Chen Guangcheng case a wind gauge for the persecuted Church

China (MNN) ― The Chinese government is reportedly attacking the family of a blind human rights activist.

Chen Guangcheng is known for speaking out against forced abortions and China's one-child policy. His escape from house arrest last year brought shame to the Chinese government. Since then, they've been instigating violence against his family.

According to a report from China Aid Association, the home of Guangcheng's eldest brother has come under multiple attacks. Early last week, government-hired thugs drove up to the home and started throwing beer bottles and bricks at it.

Chen Kegui, one of Guangcheng's nephews, is currently in jail suffering from appendicitis, and authorities haven't offered him surgery. Reportedly, U.S. Secretary of Defense John Kerry plans to raise the case with senior Chinese officials.

China Aid is also helping Guangcheng get justice. They've helped the activist since his escape from China, with ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu acting as an informal liaison between Guangcheng and the U.S. government.

Now, ChinaAid is calling people to act as a proxy for Guangcheng's family. Check out our Featured Links section to see how you can help.

Although Chen Guangcheng is not a Christ-follower, underground church leaders told the Wall Street Journal his case has become an anemometer. They're watching the development of Guangcheng's case to see how far China's Communist government will go to punish those it views as a threat.

Pray that no matter what happens, the Gospel will keep going forward in China. Pray the faith of Chinese believers remains strong.

Brutal forced abortions condemned

Hu Xia, another mother forced to abort her child,
 in the hospital (Photo courtesy of ChinaAid)

China (MNN) ― After an emergency vote last Thursday, July 5, the European Parliament passed a “resolution on the forced abortion scandal in China” that “strongly condemns” officials in the forced abortion case of seven-months-pregnant Feng Jianmei.

According to the resolution, “On 2 June 2012 a seven-months-pregnant woman, Feng Jianmei, was abducted and underwent a forced abortion in Zhenping county (Shanxi [sic] province), sparking a wave of indignation and condemnation in China and around the world…”

Bob Fu, President of ChinaAid Association, says this is the first time the European Parliament has passed a resolution like this, but it’s a huge milestone. “Because the European Union is a huge countries block, it really has support of the international affairs.... It is really important for this voice to be heard. It sends a much stronger signal to the Chinese government that the whole world is now united against this brutal practice of one-child policy, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.”

Fu goes on to say, “I think it will also encourage more Chinese victims to come up to tell their stories, and it will put pressure at least temporarily [on] the local family planning officials to be more careful when they try to do these kind of forced abortion, forced sterilization cases.”

The resolution urges the European Union to discuss the violation of human rights in these forced abortion cases with China in the next round of bilateral human rights dialogue.

However, the resolution didn’t cover everything. According to Fu, “It fell short in the sense [of] condemning the whole China family planning system. In the resolution, it still contends the language….It does not really condemn China’s brutal family planning system of the one-child policy.”

Feng Jainmei and her husband are Christians, and Fu says their family continues to suffer persecution. Their case only begins to scratch the surface of what China and the church there has been facing for over thirty years since the one-child policy was enacted.

Fu shares, “I have received lots of reports from churches in the past. One pastor told me his wife was dragged to the hospital by the family planning officials and, with a poison drug injection into their eight-month-pregnant baby, killed their son. So I was on the phone when that was happening with that pastor in the hospital.”

The Chinese government has prevented the birth of 400 million children since the one-child policy started 30 years ago. With 5.7 million Jews killed in the World War II Holocaust, that is equivalent to losing the population from the Holocaust 70 times over.

Fu says the Chinese church has mostly kept silent, until now. “The churches are now having a wake-up call.... Because of the enormous suppression and the enormous propaganda by the Chinese government, most of the people chose to be silent, because if you dare to speak up, you will face lots of retributions: you will lose your job, lose your property, lose everything. And not only the husband and wife involved, but also family members, the grandparents, your neighbors, all will be part of the calamity if you are found in violation of the one-child policy.”

“Chinese women have the highest suicide rate in the whole world, partially--even according to the Chinese government scholars--because of this traumatic experience of forced abortion,” states Fu. “They need the Gospel of Christ to really bring healing and to comfort their hearts, knowing the Lord has remembered her and her baby. Otherwise, there’s going to be more disaster.”

The Gospel is desperately needed. “This is a matter of life and death, and especially the value of life [is] deeply rooted from the perspective of the Gospel,” states Fu. “There’s no other way to explain why a baby’s life is so precious in his or her mother’s womb except to recognize the image of God, the ‘imago Dei.’ Every human being bears that image, and that is directly from Scripture.”

Fu poses the echoing question, “If the church does not stand up for life, who will? And if the church refuses to speak up and refuses to fight for life, who will?”

Click here to learn more and how you can take action at ChindAid’s Web site.

ChinaAid President Bob Fu and Wife of Imprisoned Chinese Dissident to Testify Feb. 14 on Chinese Government Persecution of Human Rights Activists and Political Dissidents

Bob Fu (Photo: ChinAid)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, "Bob" Xiqiu Fu, founder and president of China Aid Association, and the wife of imprisoned Chinese political dissident Guo Quan will testify before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China at a hearing entitled "The Case and Treatment of Prominent Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng."

 

When: Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 2:30-4:30 pm

 

Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2118, Washington, DC

 

The following is an excerpt from Fu's testimony, entitled "The Chinese Government Should be Held Accountable for the Persecution of Gao Zhisheng and his Family":

 

Gao is a pioneer in China's rights defense movement. Like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of the United States, Gao's Christian faith and his ethical values have been the great spiritual motivator spurring him to defend the legal rights of the persecuted and the marginalized, and that faith and those values have given him the courage to make great sacrifices, even to the point of giving up his life, for this civil rights movement. The emergence in China of a group of human rights lawyers—men of integrity and courage, who are fighting on the frontlines for human rights, rule of law, and religious freedom in China--is due entirely to the power of the example set by Martin Luther King Jr. and Gao Zhisheng.

