September (Web-only) 2000

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As the Senate debate on granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status unfolds, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is reiterating its plea for Congress to withhold trade privileges until China implements substantial religious freedom reforms.In late May, the House of Representatives approved a trade bill that would move China from Most Favored Nation (MFN) status, which requires an annual review of adherence to international standards, to PNTR status—a move which many fear signals little international accountability.If Congress approves, China could soon enjoy the same low tariffs given to most U.S. trading partners, and they would be allowed to join the World Trade Organization."It's a dire situation," Nina Shea, a member of the USCIRF told Newsroom. Shea believes that by granting PNTR status to China, the United States "gives up its power of any meaningful review of human rights in China."Some Chinese religious representatives have turned up the temperature of the PNTR debate by lauding China's current "golden age" for religion. Bishop Fu of the government-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association announced in August that "there is no religious persecution in China."But most human rights organizations and world religious councils disagree, pointing to documented cases and press reports of thousands of incidents of Chinese police beating, imprisoning, and destroying the property of Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists.The USCIRF cites incidents like the arrests of more than 35,000 Falun Gong practitioners over the past year—5,000 of whom have been sent to labor camps—as ample evidence that Chinese officials have continued to persecute followers of many faiths.Christians ...