In a speech on Monday, Xu Xiaohong told the Chinese parliament’s largely ceremonial advisory body Christians needed to follow what he called a Chinese model of the religion. He said there were many problems with Christianity in the country, including “infiltration” from abroad and “private meeting places”. He added: “It must be recognised that our movement’s surname is ‘China’ and not ‘Western’. “Anti-China forces in the West are trying to continue to influence China’s social stability and even subvert our country’s political power through Christianity, and it is doomed to fail.
“For individual black sheep who, under the banner of Christianity, participate in subverting national security, we firmly support the country to bring them to justice.”
Only by eliminating the “stigma of foreign religion” in China’s Christianity can its believers benefit society, Xu said.
He warned: “Only by continually drawing on the fine traditions of Chinese culture, can China’s Christianity be rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese culture and become a religion recognised by the Chinese themselves.
“Only by continuously carrying forward and practicing the core values of socialism can our Christianity truly be suited to socialist society.”
China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago, the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.
The government has cracked down on underground churches, both Protestant and Catholic, even as it seeks to improve relations with the Vatican.
China has been following a policy it calls the “Sinicisation” of religion, trying to root out foreign influences and enforce obedience to the Communist Party.
What China calls a de-radicalisation program the western region of Xinjiang has also caused widespread concern, with critics claiming the authorities have placed up to one million Muslims living there in internment camps.
The government has insisted they are vocational training centres where the Uighur people who call Xinjiang home and other Muslim peoples are sent to learn about the law and the Mandarin language.
Yang Jie, an imam from Xinjiang, told the same advisory body on Monday that some adherents had poor “religious and civic awareness”, which made them vulnerable to “the temptation and incitement of religious extremist forces”.
They mistakenly believed their religion came before their citizenship, and that certain illegal acts were a “firm expression of faith”, Yang said.
He said: “This wrong view and behaviour has seriously affected social stability, ethnic unity and religious harmony, and has vilified the social image of the Muslim community and must be resolutely stopped.”
However, restrictions on religion have attracted particular concern in the United States.
Last week, during a visit to Hong Kong, Sam Brownback, the US ambassador for religious freedom called on Beijing to end religious persecution.
Mr Brownback told an audience at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club that it needed to respect the fundamental and “sacred right” of people to worship.
He also branded its treatment of minorities “a war with faith” and stressed: “It is a war they will not win.”