World Tibet Network News Monday, February 09, 1998

BEIJING, Feb 9 (AP) Three prominent American religious leaders are setting out this week to examine how much religious freedom China's communist government allows.

Rabbi Arthur Schnier, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, arrived in Beijing on Sunday, and the other two key members of the delegation were expected tonight, said a spokesman for the delegation, Walter Jennings.

The others are Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and the Rev. Don Argue, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Before leaving the United States for their 18-day mission, the religious leaders told reporters they hoped to meet with Chinese government officials and Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and Taoist leaders. They are scheduled to visit Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

Religion is tightly controlled in China. The ruling Communist Party professes atheism and has rules prohibiting party members from joining religious groups.

But Chinese leaders want to show they are tolerant of religion, in part to calm U.S. concerns about repression of religious rights and head off criticism this spring at the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

President Jiang Zemin invited a U.S. religious delegation to visit China during his official visit to the United States in October. It was not known how closely the government would control the visit.

Schnier said before leaving the group hoped the visit would not be a one-time event but rather the beginning of long-term discussions with Chinese government and religious officials.

The U.S. religious leaders so far have declined to say what specific concerns they would raise.

China is in the midst of a religious explosion, as many Chinese seek a balance to the rampant consumerism that has replaced once pervasive but now discredited Marxist dogma.

By law, Christian churches in China must be part of the official Catholic or non-denominational Protestant churches controlled by the government. In the past three years, the government has moved to close down unofficial churches and imprison some underground church leaders.

The government has also moved to tighten control over Buddhism and Islam in the regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, where separatist movements are drawing inspiration from religion.

In Tibet, officials have conducted a campaign to discredit the Dalai Lama and purge supporters of the exiled spiritual leader from Buddhist monasteries.

China claims it has spent millions of dollars worth of aid to restore Tibetan religious sites and improve living standards in Tibet.