CHINA WINDOW
Vol. XV
No. 11
December 2003
Feedback on this article?
write to
Ready
For Battle
by Luo Gwomin
The Bishop of Hong Kong, Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, observed that "not many people realize the true situation regarding the politics of religion in China - which has not fundamentally changed in recent years. It is still very negative, very restrictive."
He predicted that the Beijing government would not tolerate the current situation in which the diocese of Hong Kong is clearly subject to the Pope, "because they want to control everything". The Communist government insists that the "official" Catholic Church of China must be subject to government control, and does its best to suppress the underground Church loyal to the Holy See.
Shanghai-born Zen, 71, who has been branded a "Vatican agent" by Beijing, is head of the over 300,000-strong local Catholic diocese, and was a part-time lecturer in philosophy and theology in mainland Chinese seminaries between 1989-1996. However, relations turned sour when the mainland Religious Affairs Bureau accused Zen of supporting the underground church in China - he has been barred from China since 1998.
The next battle to be fought by Bishop Zen will be in defense of Catholic schools.
A few months ago he led the protest against the so-called “Article 23”, the controversial anti-subversion bill, forcing the government to postpone the legislation indefinitely. Now, he is ready for a new challenge: securing the autonomy of Catholic schools in the former British colony. Frank and determined, the 71-year-old bishop explained that “the executive is plotting against Catholic schools”.
Speaking recently in Milan, where he took part in a “mini Congress” organized by PIME (Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions), he said: “We have been working in the field of education for a long time in Hong Kong. In particular, many schools were built in the 1950s and 1960s, following the expulsion of numerous missionaries from mainland China. However, our schools were private, and at a certain point we realized that they were unable to compete with public institutions. In fact, they risked becoming the exclusive choice of the rich, and this was not what we wanted. So the British administration created the so-called ‘subsidized’ schools: in practice, we Catholics work for the government, which pays the teachers.”
However, the Salesian bishop warns that recently a new threat has emerged: a “consultative document drawn up by the government, full of sophisms, maneuvers and lacunae”.
In practice, according to this text, the leadership of the management council of Catholic schools – which, until now, has been totally in the hands of the Church – would pass to various representatives (head teachers, parents and others) in what would amount to a kind of “take-over” by the government of the 300 Catholic schools in Hong Kong, which cater for 25 per cent of the student population.
“In my community,” Zen stresses, “many people are opposed to me raising my voice, but I think we have to speak out.” This is exactly what he did over the controversial anti-subversion bill, which posed a serious threat to civil liberties and to the followers of spiritual movements such as Falun Gong, which has been outlawed on mainland China for some time.
Following the large demonstration of 1 July, when around 600,000 people took to the streets of Hong Kong, the government decided to postpone the approval of the legislation indefinitely. The bishop expresses his satisfaction, while at the same time remaining perplexed: “We have gone from one extreme to the other: first they wanted to approve the law, now it seems nothing will be done. In reality, the executive has said it wants to wait at least a year following a request made by ‘friendly’ parties in view of next year’s elections, fearing that they will lose votes if they push too hard for the approval of ‘Article 23’. Beijing has not made an official statement concerning the July protest, but controversial articles have appeared in newspapers, and the Church has never been consulted on the matter. What’s more, I have no great desire to be invited by Beijing; I would be afraid of being manipulated.”
The bishop is not afraid to state his opinion concerning the current political situation in China either. “It is sad that even during years of relative economic stability, the Beijing government has not undertaken any kind of political reform. This situation is not sustainable in the long term, because with the opening of the economy to foreign markets, the population will feel a greater need for democracy. We hope that this comes with the new political leadership: we are optimistic, even if we understand that many leaders linked to the old nomenclature are still in power.” <WM
Copyright©2003 World Mission Magazine