WASHINGTON - China's violation of religious freedom has intensified, a U.S. panel said on Monday in a sharply worded report urging the United States to prod Beijing to ease its restrictions.
"The situation in China has grown worse in the past year," said Elliott Abrams, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as it issued its second annual report.
The 188-page report also accused India, Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Iran, Sudan, Vietnam and North Korea of either directly violating religious freedoms, permitting local or regional governments to restrict freedoms or ignoring intercommunity violence.
Three of the nine panel members are appointed by the president and six by the congressional leadership.
The commission report, presented to U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and congressional leaders, had a list of nonbinding recommendations, including censuring China over human rights and opposing its bid to host the Olympics.
In China, the report said, the government has expanded its crackdown on unregistered religious groups, tightened control on official religious organizations, intensified its campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual movement and increased control over official Protestant and Catholic churches.
China, the report said, interferes in the training and selection of religious leaders and maintains tight control over Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists.
The report comes amid strained Sino-American relations following a dispute over a mid-air collision between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. arms package for Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.
The panel urged the U.S. government to try to persuade China to ease its grip on religious freedom. Until China loosens restrictions, the commission said, Washington should continue to sponsor a resolution to censure China at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
The commission also urged Washington to work to keep the Olympic movement from staging its games in China until it improves its religious-freedom and human-rights record.
The U.S. government, Abrams said, should make freedom of religion in China a higher priority.
"I think we would like to see a link between religious freedom and the bilateral relations with China," said Abrams, an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration.
The commission also cited Sudan for special attention, saying it "has continued its assault on the religious freedom of non-Muslims as well as some Muslims (particularly those associated with the political opposition)."
A particular area of concern among commission members was Khartoum's development of oil fields to bankroll the Muslim government's 18-year war against non-Muslim rebels fighting for autonomy in the south.
The commission also said:
--India, while generally respecting religious freedom, may not be doing all that it could to prevent violence against minority religions;
--Indonesia has made little effort to break up fighting between Muslim and Christians in the Moluccas;
--Pakistan "is clearly not doing enough to adequately protect the religious freedom of all of its citizens;"
--Russia seems to be committed to the concept of religious freedom, but it is unclear how vigorous President Vladimir Putin will be in dealing with many religious-freedom issues;
--Nigeria continues to suffer religious and ethnic communal violence;
--in Iran, non-Muslim minorities are subject to forms of official discrimination;
--Vietnam "continues to suppress organized religious activities forcefully and to monitor and control religious communities;"
--in North Korea, "... it is apparent that religious freedom is nonexistent."
14:56 04-30-01
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