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Parishioners pray in the courtyard of the Lower Dafei Catholic Church, in Yongjia County in Zhejiang Province, while Chinese government workers prepare to cut down the building’s cross in June 2015. A massive government campaign removed crosses from the spires, vaults, roofs and wall arches of the 4,000 or so Protestant and Catholic churches of the region. Photo: AP
OpinionLetters

Letters | The Uygurs’ plight is in the news, but who will speak up for China’s Christians?

    Religion in China
    Letters
    Letters
    Why you can trust SCMP
    US President Donald Trump is not to be blamed for the plight of the Uygurs and other religious minorities in China (“China ‘will retaliate’ if US sanctions it over Xinjiang human rights”, November 28). The Communist Party’s repression of religious freedom did not begin with Trump nor is it likely to end with him.

    Chinese Christians suffered persecution for decades under Mao Zedong, following the Communists’ victory in 1949. From my vantage point in Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution, the memories of those fateful years linger to this day.

    China, India among worst for religious freedom, says Catholic group

    An editorial in The New York Times rightly called on Trump to speak up on behalf of the Uygurs at the G20 summit in Argentina. But who will speak up on behalf of China’s Christians?

    Despite the Communist Party’s unremitting anti-church campaign, the media is all but silent. Meanwhile, under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the government is toppling crosses, razing church buildings and persecuting believers.

    Brian Stuckey, Denver

    Sikh children shout slogans in front of the Kartarpur Gurdwara Sahib after a groundbreaking ceremony for the Kartarpur Corridor between Indian and Pakistan on November 28. Photo: AFP

    Imran Khan’s latest move was not an olive branch to India

    From his letter “Pakistan has offered its hand on faith, India should not slap it back” (December 1), Naseer Ahmed seems to be a strong supporter of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
    Since the creation of the nation of Pakistan after 1947, Sikhs from India and the wider world have been visiting their holy sites in Pakistan, and even in Kartarpur, albeit taking a longer road route. They have always paid for their own visas and accommodation.

    Millions of Christians, Muslims and Jews worldwide make such religious pilgrimages, sometimes at great risk. Pakistan’s move should not be seen as a political issue or as “extending an olive branch”.

    K.M. Nasir, Mid-Levels

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