CHINESE President Jiang Zemin insisted yesterday that his people are free to worship as they choose, and said arrested Roman Catholic bishops must have broken the law. US President George Bush, on his first day in Beijing, had prodded Mr Jiang on the issue, saying: "All the world's people, including the people of China, should be free to choose how they live, how they worship and how they work."
Mr Jiang was asked twice at a news conference with Mr Bush about allegations of religious repression, and the detention and surveillance of the bishops.
He initially declined to discuss the matter, but then said: "Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, all our constitutions have provided for the freedom of religious belief."
Mr Jiang said he does not personally ascribe to a religious faith, but he has read scriptures from Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. He cited an array of religions practised in his country, reiterating: "Their religious faiths are protected by our constitution."
Last week, the Vatican released the names of 33 bishops and priests it said were either detained in China or being kept under strict police surveillance and forbidden to worship. It said about 20 more priests, their names not known, were also being detained.
"Whatever religion people believe in, they have to abide by the law, so some of the lawbreakers have been detained because of their violation of law, not because of their religious belief," Mr Jiang said, apparently referring to the bishops.
"Although I'm the president of this country, I have no right interfering in the judicial affairs, because of judicial independence."
Mr Bush listened intently during the lengthy defence from Mr Jiang, which came after the US president said "China's future is for the Chinese people to decide, yet no nation is exempt from the demands of human dignity".
Mr Bush, in his closed-door session with Mr Jiang, urged China to open communications with the Vatican and with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader.
China allows only state-monitored and approved churches, and is cracking down on underground groups that have attracted millions of followers in recent years. They include Roman Catholics who worship outside the official church. Authorities have also arrested thousands of followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. But the government insists Falun Gong is a cult not a religion.