Nothing to celebrate about Hong Kong.

On July 1, Hong Kong was transferred to China. On June 30 it was a territory where trade, law, education, culture, religion and politics were conducted in freedom. Today this is no longer so.

Repression

The Western press has reminded us annually of the massacre at Tiananmen Square when in June 1989 the Chinese regime crushed an incipient democracy in Beijing with tanks and thousands of executions. It is often treated as a unique event, unexpected, surprising, disappointingly harsh. In future, it is thought, such a repressive attitude can be overcome through patience and trade. C.T.V.'s June 22 "Sunday edition" program at noon, for example, aired the news of Canada's representative of business interests, Mr. Thomas d'Aquino. The forces of commerce and communication will inevitably bring the necessary change in China, d'Aquino stated, just as the Soviet Union's Iron Curtain collapsed because of the influence of trade, and Chile's General Pinochet was forced to give way to democracy because of commerce. D'Aquino is wrong on all counts.

The Soviet Union collapsed because its ideology was burnt out and bankrupt, a fact made clear to it by the continued resistance of the occupied East European countries, especially Poland, and the continued support of this resistance by the countries of the West who faced Soviet horror with determination.

Chile's case was much simpler, merely that of an autocratic ruler who, having warded off a Marxist takeover, then set himself a limited time to return the country to law, order and democracy.

Totalitarianism

What the free-trade-makes-for-democracy champions do not understand is that China is a totalitarian regime, one based on a radical (and false) ideology. Unlike dictatorships or autocracies, such regimes do not tolerate rivals to themselves, whether free unions, associations, the press, political parties or religion. Tiananmen Square was not a surprise; it was the logical outcome of such thinking. All must be subject to the God-like state.

Prayer for the Persecuted Church in China--

Almighty and eternal God, Comforter of the afflicted, and Strength of the suffering, grant that our brothers and sisters of China who share our faith may obtain, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of our holy martyrs, peace in Thy service, strength in time of trial, and the grace to glorify Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

(Specially blessed by the Holy Father on May 17, 1955.)

Millions -- often estimated at thirty million -- died during and after Mao Tse Tung's war of conquest; other millions perished during the great cultural upheaval of 1966 -- 1973. Today, China's compulsory one-child- per-family policy, in force since 1972, has again led to mass murder on a huge scale (it also seriously disturbs the population equilibrium). While Mao's "cult of personality" has died down, central control is maintained unflaggingly.

Religion

In early June senior Chinese officials defended China's human rights record in the area of religious freedom, in response to American groups who wanted the United States to deny China Most Favoured Nation trading status. "More than 100 million people are legal members of approved religions and churches," said one.

The key word in this sentence is the word "approved." What if you are not "approved"? There is the rub. Evangelicals, Moslems and Buddhists (in Tibet) are repressed. There is no free Catholic Church. There is a Patriotic Catholic Church (5-6 million (?), in 135 dioceses) which through Apostolic Succession has a validly ordained hierarchy. But it is under state control, forbidden to have links to the Vatican, seek converts, have schools, have its own presses and publications, or exercise cultural influence on society. Catholics who remain faithful to the See of St. Peter (4-5 million?) are a persecuted underground Church whose members are often arrested, dispersed or sent to concentration camps. These camps hold 8-10 million prisoners from all ranks of resisting men and women. (See Harry Wu, Bitter Winds, John Wiley, 1993; or, more recently, his Troublemaker: One Man's Crusade Against China's Cruelty, Times Books, Random House, 1996).

Hong Kong has had a free Catholic Church of some 250,000 (out of a population of 6.4 million). It has been in union with Rome since its beginning. But as the noose is tightened, Christians will have to make great sacrifices to keep the faith alive. It is the duty of all of us to pray for them regularly and consistently. It is also time to stop being mute about the brutal repression of Catholics, and other Christians and religious, in China.