U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Special Briefing

Washington, DC
November 13, 2006

Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John V. Hanford III on the Release of the State Department's 2006 Designations of Countries of Particular Concern for Severe Violations of Religious Freedom

2006/1035

(2:15 p.m. EST)

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AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Good afternoon and thank you for coming. Today the Department of State transmitted to Congress the 2006 Designations of Countries of Particular Concern, or CPCs, for Severe Violations of Religious Freedom. Secretary Rice designated one new CPC, Uzbekistan, and re-designated seven countries which were on the CPC list last year: Burma, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. This year, as a result of many positive steps taken by the Government of Vietnam over the last two years, Vietnam was not re-designated.

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We've advocated for the rights of Muslims in many countries around the world, including Burma, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, China, France, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Uzbekistan, and we've protested a host of different ways in which governments may restrict religious practice. For example, in China we've pressed for the freedom of Muslims to teach their children their religious beliefs and attend mosques. We've advocated for the right of women to choose to wear headscarves in France and Turkey. We've worked for the freedom of Muslims of all traditions to worship without harassment by religious police in Saudi Arabia and in Iran. In Turkmenistan, we've asked for all Muslims to be able to register their congregations and practice their faith. And in Uzbekistan, we stand with Muslims for their right to worship according to the dictates of their consciences without being unfairly suspected as terrorists.

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QUESTION: China's been on the list for a while. Would you say they're moving, backwards or what?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, we ask ourselves that question sometimes. The long-term trend, if you look back two or three decades in China, has been slow improvements, conditions are better today than they were 20 years ago certainly. And the Chinese in our discussions with them and as I've traveled there have been willing to signal a willingness to improve further.

For example, we have asked for the freedom for people to be able to meet in homes with friends and family gatherings without government harassment, without being harassed, arrested, and they've assured us that they will grant that. And they have even publicized this. We've asked for there to be the freedom for young people to be raised in their faith by their parents and by their churches or mosques or temples. And we have been told that this is the policy and they have again made this public and posted it on government websites. The problem is that these policies are very inconsistently implemented.

We also continue to see arrests, most recently of -- they seem to be targeting lawyers who have been representing religious believers who have been arrested even in violation, I think, of the law of China. So it's -- you know, it's -- there is a little progress here and lack of progress there, but China certainly has not made the sort of progress that we need to see in a systemic way to remove them from the CPC list. I look forward to that day and will continue to work for that day.

Yes, sir.

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AMBASSADOR HANFORD: And I can rattle off for you: Burma was designated in 1999; China in '99; Eritrea in 2004; Iran in '99; North Korea in 2001. And the only reason for that was we didn't have good information because North Korea deserved it, you know, 20 years ago. Saudi Arabia in 2004, Sudan in 1999 and Vietnam in 2004.

QUESTION: Eritrea, you said in 19 -- Eritrea?

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