AMAZING ARTICLE ON RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN CHINA. “China is in many ways freer than it has ever been, and it’s easy to be dazzled by the cellphones and skyscrapers. But alongside all that sparkles is the old police state. Particularly in remote areas like this, police can arrest people and torture or kill them with impunity, even if they are trying to do nothing more than worship God. Accordingly, Washington must press China hard to observe not only international trade rules, but also international standards for human freedom.

“Secret Communist Party documents just published in a book, ‘China’s New Rulers,’ underscore the grip of the police. The party documents say approvingly that 60,000 Chinese were killed, either executed or shot by police while fleeing, between 1998 and 2001. That amounts to 15,000 a year, which suggests that 97 percent of the world’s executions take place in China. And it’s well documented that scores of Christians and members of the Falun Gong sect have died in police custody.”

The piece includes the stories of several of today’s saints and martyrs. And it closes with this:

“To his credit, President Bush has emphasized the issue of religious freedom in China, and there is progress. Last month a court overturned the death sentences of the South China Church leaders, replacing them with long prison terms. Increasingly, a historic change is visible: Citizens of China are becoming less afraid of the government than it is of them.

“I had assumed that Ms. Ma,, like all the other church members I interviewed, would not want her name published. ‘No,’ she said firmly, ‘use my name. I’m not afraid. The police are afraid of foreign pressure, but I’m not afraid of them.'”

Link via Oxblog.