Five members of the U.S. congress and several religious leaders joined forces to challenge Obama to take action in relation to China’s human rights abuses and oppression of Christians on Tuesday, according to the Christian Newswire. The push came ahead of Obama’s closed door meetings with China’s Vice President, Xi Jinping. The members of Congress and religious leaders were pressing for the release of six imprisoned Chinese human rights and political activists. Xi is anticipated to become China’s president and Communist Party chief in 2013.
In a letter Monday, leaders of three of the nation's largest religious groups told the President that "a private, clear and determined pledge by you ... to achieve the release [of the six] ... could make clear to Vice President Xi that such action on his part would generate much goodwill with your administration and significantly advance his interests and those of his government."
The seven-page letter was from Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. It included detailed biographies of the six prisoners of conscience: human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng; blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, longtime political dissident Liu Xianbin, former judge Guo Quan, Uyghur house church leader Alimujiang, and woman pastor Yang Rongli.
Last Friday, five leading members of Congress -- Frank Wolf (R-Va.), Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), John Carter (R-Tex.), Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) -- sent the President a similar letter raising the six cases.
Telling President Obama that "'quiet diplomacy' ... has not yielded results. Arguably it has only emboldened the oppressors," the congressmen closed their three-page letter saying that "many in China ... long for America to champion their plight."
ChinaAid is grateful to these members of Congress and the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Association of Evangelicals and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism for bringing these six cases to the attention of the President.
"The time has come for the President to put into concrete public action words spoken in closed-door diplomatic meetings," said ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu.
Fu recalled the American campaign on behalf of the former Soviet Jews and called for ordinary Americans to speak out again. "Millions of Chinese will be grateful for the courageous voices of their true friends in America," he said. "When persecuted Chinese are free from oppression, the world will be a much safer and better place for generations to come."
In what appears to be further evidence that China is growing bolder in its human rights abuses, The Washington Post reported that Chinese officials denied a visa and refused to meet with Suzan Johnson Cook, the US Ambassador for Religious Freedom.
It was further noted that, “Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), who supported Cook’s nomination, called the visa refusal ‘outrageous’ and said the White House’s silence on the issue could have long-term consequences.”
Wolf added that, “What happens with China could have impact when we try to go to Egypt, Vietnam, all these other places. People will look at that ambassadorship and say, ‘How effective or important is this office?’ ”
The position originated on 1998 as the highest ranking government office designed to promote religious freedom, with a frequent focus on newly formed democracies and authoritarian regimes.
