Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: CHN35551 Country: China Date: 12 October 2009 Keywords: China – Police inter-provincial travel – Underground Catholic church – Availability and distribution of religious material – Wages of cooks – Papal letter – Alert lists This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. Do the PSB travel to other provinces to investigate people in relation to underground church activities? 2. Please provide any recent information on the underground Catholic church in Dezhou city Shandong; Yingtan, Jiangxi province; and Fuqing. 3. Are the authorities interested in arresting only leaders and organisers of the underground church, or do they also arrest ordinary members of the church? 4. Are Bibles and other promotional material easily available to Catholics in China? Do Catholics who distribute them get arrested or detained? 5. What is the average wage of cooks in China? 6. Please provide recent research on the recent papal letter to Catholics in China. 7. Please provide latest advice on alert lists and issuance of passports to those on so called black lists. RESPONSE 1. Do the PSB travel to other provinces to investigate people in relation to underground church activities? A China Aid Association (CAA)1 press release reported that the Guangzhou police had travelled to another province, Guangxi, to investigate a house church pastor. Although 1 The CAA has been described as “a US-based, non-profit organization that investigates and advocates for religious freedom in China” (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2008, CHN102868 – China: Treatment of children of members of underground Christian churches; whether children of members of underground Christian churches are subject to sanctions, including reduced access to education and to health care, 26 June sources report that police travel to other provinces in the course of their investigations, no other information was found in the sources consulted on police doing so in relation to underground church activities. In September 2009 the CAA reported that “threats” continued against a Pastor Wang Dao of the Guangzhou Liangren Church. According to the CAA the Guangzhou police travelled to Wang‟s brother‟s home in Guangxi to investigate Wang‟s residential identity card: At noon on September 15, 2009, Pastor Wang learned that the Guangzhou police had driven 700 miles to his brother‟s home in Guangxi to investigate Wang‟s residential identity card, the ID required for all Chinese citizens. Pastor Wang perceives this to be the latest act of revenge against him for irritating the Guangzhou PSB with his appeals on behalf of the church (China Aid Association 2009, „Threats Continue Against Pastor of Liangren Church‟, 21 September http://www.chinaaid.org/qry/page.taf?id=105&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=1290&month= 09&year=2009&_nc=02c9b125df0e4a79dd8c7455425a759b – Accessed 22 September 2009 – Attachment 1). News articles have also reported other instances of inter-provincial police investigations: A January 2009 news article stated that police from Yueyang city, Hunan province, led an investigation into child traffickers across seven provinces („China Police Detain 13 Suspected Child Traffickers‟ 2009, Associated Press, 15 January, ABC News International website http://i.abcnews.com/International/wireStory?id=6651543# – Accessed 8 October 2009 – Attachment 3). A December 2008 news article reported that Beijing police travelled to Henan province to arrest suspects who posed as journalists and were said to blackmail interviewees („Beijing police detain eight posing as journalists, selling press cards‟ 2008, China View website, 11 December http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008- 12/11/content_10490244.htm – Accessed 8 October 2009 – Attachment 4). A September 2007 news article stated that police from Nanjing, Jiangsu province formed a team in Yunnan province to investigate a child-trafficking case („Nanjing Police Rescue 40 Kidnapped Babies‟ 2007, Shanghai Daily, 7 September, China.org.cn website http://en.invest.china.cn/english/news/223687.htm – Accessed 8 October 2009 – Attachment 5). A September 2005 news article reported that Shandong police “grabbed” an activist “against the use of forced sterilization and abortion in China” in Beijing (Pan, Philip P. 2005, „Chinese authorities seize population control activist‟, Washington Post Foreign Service, 6 September http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-d yn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090600921.html – Accessed 7 September 2005 – Attachment 6). http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/index_e.htm?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=451963 - Accessed 20 November 2008 – Attachment 2). 2. Please provide any recent information on the underground Catholic church in Dezhou city, Shandong province; Yingtan, Jiangxi province; and Fuqing, Fujian province. No recent information on the underground Catholic church in Dezhou city, Shandong province, Yingtan city, Jiangxi province or Fuqing city, Fujian province was found in the sources consulted. Information on Catholics in these cities and provinces is provided below. Dezhou city, Shandong province No recent information was found in the sources consulted on the underground Catholic church in Dezhou city, Shandong province. For information on the underground Catholic church in Shandong province see the attached Research Response CHN33187. Although no recent information was found in the sources consulted on the situation of the underground Catholic community in Shandong, sources cited in the response report that they have come under pressure and surveillance (RRT Research & Information 2008, Research Response CHN33187, 8 April, pp.1-2 – Attachment 7). Of interest is that Charbonnier in the book Guide to the Catholic Church in China 2008 identifies a Catholic church in Dezhou (no definitive comment is made as to whether it is a registered or undergound church): Dezhou (117km north of Jinan) 88 Heping Street Catholic Church Tel.: 86-534-363 50 05 Priest: Lu Yong (Charbonnier, Fr. Jean 2008, Guide to the Catholic Church in China 2008, China Catholic Communications, Singapore, pp.478,483 – Attachment 8). Yingtan, Jiangxi province No recent information was found in the sources consulted on the underground Catholic church in Yingtan city, Jiangxi province. However, it is of interest that Charbonnier identifies two Catholic churches in Yingtan (no definitive comment is made as to whether they are registered or undergound churches). Charbonnier notes that at one of the churches the local government did not welcome visitors. Charbonnier writes on the Catholic churches in Yingtan as follows: Yingtan (30km east of Yujiang) Yuehuqu Catholic Church 150-152 Jiefang Road, Yingtan, [335000] Tel.: 86-701-622 24 66 How to go there? The church is on a hill in the eastern district of the city. Ask for “Middle School No 2 Church” (erzhong jiaotang). The local government doesn‟t welcome visitors. Shangqing Catholic Church [335005] Tel.: 86-701-663 83 34 (Charbonnier, Fr. Jean 2008, Guide to the Catholic Church in China 2008, China Catholic Communications, Singapore, pp.382,387 – Attachment 8). A June 2006 interview on the Ignatius Insight website with Father Daniel Cerezo, of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus and who associates with the clergy and the faithful in both the registered and unregistered churches, briefly mentions the Catholic church in Jianxi province: It is better, says Fr. Cerezo, to refer to China as “one divided Church with two communities” that still have differences. We may accurately distinguish the two communities, Fr. Cerezo suggests, as “registered,” or “state-sanctioned,” and “unregistered,” or operating outside of the CCPA. The relationship between the two communities is strained in some provinces, such as Hebei, Fujian, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, and Jiangxi. In these areas there are unregistered Catholics who understandably feel that they have suffered for the Church by refusing any affiliation with the Communist-run state. But there is a growing distinction in China between the government and the Party, and Fr. Cerezo notes that there are no Catholic bishops, in either the registered or unregistered communities, who are members of the Communist Party, since one cannot be a believer and be a member of the Communist Party. Both communities are aware of this problem. But there are, unfortunately, a few registered bishops who are quite involved with China‟s government. At this point of our conversation Fr. Cerezo leaned back in his chair and said, “Look, the younger priests and bishops in both communities are less and less interested in the politics between the two communities, and more motivated to teach the faith.” He recalled that there are cases where clergy from the registered community live with clergy from the unregistered community (Clark, Anthony E., 2006, „Two Chinese Churches? Or One? An Interview with Fr. Daniel Cerezo, Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus‟, Ignatius Insight website, June http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2006/aclark_chinesechurch_jun06.asp