 

An excerpt from Li Jing, wife of Guo Quan's testimony:

 

It is very important for the world community to raise the case of my husband, of Gao Zhisheng, of Chen Guangcheng and Liu Xiaobo--China must know that the world is united against the imprisonment of peaceful dissidents and rights defenders. But without U.S. leadership on human rights, few in Beijing will be listening.

 

ChinaAid was founded in 2002 to draw international attention to China's gross human rights violations against house church Christians and monitors and reports on religious freedom violations in China. Drawing on a wide network of sources throughout the country, ChinaAid issues frequent news releases on cases of religious persecution in China. The Midland, Texas-based organization also assists victims of religious persecution to assert their rights and works to promote the rule of law in China.

 

 

Missing Christian lawyer found

(Photo courtesy China Aid)

China (CAA/MNN) -- For the first time since he disappeared nearly two years ago, a U.S.-based Chinese human rights group can confirm the wherabouts of Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

ChinaAid, a partner of The Voice of the Martyrs USA,learned January 1 that Gao is being held at Shaya Prison in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, western China. The notification was signed and dated on Dec. 19 by the prison.

According to ChinaAid, police took Gao into custody again on April 2010, the most recent arrest since a 2006 conviction on a subversion charge.

Then, on December 16, shortly before his five-year probation period was to have ended, the Chinese government sentenced him to three more years for violating his probation. The good news was that Gao was still alive, but the bad news was they still didn't know where he was or if he was healthy.   

Gao is best known for defending cases of religious persecution, including house church leaders and members of Falun Gong.

ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu says of his friend, "Gao's internal exile reminds the world of how former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov was cruelly treated in Siberia in the 1980s."

Fu goes on to say that "the Chinese government can use this remote jail to prevent concerned people from visiting Attorney Gao, but just like Sakharov, Gao's courageous voice can never be silenced by the four walls of his prison cell."

China religious freedom record on display

Belgium (MNN) ― Religious freedom is nonexistent in China, according to ChinaAid  founder and president Bob Fu. He'll be testifying before the European Parliament on Wednesday.
Fu said human rights and religious freedom in China have deteriorated to its lowest point since the period after the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square student-led pro-democracy demonstration.
Fu and several other ChinaAid witnesses were invited by the European Parliament to testify at its hearing on "the human rights situation in China" at the parliament building in Brussels, Belgium.
The next day, the delegation will be in The Netherlands to participate in a human rights forum on "the situation of Christians in China," where Fu will be making a similar presentation on the serious deterioration of religious freedom, the rule of law and human rights in general.
At the EU hearing, ChinaAid will deliver recommendations that were requested to help the European Union set its China policy and address human rights problems in China. In attendance at the hearing will be members of the European Parliament and their assistants.
This is the second time that ChinaAid and Fu have appeared before the European Parliament. In 2009, Fu and two Christian lawyers engaged in rights defense work also testified before the same body.

Fu expressed appreciation to the European Parliament for the opportunity to testify.
"The grave human rights violations by the Chinese government [are] a global issue," said Fu. "We urge the European leaders to take more concrete steps to encourage the Chinese government to improve its record by building an international coalition founded on an unwavering solidarity with the Chinese rights defenders community."
In Ridderkerk, The Netherlands, the ChinaAid delegation will be speaking to an audience of mainly NGOS, representatives of the missionary organizations of several churches, some individuals with ties to China and members of the Dutch Political Reformed Party (SGP), Holland's most orthodox Protestant party, as well as members of the Dutch media.

ChinaAid to tell European Parliament ‘Religious Freedom in China at Lowest Point Since 1989’

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

MIDLAND, TEXAS (ANS) -- Human rights and religious freedom in China has deteriorated to its lowest point since the period after the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square student-led pro-democracy demonstration.

Bob Fu will testify before the European Parliament.

ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu will be telling the European Parliament about the current situation with several other ChinaAid witnesses on Wednesday (Nov.30).

Fu and the other witnesses were invited by the European Parliament to testify at its hearing on "The human rights situation in China" at the parliament building in Brussels, Belgium.

In a media update, ChinaAid says the delegation will the next day be in The Netherlands to participate in a human rights forum on "The situation of Christians in China," where Fu will be making a similar presentation on the serious deterioration of religious freedom, the rule of law and human rights in general.

For the EU hearing, ChinaAid was asked to make recommendations that would help the European Union set its China policy so as to address human rights problems in China.

In attendance at the hearing will be members of the European Parliament and their assistants.

This is the second time that ChinaAid and Fu have appeared before the European Parliament. In 2009, Fu and two Christian lawyers engaged in rights defense work also testified before the same body.

Speaking in a media release, Fu expressed appreciation to the European Parliament for the opportunity to testify.

"The grave human rights violations by the Chinese government is a global issue," he said. "We urge the European leaders to take more concrete steps to encourage the Chinese government to improve its record by building an international coalition founded on an unwavering solidarity with the Chinese rights defenders community."

In Ridderkerk, The Netherlands, the ChinaAid delegation will be speaking to an audience of mainly NGOs, representatives of the missionary organizations of several churches, some individuals with ties to China and members of the Dutch Political Reformed Party (SGP), Holland's most orthodox Protestant party, as well as members of the Dutch media.

Both reports will be posted on ChinaAid's websites www.ChinaAid.org  and www.MonitorChina  as soon as they are delivered.

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

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