely atheist, officially sanctions five religious groups: Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Taoism.
Chinese are allowed to worship only in state-sanctioned churches and temples and authorities regularly crack down on groups outside of the government's control, shutting underground house churches and arresting practitioners.
The new regulations clarify the areas of supervisory responsibility of various government departments and the sorts of religious activities, projects and publications that should come under state control.
Nicolas Becquelin, research director of Human Rights in China, said it indicated a stepping up of the supervision of religions.
"We're still talking about a socialist atheist state with the dominant ideology that religion is a bad thing," he said. "But over the past 20 years the state has moved from trying to stamp out religion to trying to manage it."
He noted that the rules still required religious groups to register with the state -- a de-facto approval process which has barred myriad groups from being recognized as legal religious entities.
"The government is still using registration to enforce political control and there is no way to appeal the process," Becquelin said.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
RSS