Asia top transgressor for religious repression: U.S.

Asia top transgressor for religious repression: U.S.

Agencies, Washington

Asia is the epicenter of the world's most grievous religious
repression, according to an annual U.S. report, which links one-
party states with crackdowns and harassment of people of faith.

Five of the six states singled out as worst offenders in the
State Department's annual report in international religious
freedom are located in the region -- and many other governments
are listed as second-tier offenders.

China, Myanmar, Vietnam, North Korea and Laos, all of which
are frequently the target of U.S. criticism earn the dubious
distinction of a place on the list of nations accused of
repressing religion to safeguard a dominant state ideology.

The conclusions are likely to further fray U.S. ties with the
five, all of which have uneasy relations with Washington.

Beijing's "respect for freedom of religion and freedom of
conscience remained poor, especially for many unregistered
religious groups and spiritual movements such as the Falungong,"
the report said.

"The Government continued its crackdown on unregistered
churches, temples, and mosques," it said, adding that
unregistered religious groups of all creeds experience varying
degrees of official interference.

President George W. Bush regularly brings up religious freedom
in his talks with President Jiang Zemin -- and the topic will be
on the U.S. agenda at the next summit, in Texas at the end of the
month.

North Korea, under communist patriarch Kim Jong-il has "an
extremely poor" level of respect for religious freedom" the
report says, while Myanmar's military regime is accused of
forcibly converting minorities to state-sanctioned Buddhism.

Vietnam is likely to take exception to the findings, less than
a week after it hit out at the congressionally mandated U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advises the
administration on policy.

The commission asked officials to add Vietnam to a list of
states regarded as causing "particular concern" on religious
freedom which currently includes China, Myanmar, Iran, Iraq,
North Korea and Sudan.

The decision on this year's list will be made in the coming
weeks, officials said, but the report was clear on allegations of
religious repression allegedly mandated by Hanoi.

"There were credible reports that in 1999, 2000, and 2001
Hmong Protestant Christians in several northwestern villages were
forced to recant their faith," the report said.

"Montagnards also were forced to recant their faith during the
period covered by this report."

Meanwhile, Vietnam said on Tuesday that portions of a U.S.
State Department report accusing it of continuing to repress
religious beliefs "lacks objectivity".

A statement on Tuesday from Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said
the report "recognized positive developments" in Vietnam's
religious situation, but asserted Washington made some wrong
statements "based on information that lacks objectivity".

The report cited "some improvements in the status of respect
for religious freedom" during the period covered by the study.

Myanmar's military government often finds itself in the cross-
hairs of the U.S. government over its human rights record -- and
this report was no different.

Bangladesh, India and Indonesia were censured in a category of
nations which the report found had neglected to take the problem
of persecution against certain religious groups seriously enough.