By Leonard Leo and Don Argue

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonard-leo/confronting-chinas-failur_b_811116.html

For decades, the United States has failed to address the abysmal human rights record of China, the world's most populous nation, with sufficient clarity or strength.

As President Obama meets Chinese President Hu Jintao, he has a unique opportunity to correct this failure. For the sake of freedom, and the ultimate interests of both countries, he should seize the opportunity, advocating a new approach to conventional U.S.-China diplomacy. He should proclaim that a fundamental aim of our China policy is the expansion of liberty, including freedom of religion and belief.

Religion, like capitalism, is expanding rapidly in China. Involving hundreds of millions of people, it is one of the biggest parts of China's civil society, a point not lost on senior-level Communist officials. President Hu has acknowledged this fact, as well as the notion that religion can promote "morality" and "economic and social development."

Yet while China is lightening the regulatory load on business, it continues its egregious oppression of religious groups and individuals. Official recognition of religion is limited to those religious groups that have effectively surrendered control to the government by "registering" with the authorities.

Groups that refuse to register or that peacefully resist attempts at government control are deemed enemies of the state and are treated as such. Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, and movements like the Falun Gong face severe sanctions, including fines, confiscation of property, imprisonment, and torture in detention, as well as control over the selection of religious leaders, as evidenced in November by the appointment of a Catholic bishop without papal recognition. Thousands of individuals languish in jail and hundreds more are detained each year for peacefully expressing their beliefs or desire for greater religious freedom.

Chinese lawyers who defend religious freedom are often dealt the harshest abuse. There have been a number of "disappearances" of such advocates, most notably Gao Zhisheng, who defended Tibetans, Uighurs, the Falun Gong, and unregistered Protestants.

China's leaders insist that their goal is to strengthen and stabilize their nation. Yet their continued repression of peaceful religious minorities does nothing of the sort, and runs counter to their policies of greater freedom elsewhere, especially on the economic front. It is creating potentially massive discontent at home, while seriously harming China's image abroad.

China's policies fly in the face of abundant evidence suggesting that the way to create more peaceful, prosperous, and stable societies is not by repression, but through freedom. It is by respecting the dignity and worth of people, empowering and encouraging their participation in civil society by protecting their liberties. In line with its expansion of economic freedom, Beijing seems to understand this on trade issues, but a nation as big and diverse as China will remain neither stable nor strong by denying the parallel right of religious freedom. For both China and the world, freedom of religion and belief is no luxury, but a necessity.

As President Obama meets with President Hu, he can raise the issue of religious freedom as a matter of conscience. But equally important, he can challenge China to consider the tangible fruits -- diplomatic, security, political, and socio-economic -- it can obtain from fully protecting and promoting religious freedom and related human rights.

While public condemnations may be necessary, they are insufficient. Even when combined with private conversations, they will not move this rising power. The Administration must go beyond mere words, demonstrating that it believes respect for religious freedom is a fundamental strategic interest, and integrating this understanding into its overall China policy.

To that end, we strongly urge the Administration to do the following: become a consistent voice for those Chinese activists who are arrested and harassed; pursue religious freedom concerns in the various multilateral forums where the U.S. and China are members; coordinate with allies on pursuing a consistent human rights diplomacy regarding China; encourage the development and distribution of technologies to counter Internet censorship; and negotiate binding human rights agreements at the highest level of U.S.-China diplomacy -- the Economic and Strategic Dialogue.

If the President takes such action, it would advance our national interest and ultimately that of China by promoting freedom and its many benefits. For the sake of both nations, the President should use this meeting to ensure that religious freedom in China will be neither ignored nor bargained away again.

Leonard Leo is the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Don Argue serves as Vice Chairman of USCIRF.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As President Hu Jintao arrives in the United States, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) releases its recent letter to President Obama urging him to "clearly speak” about why religious freedom is in the interest of U.S.-China relations.

"We are encouraged that President Obama has said human rights would be a major part of his discussion with President Hu, the Adminstration needs to be become a more prominent voice for the voiceless and vulnerable in China,” said Leonard Leo, USCIRF Chair. "However, private conversations alone will not move this rising power to change its policies. After the summit ends, the Administration must demonstrate that it believes respect for religious freedom and related human rights is a fundamental strategic interest and integrate this understanding into its overall China policy.”

