Interviews with Xiqiu "Bob" Fu

I think definitely the external factors, especially democratic government foreign policy regarding the religious freedom in China, has made a difference and can make a more impact if the policy is in the right place. If the practice of the policy is in the right place.

And you know, myself, of course, is an example. And many others. When President Bush was in office there was a case that involved a Beijing house church pastor, who was also my former coworker, was about to really, sentenced to up to 15 years imprisonment for printing Bibles and distributing the Bibles among the house church leaders.

But when President Bush made a speech about the importance of freedom of printing or availability of the Scriptures, including the Bibles, I remember he made that speech in Tokyo. And that pastor was sentenced to three years in the end. To everybody, they knew that speech made his sentence reduce to three years from fifteen years.

And when the foreign leaders chose to publicly express their solidarity with those vulnerable groups, like the house church movement, I think not only the freedom fighters are encouraged inside their own country, like China, but also the repressive government leaders —would [be] more hesitant to impose the severe punishment against those house church leaders.

And I wish more leaders would stand up and express that publicly. I think the quiet diplomacy has its value in some cases. But the words carry the power, carries authority. And if you only engaged on so-called quiet diplomacy under the table with small talks, it will indirectly actually embolden the repressive regimes like the current Chinese government. And so we could tell the difference, especially what had happened in the past two years. I think that certainly did not help the cause of freedom fighters in China.

For instance, you should engage the Chinese government and tell them, “This is what we stand for. And we will stand to the end. The religious freedom is part of the U.S. foreign policy, and we would not relent. We will not [be] silent if you are arresting those peaceful worshippers.”

And secondly, I would encourage all the social, political, economic sectors to advance these principles. Like you can’t just encourage the activists or NGOs to talk about religious freedom. And from the head of state to the CEOs, this, after all, is the foundational first freedom of any civil society.

And I think, unfortunately, the very community that the Chinese government really takes seriously, which is the business community, [they] choose to either ignore or dismiss the value of the religious freedom and freedom of speech, freedom of worship. And so they were regarded as just, you know, a single interest, you know, on doing business, trade group. And so by doing that, then the issue was ignored in the bilateral relationship.

And thirdly, I think as foreign governments, the advantage is you have embassies, you have consulates, you have dignitaries visiting. I think every visit is a chance to talk up the values and the importance of a civil society for religious freedom. And I think to engage the Chinese civil society factors, not only just on the official dialogue or engagement. So I think that will make a huge difference.

Bob Fu was a leader in the student democracy movement at Tiananmen Square in 1989. He later converted to Christianity and became a house church pastor and a founder, along with his wife Heidi, of a Bible school. In 1996, he was arrested and jailed for running a secret bible school. After his release, he and his wife escaped to Hong Kong. They were admitted to the United States as refugees a few days before the handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.

Fu founded the China Aid Association (CAA) in 2002. CAA monitors and reports on religious freedom in China, particularly focusing on the fate of believers who belong to banned or unofficial house churches, which encompass 60 to 80 million followers. CAA issues frequent news releases on cases of religious persecution involving Protestant house church congregations and assists victims to assert their right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religious practice in China.

CAA also provides a forum for discussion and information exchange among experts on religion, law, and human rights in China through its bilingual journal, the China Law & Religion Monitor, and a bilingual website. Its headquarters are in Midland, Texas, where Fu now lives and works.

The People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, after a decades-long civil war between communist and nationalist forces. The communist victory drove the nationalist government to the island of Taiwan. While tensions have eased in recent years, both the nationalist and communist forces still claim to rule all of China. China ranks as the world’s third largest country by area, and the largest by population, with over 1.3 billion people.

Since 1949, China has been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. Revolutionary leader Mao Zedong led the country until his death in 1976. Mao’s era was marked by dramatic swings in policy, massive crackdowns on perceived opponents of the regime, and harsh repression. Since 1976, the Chinese government has broken with Marxist economic orthodoxy by instituting limited market-based reforms, but the party has retained its monopoly on political power.

Freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion are severely restricted, and the people of China are denied the right to change their government. The courts are controlled by the Communist Party and do not provide due process of law. Government control extends into every aspect of people’s lives, most notably in the one-child policy in which unauthorized pregnancies often result in forced abortion and sterilization. While technology has spread quickly in recent years, Freedom House ranks China as one of the three most repressive governments in the world in terms of Internet freedom.

While the rapid expansion of the private sector has dramatically changed the Chinese economy, fundamental principles of free market systems are lacking, including property rights and independent labor unions. Official corruption remains a major obstacle to developing a fully free economy.

In 1989, 100,000 people gathered in a peaceful demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to protest human rights violations and demand democratic reforms. The protest lasted several weeks and inspired similar nonviolent demonstrations in other cities throughout China. On June 4, 1989, the People’s Liberation Army converged on the area with troops, tanks, and other advanced military weapons. Estimates of the death toll ranged from several hundred to several thousand. The army used similar tactics to suppress demonstrations in other cities and subsequently rounded up and imprisoned many thousands of protestors. The government vigorously defended these actions and instituted a campaign to purge those who had sympathized with protestors from the party and the government.

Although the Tiananmen Square massacre put an end to hopes for a speedy transition to democracy, courageous Chinese citizens have continued to risk imprisonment and worse to demand freedom. These human rights activists have included students, workers, lawyers, artists, and writers; Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims who demand respect for their cultures, traditions, and religious practices; members of the spiritual discipline known as Falun Gong; Catholics who insist that their church is headed by the Pope rather than by government-appointed religious officials; and members of the “house church” movement, representing millions of Protestant Christians who are forced to worship in secret because their churches are not authorized by the government. China’s many prisoners of conscience include members of each of these groups.

In 2010, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo. His wife was arrested in order to prevent her from attending the award ceremony, and the government employed a range of coercive techniques to prevent other human rights activists from attending. China’s leading human rights lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, disappeared in early 2009 and is presumed to be in government custody.

The most recent Freedom in the World report from Freedom House gave China scores of 6 for civil liberties and 7 for political rights, where 1 is the highest and 7 the lowest possible score. Freedom House categorizes China as a “Not Free” country.