President Xi Jinping gave a sobering speech at the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in which he warned of ‘dangerous storms’ ahead.
As Seoul-based analyst, Professor John Delury observed: ‘The central concept of [Xi’s] speech seemed to be “security”, a word Xi used in myriad ways to justify not only his approach to foreign policy, but also the economy and public health. Mao Zedong promised to make people revolutionaries. Deng Xiaoping promised to make them rich. Xi is promising to keep them safe.’
‘Security’ means repression
Xi claimed that security would be achieved by maintaining the CCP’s zero COVID policies, a more assertive diplomacy and intensifying pressure to seize democratically governed Taiwan. The latter point elicited the biggest applause.
There was not even the slightest acknowledgement of the social and economic pain being caused by the zero-COVID policy, instead Xi said “We must strengthen our sense of hardship”.
Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said that as China's economy has slowed, Xi is attempting to shift the basis of legitimacy from economic growth to security.
Chinese authorities say social stability is the foundation for a prosperous future and dismiss human rights complaints as Western propaganda and interference in internal affairs.
In reality Xi’s interests lie not in keeping citizens safe, but in keeping the Communist Party, and himself in particular, safely ensconced in power. Xi did away with presidential term limits in 2018, clearing the way for him to break with the precedent of recent decades and rule for a third five-year term, or longer.
"His narrative is - China faces many dangers, the country is in a war-like state, figuratively, and he is the saviour. With this narrative, he can get people to unite around him," Wu said.
Ja Ian Chong, Associate Professor of Political Science, National University of Singapore, observes that China has much more to be concerned about today than five years ago.
"Competition with the U.S. has got more intense. There is the uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine and Xi’s support for Putin.
“With COVID, too, there are issues with supply chains that dovetail with U.S. efforts to limit Chinese access to technology so on the security side China has a lot more to worry about today than five years ago."
Stronger measures against religious practice
Under Xi, the CCP has laid down a raft of new legal measures which effectively render illegal all religious practice not pre-approved by the CCP.
Numerous Christian human rights lawyers, religious liberty advocates, pastors and ministry workers are currently imprisoned: some for their courageous overt dissent (e.g. Pastor Wang Yi),others for their quiet, covert endurance in leading worship or engaging in ministry/witness without CCP-approval (e.g Pastor (Mrs) Hao Zhiwei).
Increasingly, Christians are being punished simply because of their association with illegal house churches, or their commitment to illegal Christian education. The cost of discipleship is increasing.
The stage is now set for mass repression; something the CCP has spent 2022 perfecting! Not only is the punitive Social Credit System now operational and expanding, but the technologies created and the measures used in 2022, supposedly for COVID prevention, are all ‘dual use’. The methods used to chase zero-COVID will increasingly be used to chase zero-dissent.
Testimonies
Shu Qiong and her husband, Wang Song, are members of Chengdu’s much-persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church. Shu’s father died in hospital on 18 September, and the Chengdu lock-down had prevented family members from visiting him.
Understandably distressed, Shu criticised the government’s rigid COVID measures. Shu then organised a small, quiet memorial service to be held in the funeral home on 21 September. However, the authorities ‘utilised COVID-prevention electromagnetic alarms to keep people in their homes. The alarms were designed such that if the doors of a home were opened, the alarm would sound and report to the police’.
Then, on 30 September, Shu and Wang received an eviction notice - their landlord was terminating their lease early without explanation. Refusing to be intimidated, the couple – who understand that their landlord has been coerced – said they would rather be arrested and go through the judicial process than submit to such injustice.
When dissent does manage to break through the darkness, the response is increasingly quick and devastating. At around 1 pm on Thursday 13 October, a lone protestor – a man dressed in construction gear, believed to be activist Peng Lifa (pen name Peng Zaizhou) – managed to hang two banners on Beijing’s Sitong Bridge.
One banner read: ‘Remove the traitor-dictator Xi Jinping!’ The other banner read: ‘Food, not PCR tests. Freedom, not lock-downs. Reforms, not the Cultural Revolution. Elections not leaders. Dignity, not lies. Citizens, not slaves.’ He even lit a fire to attract maximum attention. Police were quickly on the scene, the protester was quickly taken away and all reference to the protest was quickly erased from the Chinese internet.
It is highly likely that the ‘Bridge Man’ of Beijing will now disappear, never to be seen or heard from again, much like the ‘Tank Man’ of Tiananmen Square, and the renowned Christian human rights lawyer and religious liberty advocate, Gao Zhisheng. Repeatedly abducted, beaten, tortured and jailed, the relentlessly persecuted Gao Zhisheng remains disappeared five years after he was last abducted by agents of the CCP.
We need to pray
Almighty God, sustain your precious Chinese Church and build her up in grace and number, even as she endures the refining fire of severe repression and persecution.
Please grace China’s Church with wisdom and guidance as she navigates an increasingly perilous path amidst deepening darkness and escalating hardship.
Please sustain and protect all Christians currently imprisoned in China because of their faith; may cruel hands be restrained and may the Holy Spirit stir up compassion, shame, guilt and repentance amongst guards and police commissioned to inflict cruelty. May every imprisoned believer experience the Lord’s presence in ways that are uplifting, encouraging and palpable.
Aira Chilcott is a retired secondary school teacher with lots of science andtheology under her belt. Aira is an editor for PSI and indulges inreading, bushwalking and volunteering at a nature reserve. Aira’s husband Bill passed away in 2022 and she is left with three wonderful adult sons and one grandson.
Aira Chilcott's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/aira-chilcott.html