WASHINGTON - The Chinese government intensified religious persecution after Congress awarded it permanent normal trade status last year, apparently because Beijing concluded that the United States is not serious about advocating tolerance, a US commission said yesterday.
''There has been a significant deterioration in religious freedom since'' normal trade status ''was voted,'' said Elliott Abrams, chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. ''China has concluded that trade trumps all.''
The religiously diverse and bipartisan panel urged the Bush administration and Congress to link China's treatment of believers to all aspects of US-China relations, especially by using Washington's diplomatic leverage to block China's application to host the 2008 Olympic games.
In its annual report to the White House and Congress, the commission examined 10 countries, ranging from those such as India and Indonesia that promise tolerance but fail to stop violence between religious groups, to others such as China and Sudan that engage in often-brutal suppression.
China differentiates between officially sanctioned religious groups, which are supposed to operate under tight government control, and unregistered groups, which are outlawed. Last year, the commission said, conditions for both worsened.
The report said the torture of believers increased, the government confiscated and destroyed up to 3,000 unregistered religious buildings, and it continued to interfere in the selection of religious leaders. The crackdown extended to Christians, followers of Falun Gong, Uighur Muslims, and Tibetan Buddhists.
The commission called for regulations to require corporations seeking to sell securities in US financial markets to disclose business links to countries on a separate State Department list of those that egregiously violate religious liberty.
The commission called for an outright ban on the use of US securities exchanges for any corporation engaged in oil and gas development in Sudan, which Abrams called ''the world's most violent abuser of religious freedom.''