Another Arrest of an Underground Roman Catholic Bishop [Cardinal Kung Foundation]
 Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. – Bishop  WEI Jingyi, the underground Roman Catholic Bishop of Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, was arrested on March 5, 2004 while he was paying at the toll booth on his way back from the Harbin airport.  He was at the airport picking up two of his foreign friends.  No other details are available.

Bishop WEI was born in May 1958, ordained a priest on November 21, 1985, and consecrated a bishop on June 22, 1995.  He was detained in a Chinese labor camp from 1987 – 1989, and from 1990 – 1992.  He was last arrested on September 9, 2002.  He was the secretary of the underground Roman Catholic Bishops Conference from 1993-1995.

Joseph Kung, the president of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, said: “With the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights coming up in Geneva in March/April 2004, the world community should take note that the persecution of the underground Roman Catholic Church by the Chinese government is obviously still ongoing. Moreover, there are approximately a half-dozen underground Roman Catholic bishops and approximately twenty priests still in jail.”

10:48:27 AM    

Catholic Bishop Arrested in China Remains in Custody [VOA]

 A Catholic bishop remains in custody, days after being arrested in northeastern China. A U.S. monitoring group says the detention fits a pattern of China's persecution of underground Roman Catholic Church members and clergy.
The Cardinal Kung Foundation in the United States says Bishop Wei Jingyi was arrested on Friday in northeastern China. The president of the foundation, Joseph Kung, says Bishop Wei had just picked up two "foreign friends" at the airport in Harbin, and was arrested at a toll booth on his way back. [more]

10:43:16 AM    

POLICE SUPPRESS PROTESTERS BOUND FOR CHINA’S PARLIAMENT  [RFA]

As China’s leaders were announcing a new “human-centered” policy to the annual parliamentary session in Beijing this week, a leading public figure called for a reappraisal of the official verdict on the Tiananmen Square crackdown—while police busied themselves suppressing rural residents hoping to bring petitions to the National People’s Congress (NPC). “The new leaders of the party and the country... should re-examine June 4,” wrote Jiang Yanyong, a doctor who became a household name for blowing the whistle on a government cover-up of the extent of SARS, in an open letter to the NPC.

10:24:44 AM