On November 12, 2007, Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted a Texas based religious group saying the Chinese Ministry of Public Securities issued an order nationwide in April. The order banned eleven categories, 43 types of people from participating in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The Texas group said the Chinese government’s suppression against religious groups has intensified.
RFA reported that China Aid Association, headquartered in Midland, TX, recently published a confidential document issued by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security in April to other public security departments nationwide. In the document, it ordered all public security offices to conduct strict checks on everyone, in and outside of China, who participate in the Olympic Games, including members of the Olympic Committee, athletes, media, and sponsors.
The document listed eleven categories (43 kinds) of “opposing individuals” including Falun Gong practitioners, religious extremists, religious infiltrators, separatists, media staff who endanger the Olympics, appellants, and people who are dissatisfied with the Chinese Communist Party. These people are not allowed to participate in Beijing 2008.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Public Security said, “It is an international convention to check the visitors during the Olympic Games.” However, Dr. Wang Guanhua, professor at the University of Connecticut who specialize in sports history, said this document, unlike an international convention, clearly comes with “Beijing’s style.”
Reverend Bob Fu of the China Aid Association told RFA that Beijing has intensified its suppression against religious groups though it’s still nine months away from the Olympics.
He also said that since the document was sent out nationwide, as far as they know, over 100 overseas religious activists were expelled from China or had their Visa’s revoked by the government. “Suppressing these innocent, peaceful groups in the name of the Olympics will result in just the opposite effect,” said Fu.
Friends Read Free