President Meets With 3 Chinese House Church Activists
(ICC) President Bush, met three Chinese Christian religious freedom/human rights activists at the White House yesterday to hear about the current state (or non state) of religious freedom in China.
Underscoring the importance of the meeting was the presence of Vice-President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, UN Ambassador Josh Bolton, the White House Chief of Staff and the President’s senior Advisor Mr. Michael Gerson as well as the White House press secretary Tony Snow.
They met with with Mr. Yu Jie, an Elder of Beijing Ark House Church, Mr. Wang Yi, a professor of law at Chengdu University, and Dr. Li Baiguang, was named “Person of the Year” in Asia in 2005 for his civil education work for the rule of law among the farmers and religious minority groups.
The three activists are active in the house church movement which has been suffering a crackdown.
Bush was said to have praised the courage of his guests and their colleagues in advocating for their freedom to worship.
Both Li and Yu have spent time in Chinese prisons for their activities. Li was a founding member of the Association of Human Rights Attorneys for Chinese Christians and was chosen by Asia Newsweek among the magazine’s “persons of the year.”
