U.N. Ejects Minister After His Address on China's Religious Persecution
by Allie Martin
April 18, 2005
(AgapePress) - An activist for China's persecuted Church says it appears the United Nations is more concerned with appeasing that country's communist government than with learning the truth about the persecution of Chinese Christians.China Aid Association president Bob Fu was recently asked to appear before the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The head of the Texas-based ministry spoke during an assembly on religious intolerance and introduced details of abuse by Chinese officials directed at members of unregistered house churches in China.
During his address, Fu displayed an electric-shock baton that had been smuggled out of China. He explained that Chinese police used such devices to torture and interrogate Christians. But when the Christian minister showed the device and described its inhumane use, the U.N. ambassador from China reportedly registered a complaint, claiming the baton made the delegate "feel threatened."
After his speech, Fu's U.N. badge and the baton were confiscated, and he was ordered to leave the U.N. complex. Of this treatment, he remarks, "I was supposed to talk about and expose the human rights violations in countries like China, and [the assembly] unfortunately became a bully pulpit for the human rights violators themselves."
After being kicked out of the U.N. meeting, the China Aid Association spokesman contends, "It's safe to say that, at minimum," those behind his ejection from the United Nations meeting "care more about the largest human rights violators, in a word, than [they do about] the real human rights violations."
Fu says Chinese government officials have demanded an apology from his ministry. Meanwhile, Voice of the Martyrs, another ministry to the persecuted Church, is urging believers to pray that publicity regarding this incident will cause the Chinese government to "lose face" and thereby help bring about the release of prisoners of faith in China.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
