Zhejiang government document reveals strong focus on containing religion through demolition campaign

ICC Note:

Beijing claimed yesterday that “anti-church” campaign is a “misunderstanding” and “the Chinese government earnestly protects the rights of Chinese citizens including safeguarding their freedom of religious beliefs”, according to the Telegraph. However, a government document of Zhejiang province shows a completely different story than Beijing’s statement. ChinaAid‘s reports that the document encourages local leaders to be tough in their interactions with religious groups and shows Zhejiang province’s determination to “rectify” the the phenomena that “religion has grown too fast” and of “too many religious sites” within one year.

05/20/2014 China (ChinaAid)- China Aid recently obtained an excerpt of a secret provincial government document from China’s coastal Zhejiang, outlining the goals of the “Three Rectifications and One Demolition” campaign, which has garnered international media attention, including the “handling of illegal religious structures.”

The document, below, encourages local leaders to “dare to be lion-type” leaders in their interactions with religious groups.

“Goals and principles of our work

(1) Goals of our work: Carry out the spirit of the Party’s 18th Congress in a in-depth manner and earnestly implement the spirit of the plenary session of the Provincial Party Committee and the spirit of the provincial working conference on “Three Rectifications and One Demolition” that involves the handling of illegal religious structures.

…

(2) Principles in our work: 1. Emphasize politics and approach the situation as a whole. Cadres in charge of ethnic and religious affairs at various levels should see clearly the political issues behind the Cross. You should resolutely resist the infiltration and take up the dominant position of control in the ideological realm and assume political responsibilities in the real sense of the word and dare to be lion-type cadres.”