The latest report from the United States Department of State on International Religious Freedom, which was published recently, still notes the Macau and Hong Kong Special Administrative Regions as exceptions to the Chinese government’s crusade against religion in the mainland and namely in the regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Regarding Macau, the report notes that the local Basic Law “grants residents freedom of religious belief, freedom to preach and participate in religious activities in public, and freedom to pursue religious education.”
The same law also protects the right of religious assembly and the rights of religious organizations to administer schools, hospitals, and welfare institutions and to provide other social services.
One of the facts that contributed for the classification of Macau as a region enjoying religious freedom is the local operation of the religious group “Falun Gong,” which in Macau, “continued to hold rallies and protests against Chinese Communist Party (CCP) treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China.”
Conversely, the U.S. Department of State notes an episode occurred during the celebrations in Macau of the 70th anniversary of communist rule in China, when the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) hosted a video-mapping event in which CCP symbols were projected onto the Ruins of Saint Paul’s facade.
The event triggered a response from several sectors of the society, including from the Catholic Diocese of Macau, which stated concerns over the government’s use of historically religious sites for secular purposes.
In the section of the report dedicated to Macau, and also contributing to the final classification attributed to the region, the U.S. governmental department noted the continuous and unchanged financial support provided by the local government to non-governmental organizations operating in the SAR, “regardless of religious affiliation,” as well as allowing and providing support to several kinds of activities hosted by them.
The 2019 report’s section on religious persecution in China is considerably longer and more detailed than in previous years, as a result of the many actions taken by the central government regarding the implementation of its five-year plan to “Sinicize” the state-sanctioned religions.
In the 2019 report, the State Department also records the discoveries of the last year regarding the detainment, re-education, abuse, and torture of more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazaks, Hui, Uyghur Christians, and members of Falun Gong.
The report, published annually to Congress, discusses the status of religious freedom in every country over the course of the previous year. For each country, the report looks at the relevant state’s government and its policies regarding religious practice and belief, the country’s religious demography, the social status of its various religious beliefs and practices, and any associated activity by the U.S. government to promote religious freedom in the area.
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