China’s communist regime has instructed all Protestant Christians belonging to the state-controlled body, Three-Self Church, to pay tributes to Jiang Zemin, ex-president and former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The instructions to remember Jiang was passed to national leaders of the Three-Self Church who gathered for a Memorial Conference in Shanghai in the first week of December, Bitter Winter reported. They were told all members of the Three-Self Church across China should do the same.
Jiang (1926-2022) was general secretary of the CCP from 1989-2002 and President of China from 1993-2003. He died on Nov. 30 this year due to leukemia and multiple organ failures.
China’s iron-fisted President Xi Jinping is known for his admiration of Jiang, whose tenure saw the Communist nation experience remarkable economic growth, the return of Hong Kong from Britain and Macau from Portugal, brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movement, and widespread human rights abuses including the persecution of religious cults and movements such as Falun Gong.
He also made vital contributions to solidify the Communist doctrines to impose tight control on the state.
During the Dec. 6 conference, leaders of the Three-Self Church said that Jiang was “a great Marxist we all love and miss.”
Pastor Kan Baoping, the vice chairman of the Three-Self Church, noted that Jiang did “a good job in religious work” and started the “Sinicization of Christianity” now completed by Xi Jinping, Bitter Winter reported.
Pastor Kan explained that Jiang’s work on religion was “extremely instructive for the development of the United Front Work and has played a huge role in how to do a good job in the United Front Work in the new era.”
United Front Work Department is a feared body of the CCP that co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of the CCP at home and abroad and among other things oversees religious affairs.
Jiang is also infamously called “the butcher of Falun Gong.” In 1999, he personally ordered brutal repression of Falun Gong practitioners. Since then, thousands of Falun Gong members were arrested, detained, and tortured. Many were victims of extra-judicial killings.
He also endorsed strict control of religious groups and adopted a new document that curtailed limited tolerance to independent religious groups and followers. He sought to ensure the cooperation of believers of the legally-recognized faiths in the repression of illegal and banned groups.
Jiang’s religious policy was summarized in the “Three Sentences”: enforce Party policies on religion, strengthen control of religion, and actively lead the adaptation of religion and socialism. He also stated that religions supporting “separatism” or the independence of Taiwan were forbidden, thus increasing the repression of Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, and Christian religious movements headquartered in Taiwan.
In December 2001, Jiang organized a National Work Conference on Religious Affairs, whose original aim was to gather support for his ruthless persecution of Falun Gong.
Jiang ensured that CCP would continue to promote atheism, particularly in the schools, because it is believed that this educational activity would ultimately eliminate religion.
Communist China recognizes five religions – Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. All religious groups are strictly controlled by state-run bodies and repressive laws.
Besides widespread rights violations of dissenters and critics, China is also known as a top country where Christians routinely face persecution. UK-based Open Doors ranks China 17th among 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