President Obama met last week with prominent China experts and human rights advocates. The President and Secretary of State Clinton both stated that human rights, including religious freedom, would be a prominent part of their discussions with President Hu.

In its 2010 Annual Report, USCIRF offered several recommendations for better pursuing a government-wide human rights strategy with China. Among other recommendations, USCIRF urged the Administration to:

• fully employ the tools specified in the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) for countries designated as "countries of particular concern” (CPCs), including sanctions or some other commensurate action, and cease the practice of relying on pre-existing sanctions that do not address specific religious freedom abuses, by issuing a new presidential action focusing on either state agencies or actors who perpetuate religious freedom abuses or on provinces or localities where religious freedom conditions are most egregious;
• develop a human rights strategy towards China that engages and utilizes the entire U.S. government by creating an inter-agency human rights action plan and coordinating its implementation across all U.S. government agencies and entities, including developing targeted talking points and prisoner lists and providing staffing and support for all U.S. delegations visiting China; and
• reinvigorate a process of multilateral cooperation on human rights and technical assistance programs with allies who conduct bilateral human rights dialogues with China.

Within the planning and structure of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the U.S. government should:

• prioritize human rights and religious freedom issues as principal issues in the Strategic Dialogue"s agenda; raise a full range of religious freedom concerns in high-level discussions in each session and seek binding agreements on key religious freedom and human rights concerns at the U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue in ways similar to other economic and security interests; and
• ensure that religious freedom priorities raised in the Strategic Dialogue are implemented through appropriate U.S. government foreign assistance programs on such issues as legal reform, civil society capacity-building, public diplomacy, and cultural and religious preservation and exchanges.

*****
January 14, 2011

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I write today on behalf of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to convey our appreciation for your recent statement condemning the violence in Egypt and Nigeria, as well as to urge you to raise religious freedom issues during the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The Commission has followed events in Egypt and Nigeria for many years. We welcomed your call for the attackers in Egypt to be "brought to justice for this barbaric and heinous act.” The Commission has found that in Egypt serious problems of discrimination, intolerance, and other human rights violations against members of religious minorities, as well as disfavored Muslims, remain widespread. The past year marked a significant upsurge in violence targeting Coptic Orthodox Christians. In Nigeria, the government continues to respond inadequately and ineffectively to recurrent communal and sectarian violence. Years of inaction by Nigeria"s federal, state and local governments has created a climate of impunity, resulting in thousands of deaths, which is why USCIRF recommended Nigeria be named a "country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act. Sustained engagement by the United States on both of these issues will be critical.

Mr. President, your remarks on the violence against religious minorities in Egypt and Nigeria helped to underscore the importance of making international freedom of religion a priority. Hopefully, you will have occasion at the State of the Union or some other forum to speak to these countries again and reinforce the idea that religious extremism must be combated both by bringing offenders to justice and eliminating discriminatory and repressive state laws that stoke the flames of intolerance.

As you prepare to meet with President Hu Jintao next week, we respectfully urge you to speak publicly about why religious freedom is in China"s interest, rooted in international human rights treaties and standards which China has affirmed. In the past, USCIRF welcomed your eloquent statements before the U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue about why religious freedom is an important American interest, fundamental to our nation"s history. We hope you will use this opportunity with Chinese leaders to detail the tangible diplomatic, political, social welfare, security, and economic benefits China can gain by fully protecting and promoting religious freedom and related human rights, and also explain the costs of continued repression and religious freedom abuses to the future growth and flexibility of U.S.-China relations.

The U.S. cannot ignore China"s continued repression of dissent in the hopes of finding common ground on other important global concerns. U.S. policy and statements should reflect the fact that human rights protections and the advancement of the rule of law are critically intertwined with many of our national interests with China. The Commission would welcome the opportunity to discuss with you these and other issues.

Sincerely,
Leonard Leo
Chair

CC: Samantha Power, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights
Jeff Bader, Senior Director for East Asia
Michelle Gavin, Senior Director for Africa
Sergio Aguirre, Director for Levant and North Africa
Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Click here to view the pdf version of the letter.

USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives. USCIRF"s principal responsibilities are to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact Anu Vakkalanka, Communications Specialist at [email protected], or (202) 786-0610.

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