Washington, USA - US President George W. Bush was denounced Friday by a leading rights activist for planning to attend service at a Chinese state controlled church while in Beijing for the opening of the Olympic Games.
"President Bush is paving the way for the Chinese authorities to further clamp down on religious freedom instead of fostering it as he claims," T. Kumar, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific advocacy director in Washington, said during human rights protests outside the Chinese embassy.
"By going to pray at the church, President Bush is endorsing Chinese state control of religion which will stifle the growth of independent religious groups in China."
He said Bush's visit to state controlled Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Christian Church was akin to endorsing other Chinese religious controls, including Beijing's own choice of successor to Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lamai's anointed successor, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, disappeared in 1995 and is believed to be held under house arrest by Chinese authorities, who enthroned their choice in his place in defiance of long-held Tibetan tradition.
Bush, a devout Christian, is expected to make a statement on religious freedom after attending church Sunday, his aides have said.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged Bush to seek the release of the more than 30 "underground" Catholic Bishops and priests, and meet with leaders of an unregistered group or congregation.
Almost 700 Protestant religious leaders who have not or cannot gain government registration have been detained in the past year.
Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns who peacefully protested against Chinese government rights violations, including the freedom of religion, in the spring remain in detention or are missing and unaccounted for, the commission said.
Local adherents and supporters of China's banned Falun Gong spiritual sect held a candlelight vigil in front of Chinese Embassy in Washington Thursday to protest what they claim to be "mass arrests throughout China."
The Falun Gong reported at least 8,037 arrests since December 2007, of which some it said were sent to "reeducation labor camps" for more than two years.
Friday's protests were coordinated by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, whose representatives taped their mouth and tied their wrists to underscore lack of press freedom and Internet censorship in China.
"We call for the release of Chinese journalists and human rights activists who have been imprisoned, and for the end of harassment of those who have been placed under surveillance or forced to leave Beijing," said Elisa Bermudez of Reporters with Borders.
Foreign journalists in China face a host of restrictions, ranging from harassment to a censored Internet.