DESPITE a ban on foreign missionaries coming to seek converts in China, thousands are actually working in parts of the country without permission, according to a state-approved Protestant leader, Dr Han Wenzao, president of the China Christian Council.
Dr Han made the disclosure at a rare press conference by Chinese "Christian leaders, organised by the Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Correspondents' Club, at which they rebutted attacks from the US on China's treatment of religious groups.
Mr Luo Guanzong, chairman of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, vigorously defended China's record, saying: "Our country is one of those which enjoys freedom of religious belief. It is guaranteed by the constitution."
Since 1980, China has published 18 million Bibles, more than any country in the world, including 3.3 million last year alone, Mr Luo said, and China now has about 10 million Protestants, compared to 700,000 before the 1949 revolution.
It also had 12,000 churches, almost two-thirds of which were newly established, 25,000 meeting houses, 17 religious seminaries, four Bible schools and 1,296 theology students.
Dr Han acknowledged there were "problems" but compared them to a black dot on a white sheet and said they were exaggerated by the western media. "We do not intend to paint too rosy a picture which does not represent the facts," he said. "China being so vast you can't expect the policy of religious freedom to be applied evenly everywhere. However, there is no general persecution of Christians in China."
In fact, the number of Christian believers was growing, with 360,000 converting in 1993 and about 500,000 in 1994 and 199 5, he said. A survey showed people under 40 constituted the largest membership group, though "only one-third will stay in the church".
When asked if foreign missionaries, banned since the revolution, were working again in China, Dr Han said Chinese Christians pursued a policy of the three selfs: self-administration, self-support and self-propagation. This was because Christianity should be administered by Chinese people themselves and not foreigners. Christianity was once so closely identified with foreign imperialism that it was said: "If you can convert one more Chinese into a Protestant there will be one less Chinese."
Nevertheless, "friends from abroad" had told him that some foreign missionaries, mostly South Korean, had come to China without declaring what they were. "There are thousands in the north-eastern part of China alone," he stated, referring to Jilin province, which has a large ethnic Korean population.
"We do not endorse such practices because they should not be conducted in disguise but in broad daylight. If they want to help us they can consult us. I prefer to have partnership, but it should be carried out according to our agenda. Everything should be done legally, openly and honestly, not outside our umbrella."
He said this did not mean that China did not welcome foreign theologians coming to preach and teach in the country.
Mr Luo denied recent charges made by western critics that 300 "house churches" had been closed in Shanghai two years ago. "I myself come from Shanghai," he said. "I did not hear such things which, if they had happened, would have caused a sensation. It did not happen."
Regarding allegations of religious persecution in Henan province, he said that in two counties officials had forced believers to buy registration certificates. "This was a form of discrimination," he said. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was informed, a national directive was issued and the abuse stopped.
Mr Han cited the case of a teacher in Zhejiang province who was converted to Christianity and dismissed. "She complained to us and we sent the complaint to the Religious Affairs Bureau and as a result she continued to teach," he said.
He outlined a process for redressing complaints such as the misuse of churches shut during the Cultural Revolution. Grievances could also be aired on the eve of every Spring Festival when high officials met religious leaders in Beijing.
Asked about the official Christian attitude to abortion in China, which enforces a one-child per family policy and which encourages abortion to prevent second births, Dr Han said it was a choice between two evils. "If we don't have some kind of family planning we will have a population explosion some years later," he said.
Regarding relations with China's Roman Catholic Church, Dr Han said: "We don't have such ecumenical relations as in Ireland or other countries but we do have good personal relations." An estimated five million Catholics in China worship through official sanctioned patriotic groups and a similar number belong to the underground Catholic Church.