China's internal troubles (not the Far West)

[Bill Moore]

https://www.rferl.org/a/china-muslim.../29503526.html

Pompeo Denounces China’s Treatment Of Uyghur, Christian Minorities

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced the "awful abuses" of Muslim Uyghurs detained in Chinese reeducation camps and criticized what he said was a government crackdown on Christians in the country.

The comments on September 21 come after a recent UN report assailed China’s mass internment of Uyghurs under the pretext of preventing extremism in the western Xinjiang region.

[Bill Moore]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/22/w...version=latest

China and Vatican Reach Breakthrough on Appointment of Bishops

Under the breakthrough, Pope Francis recognized the legitimacy of seven bishops appointed by the Chinese government. Because they had not been selected by the Vatican, they had previously been excommunicated.

But for critics loath to share any of the church’s authority with an authoritarian government, the deal marked a shameful retreat and the setting of a dangerous precedent for future relations with other countries.

Critics of the deal, including a prominent cardinal in Hong Kong, have argued that it would send a signal that the Vatican did not stand up for those who stood up for it.

The Pope made a deal with the devil in hopes of expanding the Churches' influence by compromising with the Communist Party of China, even when his own experts in China recommended against it. I suspect the Pope will be greatly disappointed when he finds this deal does more harm than good for the Church.

[Bill Moore]

http://www.atimes.com/article/why-ch...rs-christians/

Why China fears Myanmar’s Christians
China-backed United Wa State Party is clamping down on Christian churches, priests and missionaries in a move likely aimed to ferret out suspected US CIA-backed plots and operatives

The Chinese language statement, obtained and reviewed by Asia Times, pledges to punish any local administration cadres who support missionary activities, bans the construction of new Christian churches, and requires that priests and workers in existing churches must be local not foreign.

Hardly coincidentally, the announcement comes after John Cao, an ethnic Chinese pastor and permanent US resident of the state of North Carolina, was arrested in China in March for illegally crossing the Sino-Myanmar border. In June, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on immigration-related charges.

It is clear that China does not want a similar situation with US missionaries emerging in the neighboring Wa Hills. With Myanmar’s broad relations with the West deteriorating over the flight of some 800,000 Muslim Rohingyas into Bangladesh amid reports of abuse, China has turned the crisis into a diplomatic opportunity to regain earlier lost influence.

From that position of strength, Beijing seems keen to export its model of Christian repression into areas of Myanmar where it has sway and historical reasons to fear Western infiltration.

China also supports Burma in the UN when it veto's resolutions concerning the mistreatment of the Rohingya by Burmese security forces.