40 China The Economist May 21st 2022
Religiousfreedom
CardinalZen’s
cardinalsin
C
ardinaljosephzenisnofriendofthe
ChineseCommunist Party. Since the re
turnofHongKongto Chinese rule in 1997
hehasbeena thornin the party’s side, crit
icising its humanrights record and its
squeezing oftheformer British colony’s
autonomy.OnMay11th he was arrested un
derthenewnational security law. His al
legedcrimewasraising funds for activists
duringtheprodemocracy protests of 2019.
Hewasreleasedonbail shortly after.
Thoughit wasnot unexpected, Cardinal
Zen’sdetentionshocked the city, whose
autonomy,evenfor the first 20 years of
Chineserule,meant people enjoyed much
morereligiousfreedom than is allowed on
themainland.Catholics and Protestants
haveplayedabigrole in prodemocracy
movements,especially in 2019. But since
thesecuritylawwas passed in 2020, many
haveretreatedfrompolitical activity.
InJanuaryInternational Christian Con
cern,anngo, warned that mainland bish
ops hadmettheircounterparts in Hong
Kongtourgethemto preach “religion with
Chinese characteristics”. The party has
builtrelationshipswith senior Catholics in
HongKong,mostof whom now sing from
the party’s hymn sheet, promoting dia
logueandcompliance.
JohnLee,HongKong’s chief executive
elect,himselfaCatholic, has claimed he
willprotectreligious freedom. But the ar
restofCardinalZen, coming so soon after
MrLeewaschosen,sends a different mes
sage.In 2020 China installed Xia Baolong
asheadofHongKong and Macau affairs.
Mr Xia was previously responsible for a
campaign against house churches in Zhe
jiang province.
Christians in Hong Kong are still free to
worship publicly. But sermons on social
justice are now rare and many priests have
purged their socialmedia accounts. Some
tell of strangers photographing those at
tending their services. Dissent has been
“completely silenced”, says one cleric. “The
arrest of Cardinal Zen is a concrete sign
that the process of cracking down on reli
gious freedom has begun.”
The moves come amid a much bigger
shift in relations between the Vatican and
the Communist Party. After decades of ani
mosity, Pope Francis began a process to im
prove the relationship, culminating in an
agreement with the party in 2018. It was a
compromise that acknowledged the pope
as head of the church and gave the Vatican
the final choice of bishops but allowed the
party to select the shortlist in China. The
agreement was renewed in 2020, and is up
for renewal again in October.
Easten Law of Princeton Theological
Seminary says the deal has helped the par
ty in its aim to “sinicise” Catholicism, by
discouraging confrontation and persuad
ing Catholics that they can support both
party and pope. It has also emboldened
some underground Catholics on the main
land to worship more publicly. Still, it has
been widely criticised. It gives an avowedly
atheist political party an explicit say in the
internal workings of a Christian church.
Many feel it has made it harder for the Vat
ican to speak truth to Chinese power. In
2019 Cardinal Zen called the Holy See’s ap
proach to China “blatantly evil”.
The Vatican theoretically gained more
influence over China’s 10m12m Catho
lics—previously it could not engage with
those who worshipped in government
sanctioned churches and had little access
to those loyal to the pope in secret. But only
six Vaticanapproved bishops have been
appointed since 2018. Dozens of posts re
main vacant, suggesting that the Chinese
government is not sticking to its side of the
deal. Persecution of Catholics has contin
ued. At least two bishops were detained in
2021 for refusing to toe the party line. Some
fear the pope has been outfoxed. “I don’t
see how the Vatican has benefited from the
relationship,” says Fenggang Yang of Pur
due University in Indiana.
The Vatican said it was “concerned”
about Cardinal Zen’s arrest. All Catholics
realise that Hong Kong is connected to the
bigger relationship, says one priest. The
Vatican’s weak response to Cardinal Zen’s
arrest was expected, he says, “but still I feel
disappointed.” Having spent decades as a
separate territory, where people were free
to believewhatthey wanted, Hong Kong
must nowgetused to being just another
Chinese city.n
HongKongarrestsa Catholic priest
forsidingwithdemocrats
Turbulent priest
dan and Zimbabwe have visited and been
featured in state media praising China’s
policies. Such countries also tend to vote
with China at the un. Having persuaded
most developing countries to support it or
abstain on issues such as Xinjiang and
Hong Kong, China argues that only a few
jealous, fading Western powers object to
its humanrights record.
The negotiations in advance of Ms Ba
chelet’s visit have been fraught. For more
than three years, the unHuman Rights Of
fice has been working on a report about
atrocities in Xinjiang. Scholars consulted
say it includes many interviews with camp
survivors. Researchers have collected evi
dence to support a “very strong condemna
tion” of the Communist Party’s leadership,
says Rune Steenberg, an anthropologist
who has helped the team translate. When
and how that evidence is released, how
ever, is not up to them.
Last December Ms Bachelet’s office said
the report would be released “in a matter of
a few weeks”. Then news reports suggested
that Chinese leaders had pressed her office
to withhold it until after the Winter Olym
pics in February. Meanwhile, China ap
pointed a Uyghur athlete to carry the
Olympic torch at its opening ceremony.
Bargaining over the report gave China a
“sportswashing opportunity”, says Ray
han Asat, a humanrights lawyer who is
fighting for her brother’s release.
Listening to the people
Governments and unagencies say they are
waiting for the report before taking new
actions, says Zumretay Arkin of the World
Uyghur Congress. Ms Bachelet’s office only
met her group this week, she says, after it
led a protest in Geneva against the visit.
The high commissioner has yet to meet
any ordinary Uyghurs or their leaders. It
should be Uyghurs, not the Chinese gov
ernment, “telling her where our families
are held”, says Ms Asat.
A spokesperson for Ms Bachelet’s office
said this week that the report would only
be released after the trip. The Chinese au
thorities will see it first and have a chance
to share their views. The un cares less
about transparency than about maintain
ing access to Chinese leaders, and that
makes it harder to hold China accountable,
frets Andrew Bremberg, America’s former
ambassador to the unin Geneva.
If Ms Bachelet’s team disclosed the
terms they agreed to for the visit, govern
ments could press China to uphold them,
he says. But without transparency, they are
handicapped. “Now you own it. You have
to defend the value of the trip and praise
China for [its] openness, knowing full well
it’s not true,” says Mr Bremberg. “This is
how these important institutions lose
their credibility,by not being truthful or
transparent.”n