Title: China Welcomes Lutheran Assembly in
Hong Kong
March 6, 1996
CHINA WELCOMES LUTHERAN ASSEMBLY IN HONG
KONG (64 lines)
96-04-010-LWI
GENEVA (ELCA) -- Chinese authorities in
Beijing and Hong Kong have publicly welcomed
holding the assembly of the Lutheran World
Federation in Hong Kong, said LWF general
secretary Ishmael Noko. Chinese authorities
told him the federation can go ahead with
plans to hold the assembly July 8-16, 1997
-- a week after the British colony returns
to Chinese sovereignty.
LWF is a Geneva-based communion of 56
million Lutherans in 122 member church
bodies in 68 countries, including the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
There are more than 60 million Lutherans
worldwide. An assembly, the LWF's chief
legislative body, is held every seven years.
In Beijing, the State Council's Office
for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs issued an
official statement welcoming the assembly.
This was done after Noko had informed them
of the reasons why it is not possible to
defer the assembly beyond the scheduled
dates.
The authorities offered the LWF any
assistance to ensure smooth preparations for
the assembly. The LWF general secretary was
told that the "advice" to postpone the
assembly was given by the New China (Xinhua)
News Agency to avoid conflicts of a
practical nature and did not mean the
assembly is not wanted in Hong Kong.
Noko proposed that the Local Assembly
Committee of the LWF member churches in Hong
Kong and the government committee which is
preparing for the celebrations of 1997
should work together to avoid conflicts of a
practical nature. "The authorities assured
me that they were attempting not to
interfere in religious matters," said Noko.
Chinese authorities in Beijing informed
Noko that the matter of the LWF assembly was
discussed by the Sino-British Liaison Group
on Feb. 22. The group was set up by the
Chinese and British governments to ensure a
smooth transition and effective
implementation of the Sino-British joint
declaration.
Regarding Taiwan, Chinese authroities
asked whether flags would be raised during
the assembly. Noko noted that assembly
delegates are not identified as political
persons but as representatives of their
churches.
Following his discussions in Beijing,
Noko met with the leaders of the LWF's four
member churches in Hong Kong. "They told me
that the assurances given by Xinhua and
Beijing have created an atmosphere of
confidence, and therefore they reconfirmed
without hesitation their invitation to hold
the assembly in Hong Kong as originally
planned," said Noko.
The "advice" of the Xinhua news agency
to postpone the assembly was the subject of
much media interest in Hong Kong and abroad.
Xinhua's action was interpreted as a threat
to religious freedom and giving the
impression that religious activities in
post-1997 Hong Kong would be subject to
government control.
Hong Kong governor Chris Patten called
the agencys visits to China and Hong Kong,
Xinhua issued a public statement withdrawing
its advice to postpone the LWF assembly.
The LWF general secretary was
accompanied in Beijing by the president of
the Hong Kong Lutheran Theological Seminary,
Lam Tak-Ho, who is also the chairperson of
the Local Assembly Committee, and Josephine
Tso, the general secretary of the Chinese
Lutheran Churches Hong Kong Association and
an adviser to the LWF Council.
For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir.,
ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2058; Frank
Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956
