Warnings of persecution in Hong Kong on Tiananmen anniversary

The persecution of Christians in mainland China is spreading to Hong Kong, Release International has warned on the thirty fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The massacre in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 brought a brutal end to pro-democracy protests and marked a rise within the persecution of Christians.

Release International said that 35 years on, Christians in China are facing the worst levels of persecution for the reason that Cultural Revolution and that the threat is spreading to Hong Kong, where national security laws have had a chilling effect on free speech and non secular freedom.

The organisation, which supports persecuted Christians worldwide, said that a recent law could force Catholic priests in Hong Kong to disclose the secrets of the confessional.

Under Article 23, passed in March, priests could possibly be jailed for as much as 14 months in the event that they refuse to reveal so-called crimes of treason shared during confession. 

Release International partner Bob Fu said that if priests were forced to violate the trust of Catholics coming to confession, “China will go down a really dangerous path towards persecution.”

Fu, who has spent years campaigning for religious freedom in China, said that many Christians had already left Hong Kong and that “their preferred destination is the United Kingdom”.

He said that Britain has an ethical obligation to get up for religious freedom in its former colony. 

“Hong Kongers expect the UK to face strong for his or her religious freedom and to talk up for them, and to take all mandatory measures to guard those that flee persecution,” he said. 

A recent report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says that China is tightening its grip on practising Christians, and that believers in Hong Kong and beyond China’s national borders are being affected. 

Release International CEO Paul Robinson said, “The long-running crackdown on mainland China now appears to be extending to Hong Kong.

“Religious freedom is the cornerstone of all freedoms. Our partners describe the present crackdown on Christians because the harshest since Mao Tse Tung’s Cultural Revolution.

“Together we call on the world to get up and recognise the severity of the persecution in China that’s gathering pace. This threat against Christians goes beyond their national borders.”