Thread by @AndrewSErickson

"It is increasingly clear that much of the blame for the seriousness of the #coronavirus’s spread can be placed on the culture of lying & covering up bred by #China’s deeply flawed & highly corrupted Marxist-Leninist system 'with Chinese characteristics.'"
ucanews.com/news/chinas-wa…

"Yet it’s also worth reflecting on the limited tools that the #Chinese government has to deal with the situation due to its parallel wars on both #religion & #civil society. The two are closely related as across the world the Catholic Church, Protestant denominations, Islam..."

"Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism & most other organized religions play an outsized role in civil society through religion-backed organizations & charities devoted to humanitarian services. The Catholic Church has traditionally been very active in providing such services..."

"...through church-backed organizations such as Caritas & the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as well as a wide range of religious orders.

...It is precisely in times of dire emergency such as this that [such] civil society organizations... come into their own."

#coronavirus

"There are #Catholic #NGOs inside #China but the space where they can operate is being rapidly squeezed and major organizations have found it too tough to make it worth their while."

ucanews.com/news/chinas-wa…

"Under President #Xi Jinping’s war on #religion, started in 2015 & escalated in February 2018 to a raft of new rules & regulations restricting religious activities that continue to be expanded, Beijing has shown that it is determined to keep religion... out of civic society."

"The latest religious regulations, due to come into effect on Feb. 1, make that delineation even clearer.

'I think these rules identify clearly that the government’s objects of attention are not the religions per se but their civil organizations. ...'"

ucanews.com/news/chinas-wa…

"'The rule is do not speak about "religion" but of "religious groups," said @francescosisci, a researcher at Beijing’s Renmin University.

'This is in line with the 2007 party congress when Hu Jintao spoke of the positive role of "religious figures" to build social harmony.'"

@francescosisci "'That is, the party recognized that religions have 2 aspects: their religious beliefs & their civil life. The party intervenes in the civil life of religious organizations.'
It’s not just religious organizations but all NGOs that Beijing has been at war with under #XiJinping..."

@francescosisci "who has been determined to centralize all authority in the Communist Party once more, reversing decades of gains for civil society under Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin & Hu Jintao."

ucanews.com/news/chinas-wa…

@francescosisci "Hu..eager[ly] invite[ed] Caritas into China to help [after] the devastating Sichuan earthquake in Apr 2008 that saw >90,000 people die. Catholic hospitals in #Hong Kong & Caritas, which..has a medical center & a hospital, have become part of [HK]’s human services infrastructure.

@francescosisci "Caritas is already doing some heavy lifting on the Wuhan virus in #HongKong, but mainland China is missing out on this critical subsidiary infrastructure..[particularly] knowledge & an intl skills & experience base [of] orgs such as #Caritas, #RedCross & #MedicinsSansFrontieres"

@francescosisci "The wider significance is that #China must... share info better & trust in global networks. ...Beijing should also be closely observing #HongKong & seeing the huge value of civil society & its incredibly worthwhile organizations as partners rather than threats."

@sainsburychina