Liang Changpu’s characterization in Bitter Winter—“Nanning Christian Pastor Detained—For No Reason Whatsoever,” August 15, 2023—of the Chinese Communist Party’s detention of Pastor Park Kwang-Zhe is inexact. There are reasons, just no reasons having to do with justice or rights.
The provision enforced was Article 27(2) of the Public Security Law, which punishes those “disturbing the social order…in the name of any religion or Qigong.”…
House church members have long complained that “disturbing the social order” may mean just everything—which allows the police to detain their pastors and devotees for no reason whatsoever. Some police officers explained to them that simply being active in an “illegal” form of religion, including a Christian house church not part of the government-controlled Three-Self Church, already “disturbs the social order.”
A ”house church” is a Protestant Chinese church. Park is a pastor of the New Life Christian Church.
Liang notes that although the formal period of an administration detention is 15 days, suggesting that Pastor Park might be released on August 23, 2023, administrative detainees are often asked to pay a heavy fine, failing which they are imprisoned for another 15 days. “And of course ‘further investigation’ can always lead to a formal arrest and a trial.”
