Religious leaders in China were instructed to put President Xi Jinping and his doctrines at the center of their teaching and preaching at a recent high-level seminar of top faith representatives and bureaucrats.
At what authorities billed as a “historical” seminar in Beijing on the “Sinicization” of religion decreed in regulations last year, Shi Taifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, said in his June 26 keynote address to those summoned that religious leaders must put at the center of all activities and preaching Xi’s “Two Establishes” and “Two Safeguards.”
Religious freedom magazine Bitter Winter described this language as “a comparatively new formula.” The “Two Establishes” are, “Establish Comrade Xi Jinping as the core of the CCP Central Committee and at the core position of the entire CCP,” and, “Establish the guiding position of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era.”
The “Two Safeguards” are, “Safeguard the core status of Comrade Xi Jinping as the core of the CCP’s Central Committee and of the whole CCP,” and “Safeguard the centralized and unified authority of the CCP’s Central Committee.”
“The ‘Two Establishes’ and the ‘Two Safeguards,’” Bitter Winter stated, “essentially all mean the same and simplify the ideology: you should believe that the truth is what Xi Jinping and the Central Committee say is the truth. Now, churches and religious organizations are told that this is what they are expected to preach weekly. Or else.”
The instructions on the “Establishes” and “Safeguards” by Shi, who is also minister of the United Front Work Department intellegence agency, go beyond generic calls to follow Marxism and the CCP, Bitter Winter stated.
“The ‘Two Establishes’ and ‘Two Safeguards’ are literally everywhere in China and are at the core of all political propaganda,” the magazine stated. “These formulas did not exist nor were they applied to other CCP leaders before Xi Jinping.”
Summoned to the meeting were top leaders of China’s five authorized religions – Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam and Taoism – and high-level representatives of the Ministry of Education, the State Council, the United Front Work Departments, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Central Academy of Socialism, the China Tibetology Research Center, all provinces and autonomous regions and the Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee.
Shi told them that “Sinicization of religion is the only way to actively guide religions to adapt to socialist society.” Bitter Winter stated that in Xi’s view of China’s socialist society, non-Sinicized religions are a threat to social harmony and progress and will be eradicated.
“What ‘Sinicization’ is has been clarified many times, and by Xi Jinping,” the rights magazine stated. “It does not mean adapting religion to Chinese culture and traditions (if it was so, calling for ‘Sinicization’ of Taoism and Chinese Buddhism would not make sense) but making religions subservient to the CCP ideology.”
Officials highlighted the role of “strict governance of religion” at meetings the following two days in Xi’an, Shaanxi.
At the “China Christian Implementation of Strict Governance of Religion Exchange Meeting” on June 27-28, officers of the United Front Work Department in charge of religious work and leaders of the government-controlled Three-Self Church gave keynote speeches. The meeting also featured testimonies of “best practices” from various provinces and regions.
“The ‘strict governance of religion,’ it was explained, is part of ‘Sinicization’ and means that preachers and sermons should be strictly controlled,” Bitter Winter noted. “A main theme in the conclusions of the conference was that Three-Self leaders are not effective enough, or perhaps lack resources, to implement a ‘comprehensive and strict governance of religion.’”
While striving for “improving political stance and deepening ideological understanding,” Three-Self leaders should “accept supervision” directly from the United Front Work Department, participants were told, according to Bitter Winter.
Making keynote speeches at the meeting were Pastor Xu Xiaohong, chairman of the China Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee; Pastor Shan Weixiang, vice chairman of the TSPM’s Standing Committee; Pastor Lin Manhong, vice president and general secretary of the China Christian Council; Pastor Geng Weizhong, vice chairman of the council’s Standing Committee; Gu Mengfei, secretary general of the China Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee; Pastor Gao Feng, chief supervisor of the Supervisory Committee of the Two Christian Councils; and Gao’s deputy, Wu Jianrong.
As Chinese leaders intensify their language regarding Sinicization, authorities on July 7 stormed one of the sites where members of the Beijing Zion Church, banned since 2018, were worshipping and arrested one female member, Zhou Sirui.
More than 20 police officers and other law enforcement personnel intruded into the service in Haidian District, Beijing, and questioned all members of the cell of the Beijing Zion Church, banned for failing to register with the government-controlled Three-Self Church, according to Bitter Winter.
“Beijing Zion Church was once the largest house church in Beijing,” Bitter Winter noted. “It was banned in 2018, but despite repeated arrests and harassment devotees have continued to gather, continuously changing sites to elude police surveillance.”
Besides the arrest of Zhou, several cell members were taken to Ganjiakou police station for questioning, the magazine reported.
