China Reform Monitor: No. 867

December 3:

A group of seminarians at the Hebei Catholic Theological and Philosophical Seminary in Shijiazhuang, 185 miles south of Beijing, have mounted a rare public protest. With the support of teachers, all 102 of the school’s seminarians went from their campus to the downtown office of the government’s religious-affairs bureau, where they peacefully demanded the removal of Tang Zhaojun. Tang, a section chief at the party’s religious-affairs bureau, was appointed deputy rector of the school in charge of managing the religious institute and teaching political education classes. Tang is not Catholic and the students began boycotting classes shortly after his appointment on November 11th and only resumed their studies on December 6th when Tang was removed from his leadership position. The priest says “more big problems” will arise if the government fails to keep its promise. “We are all very united,” he said in comments carried by the South China Morning Post.

December 8:

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces occupying Subi Reef in the South China Sea have constructed a lighthouse on the disputed area also claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam. Aerial photos taken by the Philippine Air Force on reconnaissance flights show the 20-by-20-meter lighthouse, which under international law is a recognized base point from where a state can measure its maritime rights. China has also constructed a three-story building, wharf and a helipad on the island, which it calls Zhubi Dao, the Manila Times reports.

[Editor’s Note: Eight years after a watered-down ASEAN-China Declaration on Conduct (DOC) in the South China Sea, the implementing guidelines have yet to be finalized. China’s position is that the South China Seas is a bilateral issue among claimant countries, and has tried avoiding discussion of it in ASEAN meetings. ASEAN, however, succeeded in having it discussed at the ASEAN-China summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in September. There, Beijing agreed to discuss the issue again at the joint working group of the implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea on December 22-23 in Kunming, Yunnan.]

December 9:

The Communist Party of China (CPC) is tightening its control over the Catholic Church, The Economist reports. Despite objections from the Vaitcan, a national congress of Chinese Catholic representatives was held in Beijing from December 7-9 to elect new leaders of the state-run Church’s governing bodies. China’s Catholic Patriotic Association and the Council of Chinese Bishops both do not recognize the Vatican authority. Several Chinese bishops have been forced to attend. In recent years there have been signs of compromise. The two sides have reached quiet deals involving joint approval of candidates. But in November, for the first time since 2006, the government-backed church ordained a bishop, Guo Jincai, without papal consent. To bolster the appointment’s legitimacy, officials forced Vatican-approved Chinese bishops to take part in the ceremony while police kept reporters away from the venue in Pingquan, Hebei, northeast of Beijing.

December 10:

To appease its 20 million Muslims China will build mosques across the country, Ma Jin, Deputy Director of the Islamic Department of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), said in comments carried by the Times of India. As China’s economy has grown, Muslims have migrated to coastal cities from inland regions leading to a growing demand for religious facilities, primarily more mosques and greater availability of Islamic food. By 2008, about three million Muslims, more than 10 percent of the country's total Muslim population, had migrated from rural areas in traditional Muslim-concentrated western provinces to coastal cities, according to the Annual Report on China's Religions in 2009. More than 75 percent of Muslim migrants left their hometowns in the hope of "better payment" and prospects, it said. Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, has only four mosques for 9800 permanent Muslim residents and 25,000-40,000 temporary Muslim residents. Construction of one mosque, near the Muslim Sages Tomb, with a seating capacity of about 5000, was completed just ahead of the Asian Games which opened in early November in Guangzhou. In Yiwu, Zhejiang “a factory building has been transformed into a temporary mosque for the Muslims,” Ma said.