We just signed phase one of a trade deal with China but, perhaps, we should not have. China is the enemy of freedom and religion.
In China, religion is a competing ideology which the government does not tolerate because it sees it as a threat to its socialism. We shared in a recent column what China's solution has been for the Falun Gong and house Christians (those worshiping in their own homes without required government permission and supervision). Strong documentation shows these as being held in detention and killed on demand for body parts, primarily for China's elite and the Western world. The world has noticed that in Australia it may take up to seven years to get a kidney; in China, two weeks. This has to be the vilest human rights practice on earth.
What China does to its Muslim population is as bad, perhaps worse. Muslims in China are known as Uighurs (pronounced we-goors) and are also routinely incarcerated indefinitely (forever) for their faith, but there is a big difference. Their wives become fair game and a reward to communist single men.
For decades China has limited family size to one child. Most couples preferred a male child because men are likely to get better financial support in their old age, thus aborting female fetuses is far more common than males. This has, over time, resulted in hundreds of thousands of males having no hope of a wife.
Enter the Chinese "Muslim problem." If up to a million and a half Muslim husbands are incarcerated indefinitely, why not take their wives as a reward for loyalty to communist males with no hope of a wife because women are disproportionally fewer than men? The Chinese call their new program, "Pair Up and Become Family."
Imagine your husband being arrested by the government for his religious beliefs, incarcerated indefinitely in a faraway concentration camp subject to harsh torture and constant brainwashing in opposition to his religious beliefs. You are left alone or with one child to fend for yourself, presumably for life, and constantly monitored for forbidden expressions of religious thought or activity as well. That government forces you to accept, potentially, one of your husband's captors to live with you against your will, sharing your bed. Is there any governmental practice more vile or demonic?
This is what is happening to perhaps more than a million Uighur wives in China today. This prevents any intimate combinations with other Uighur men and effectively, over a single generation, destroys the Muslim religion in China.
The program requires Uighur wives to "invite" the government into their homes to monitor them, to provide the government "information about their lives and political views, and comply with political indoctrination" (Chris Baynes, "Muslim women 'forced to share beds' with male Chinese officials after husbands detained in internment camps," The Independent, Nov. 5, 2019). According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), these spies spend one week of every two months working, eating and otherwise living with the family, including bedding with the wife. They "talk to them about life, during which time they develop feelings for one another," reported one Communist party officer to RFA. These spies are called by the government "relatives."
Of course, the socialist government first denied any live-in program existed with the wives of incarcerated husbands but, after the evidence was too compelling to rebuff, they admitted it but denied any wrongdoing on these visits. Still, these women are not given any other option. To whom would she report her rape?
"When asked whether any families have spoken out against male officials staying at their homes," replacing the husband they incarcerated, an official said that on the contrary, "they are very keen and offer them whatever they have."
No evidence suggests that these women can refuse these forced live-in relationships.
Reports from afflicted families "suggest that Uighurs who protest hosting 'relatives' as part of the Pair Up and Become Family program, or refuse to take part in study sessions or other activities with the officials in their homes, are subject to additional restrictions or could face detention in the camp system" (Radio Free Asia, Oct. 31, 2019).
The Associated Press interviewed Uighurs living abroad who reported that their relatives in China were constantly "on edge in their own homes, knowing that any misstep -- a misplaced Quran, a careless word," an item of religious clothing or symbol picked up by the government spies living with them "could lead to detention or worse" (Adam Withnall, "Around 1 million Uighurs are being held in secretive internment camps across the Xinjiang province," The Independent, Nov. 30, 1018). Often the "relative" brings "alcohol and meat that includes pork, and expect family members to consume them, against the principles of 'halal' that govern what Muslims can eat and drink" (RFA, Oct. 10, 2019). They feel forced to partake so that something worse does not happen to them.
Providing organs on-demand from religious groups and incarcerating the husband and encouraging their captors, the loyal socialist males, to sleep with their wives have to be the most demonic governing policies known to civilized society. We must lead the nations of the world in cutting off trade with this evil empire so long as it continues these practices.
Again, China is the enemy of freedom and religion.
Harold W. Pease, Ph.D., is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for more than 30 years at Taft College. To read more of his weekly articles, visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 01/29/2020