Police in Beijing rounded up dozens of followers of an underground Protestant church yesterday, a rights group said, as a widening crackdown on dissent appeared to spread to religious figures.
Police late on Saturday also detained Jin Tianming (金天明), a senior pastor of Beijing’s Shouwang church, an unregistered Protestant congregation, and other church leaders, before releasing them early yesterday, the US-based China Aid group said.
Jin’s detention came after the church called for an outdoor worship meeting following a similar gathering last Sunday that resulted in police rounding up nearly 170 church followers, most of whom were later released.
The action against the church comes amid a growing crackdown on dissent across China in which artists, lawyers, writers, activists and intellectuals have been detained for allegedly calling for “Jasmine” rallies similar to those that have rocked the Arab world.
The Shouwang church, one of Beijing’s largest “underground” churches, was forced outdoors after the government blocked the rental of its previous place of worship and prevented it from buying a new meeting place, China Aid said.
The church has adamantly denied it has any links to the Jasmine rally calls.
Beijing police refused to comment on the detention of Jin and other senior church leaders.
Church members were not immediately available to comment, but Twitter Internet postings by followers said their designated meeting place was under a police lockdown and that worshipers were unable to gather in large numbers.
Many worshipers were taken into police custody near the meeting place, postings said. China Aid said at least 30 church followers were detained.
“Many members of Shouwang church were restricted to their homes [yesterday] morning and unable to attend Shouwang church’s second outdoor worship service,” the group said. “We urge the Chinese government to restrain from using violence to further escalate the conflict with peaceful Shouwang worshipers who ask for nothing but religious freedom alone.”
China has detained at least 54 dissidents, activists and others in on ongoing crackdown on dissent, highlighted by the recent detention of famed artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未), Chinese Human Rights Defenders said on Friday.
The latest to be taken into custody include Ni Yulan (倪玉蘭), an outspoken wheelchair-bound activist for housing rights, and her husband, Dong Jiqin (董繼勤), the Hong Kong-based group said in a statement.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts