Posted on 02/10/2005 7:57:37 PM PST by iddygents
U.S. warns China on Bible-smuggling case Jan 11, 2002
WASHINGTON (BP)--President Bush and senior U.S. congressmen have taken a personal interest in the case of a Hong Kong businessman who faces trial for smuggling Bibles into China, and that has helped allay concerns of human rights activists who feared that Washington might overlook Chinese abuses because of Beijing's cooperation in the war against terrorism, CNSNews.com reported Jan. 10.
China had tried to take advantage of the post-Sept. 11 situation by clamping down on opponents. Li welcomed the fact that the United States seemed unwilling to overlook violations simply out of appreciation for Beijing's cooperation in the anti-terror drive.
Li, 38, is accused of smuggling more than 16,000 Chinese-language Bibles from Hong Kong into southeast China and could face the death penalty if convicted of practicing unauthorized religious activity, the center said.
The State Department said the president was "troubled" by the case, and longtime China critic Rep. Tom Lantos, D.-Calif., who is visiting China, raised it in talks with Vice Premier Li Lanqing in Beijing Jan. 9, warning of the negative impact of punishing people for importing Bibles.
Another California congressman, Republican Dana Rohrabacher, also has spoken out about the case.
The Bibles were destined for a Protestant group called the Shouters, after their tendency to "shout out their devotion to Jesus," Lu said.
Beijing has labeled the group as an "evil cult" -- the same designation given to the Falun Gong mediation sect and some 16 other Christian organizations, according to the center.
China, which only tolerates official "patriotic" religion, claims to print up to 3 million copies of the Bible each year. But Lu said for members of underground churches like the Shouters, obtaining a Bible could be very difficult.
(Excerpt) Read more at baptistpress.org ...
what a coincidence.. that's what american liberals think of us too!
Just another warning sign that we ignore at our peril. One day we will be at war with China, yet we continue to fund their military build up as we buy their cheap crap as fast as they can export it.
Your right about we being at war with china one day. In both World War 1 and 2 the attacker struck at there greatest trading partner. In world War 1 Germany attacked France, in World War 2 Japan attacked the US. Unlike Iraq China will not be a pushover to fight.
I think that its sad how China is persecuting religious groups calling them "cults". Marx said that religion was the "opiate of the masses". However, the chinese like the Russians and the North Korean Communists have all avocated a "cult of personality" for there communist leaders... i.e Lenin and Stalin in Russia, Chairman Mao in China, The Elder Kim in Korea (cant remember his proper name), and Ho Chi min in Vietnam. In both China and North Korea the people hero worship and constantly sprout propaganda many times each day.
ping
The Chinese governments idea of a reasonable action:
Protestant Christians are evil, so we'll throw them in jail or murder them.
Love is in the air.
Can't wait to hear from the "The Law Is The Law" crowd :-)
You all been out of town lately? LOL
Not a glorious lot of difference from what you find in Philadelphia, The Islamic Republics, Israel and Russia.
Perhaps it's just catchy or just maybe they are perceiving it's really open season at last all over the globe.
there are slight differences. the chi coms want to kill the man immediatly for the crime of spreading the gospel and the philly juges only want to throw the christians in prison until they die of natural causes after many many many decades.They wony get cocky enough to order thier execution for another 5 or 10 years here in america.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.