By George Koo
Two months after President Clinton's trip to China, a different sort of summit took place in Beijing. During the last week of August, Dr. Pat Robertson, Chairman of the Christian Broadcast Network (CBN) and a founder of the Christian Coalition, accepted an invitation to visit China and meet Premier Zhu Rongji in Beijing.

The purpose of Robertson's China trip was to bear eyewitness to the practice of religion in China. The outcome of this one-week visit could contribute more concretely toward a positive U.S. China relationship than even the President's earlier high profile tour. This summit was organized by the Committee of 100.
One year ago, a group of prominent Chinese Americans belonging to the New York based organization met with government leaders in Taipei, Hong Kong and Beijing. The purpose of the trip was to observe the return of Hong Kong to China and to discuss their concerns over the then existing tensions between the U.S. and China and between Taiwan and the mainland.

Just before this group arrived in Beijing in July 1997, Time magazine had reported on the vitriolic bashing of China from the religious right in the U.S. Recognizing the power of the religious right in American politics, Liu Huaqiu, head of Foreign Affairs of the State Council, asked the visiting group for advice on how to best respond to the bitter attacks.

The Committee of 100 has consistently supported the notion that a constructive relationship with China is vital to the long term interests of the U.S., the Pacific region and the world as a whole. A healthy U.S.-China relationship should be based on common interests with mutual respect for the differences. Development of such a relationship depends on government officials and leaders with insight and understanding.

In a caucus among themselves, Committee members visiting Beijing noted that most of the outspoken personalities of the religious right have never been to China. Dr. Richard Cheng, Chairman and C.E.O. of ECI Systems Engineering in Virginia Beach, suggested that he could approach Robertson about a possible visit to China. This was warmly endorsed by others in the group. Thus, Cheng with the support of the Committee became the intermediary between Robertson's organization and the leaders in Beijing.
"China's society has already made tremendous strides. The people have taken a great step towards freedom," Robertson said upon his return to America. "China is in midst of building an economic miracle. Furthermore, the people of China are enjoying religious freedom to a degree far greater than has been described by the American media."

Robertson's remarks about China clearly put him on a collision course with many members of the religious right--a terminology Robertson dislikes. When asked, he said people like Gary Bauer, head of the Family Research Council is hard to influence. "He does what he likes, but he does not speak for conservative Christians. I do," he said. "I don't believe he has ever been to China."

Robertson first went to China in 1979. Walking around Beijing's Summer Palace on this trip, he saw throngs of people relaxed and at play. He observed that there was no way that this could happen in a police state. "The change in China over the last 20 years is just breathtaking," he added.

Zhu began his meeting with Robertson by reviewing the status of religion in China. He indicated that even though the influence of religion in China is not as pervasive as in the U.S., approximately 100 million are followers of some religious faith, out of the total population of 1.2 billion. According to official statistics, about 10 million are Christians.

Besides indigenously evolved Taoism and Confucianism, Buddhism was introduced into China nearly 2000 years ago. Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci brought Catholicism with him in 1602 while the Protestant faith was not introduced until 1807. Zhu observed that the relatively short history of Christianity in China accounted for the relatively small following.

Zhu further noted that throughout China's history, many religions and sects had a turn being in favor. Out of favor religions were tolerated and allowed to practice. Since the founding of the People's Republic, laws were put in place to protect the freedom of religious practices.

Robertson congratulated Zhu on China's economic achievements. He also pointed out that China will need more than ever the moral and spiritual values from religion as the standard of living increases. "Materialism of a booming economy without counterbalancing religious values is dangerous to the society, as can be seen by the social ills taking place in developed countries such as the United States," Robertson said. "Religion such as Christianity is not a threat to your government," Robertson went on to tell Zhu. "Religion was not a threat to the former Soviet Union. Their problem was not having a visionary leader like Deng Xiaoping."

"I am no expert on religion and can't keep up with you," Zhu admitted to Robertson. "What else shall we talk about?" Robertson then asked about the future of China's economy and, according to Cheng who accompanied Robertson, Zhu, the economic czar of China, brightened perceptibly. The meeting lasted 75 minutes, well beyond the allotted time and kept Zhu's next batch of visitors cooling their heels.
Robertson's entourage had made a number of requests upon arrival in Beijing. After the meeting with Zhu, doors opened. Robertson and his delegation visited churches and talked to scholars and religious leaders of all the major faiths.

Alan Yuan, an 84 year old pastor who spent 22 years in Chinese prisons, walked unannounced into the hotel where the Robertson party was staying and told his story of deprivation to the program producer accompanying Robertson. This interview was later broadcast on CBN. Yuan was originally sentenced to life imprisonment for preaching and running a home church without registering with the government. Since his release, he was again detained by the authorities in early August for baptizing 360 followers without a permit.

According to Robertson, people like Pastor Yuan from China's underground churches do not trust the government offices in control of religion because they are all communists. However, in his official meetings and conversations, he met many "fine religious leaders." "The line is beginning to blur and underground churches are beginning to register with the government," he said.

While shopping on the day before returning to the U.S., Robertson met a young shopkeeper who volunteered that she does not trust the government but only trusts in God. She told Robertson that she converted to Christianity just three months earlier, to his obvious delight.

Robertson also met with the senior officials in charge of flood relief in China and was given a briefing. "Even though the government will not formally ask for outside assistance, that they welcome such assistance is an indication of the seriousness of the disaster," Robertson concluded. His organization is in the process of shipping 8 tons of medicine in 15 pallets to China.

He also met his business objective for this trip by meeting with Wu Jichuan, head of the Ministry of Information Industries (MII). One part of Robertson's CBN organization is co-producing TV programs with MII for telecast in China and he wanted the opportunity to cement the relationship.

Global Business Development Network is another part of his far flung business empire, an empire with operations in over 90 countries. This group has a staff of 27 in Beijing helping Chinese organizations design web pages and translating western web pages into Chinese. In a show of his finely tuned business sense, Robertson said, "We have also designed a Chinese search engine called zhaodaole, and we are hosting a 'Yahoo' kind of portal on the Chinese internet."

On the eve of his departure from Beijing, Robertson hosted a press conference. He said, "China compared to before is wide open. The live telecast of the exchanges between Jiang Zemin and President Clinton is a historic milestone. I am delighted to see a new era of warmth and cooperation in relations between the United States and China."

Robertson's parting observation was that while some members of Congress are sincere about their concerns on human rights, they have not been to China to see the progress there. Others, unfortunately, have turned China and U.S.-China relationship into hostages of domestic politics.

The successful outcome of this visit is, in no small part, due to Robertson's understanding of Chinese history and culture. Throughout his meeting with Zhu, he liberally sprinkled his conversation with references not only to Deng Xiaoping but Confucianism and even Sun Zi's "Art of War."

In a way, Robertson followed the path blazed by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit priest and Vatican emissary who entered China toward the waning years of the Ming Dynasty. He studied Chinese classics, taught the sons of influential families and incorporated Western knowledge into his lessons.

Ricci represented himself as a scholar rather than as a priest. He adapted Catholic rites so that they were easier to understand by the Chinese. He did not ask converts to renounce ancestor worship and he paid homage to the influence of Confucius. He successfully weathered the transition in rulers and served as a respected advisor to Kangxi, the first Qing emperor, in a capacity similar to his role at the preceding Ming court.

The decline of the influence of Catholicism in China began when the Pope disagreed with Ricci's approach. He specifically prohibited missionaries from allowing converts to retain traditional Chinese practices. In disgust, Kangxi then proceeded to expell the priests showing such intolerance.