Bitter Winter, a media focusing on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) human rights violations, reported that, in the past several months, several provinces in China have offered monetary awards, some even as high as 100,000 yuan (about US $14,000), to encourage people to report on religious groups that the CCP has banned, including Falun Gong, the Church of Almighty God (CAG), the Shouters, the All Sphere Church, and others. The CCP calls these religious groups “Xie Jiao,” or cult in English.
The CCP suppresses these groups because they refuse to submit to the CCP’s control, they have grown rapidly, and they have a large number of members, which the CCP views as a threat to its rule. The CCP charges members of these groups as criminals, according to Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code, and can sentence members to three to seven years in prison.
Zouping City, Shandong Province: In July, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Zouping City adopted its “Award-winning Reporting Measures for Cracking Down on Xie Jiao.” Anyone who reports on CAG members or Falun Gong practitioners may receive a maximum award of 2,500 yuan.
According to the Measures, the scope of the behavior being reported includes using the Internet to produce and disseminate the materials of the above-mentioned religious groups; producing and disseminating religious leaflets, pictures, slogans, newspapers, and publications; hanging religious banners and posters in public places; and publishing and printing publications that preach religion.
Hainan Province: On June 15, the Public Security Department of Hainan Province issued the “Notice on Rewarding Those Who Report Information on Xie Jiao Illegal and Criminal Activities,” offering a maximum reward of 100,000 yuan.
Guangdong Province: On May 1, the Public Security Department of Guangdong officially adopted the “Trial Measures for Rewarding Reports Involving Xie Jiao Illegal and Criminal Activities,” offering a maximum reward of 100,000 yuan. Nanfang Daily reported on June 17 that several Falun Gong practitioners from Guangdong Province were reported and arrested for preaching Falun Gong or distributing Falun Gong information cards to local residents during the epidemic.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: A local official told Bitter Winter that, in October last year, the local government offered a maximum rewarded of 10,000 yuan for religious members and 50,000 yuan for out-of-town missionaries, once the missionary is arrested.
Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province: A believer of the Three-Self Church, a CCP controlled church system in China, told Bitter Winter that in mid-June, at the conference for local Religious Affairs Bureau officials and National Security Brigade captains, the CCP issued a document demanding a crack down on the CAG in three consecutive years and asked Three-Self believers to report CAG members.
To incite as many as possible to participate in the campaign to suppress banned religious groups, in addition to offering high monetary awards, the CCP also conducts omnipresent anti-xie-jiao propaganda campaigns across China.
During the past few months, despite the epidemic outbreak, the CCP has continued to arrest members of the banned religious groups.
Source: Bitter Winter, July 30, 2020
CCP Offers High Monetary Awards to Those Who Report on Banned Religious Groups