Hello and welcome to the interview dialogues of The Trumpet of Truth.
I'm your host Li Cheng.
And with us today is Ms. Rosita Šorytė,
former Lithuanian diplomat for 25 years,
who is specializing in humanitarian aid and peacekeeping.
She also served as the chairperson
of the European Union Working Group on Humanitarian Aid.
She is very experienced in the area of religion-based refugee claims.
She is the current president of
the International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees.
Today we would like to invite her
to talk about the asylum issue
The Church of Almighty God Christians encounter in overseas countries.
Ms. Šorytė, thank you for being here today.
Thank you for inviting me.
Thank you.
Ms. Šorytė, in early March of this year,
as the president of
the International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees,
you issued an appeal regarding asylum for refugees with The Church of Almighty God
at a side event during the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council—
we are deeply appreciative.
You stressed
that a great deal of evidence shows
that The Church of Almighty God Christians are qualified to receive refugee status,
because they have suffered long-term, serious oppression
under the Chinese Communist Party.
This is a commonly acknowledged fact.
However, some democracies don't acknowledge the fact
that The Church of Almighty God is persecuted.
What is your opinion on this?
I believe,
that your Church is persecuted in China is very clear.
Because you have Chinese Criminal Code and other laws,
in which they have written that Xie Jiao
(I might be pronouncing it horribly I know, I'm sorry about that),
that certain religions are criminalized and also against the law in China.
So certainly the members of these churches will be persecuted.
That is very clear.
There is a list of groups and The Church of Almighty God is in that list,
which means exactly it is persecuted or not allowed in China.
So the fact is very clear.
So it's very easy (to see the fact)
if you don't even need a lot of more information and details.
It is already clear that
The Church of Almighty God is persecuted and prohibited in China.
As well we know
that even in the cities there are big posters
inviting to denounce the members of The Church of Almighty God.
So there are so many details that are very easy to prove.
It's not even to be proved, and the facts are right here.
The problem is why it is not known (to the Europe).
One of the reasons is the situation right now,
because you heard what the problem particularly Europe is having with the refugees.
On the one hand, the migrants.
On the other hand, because of the war in Syria,
so there are millions of refugees coming.
Also (because of) the very difficult situation in Iraq, for instance,
and the other wars,
so there are really people coming by millions.
In particularly European countries,
they are overflowed by the people.
The governments like Italy, France, Germany, or any other countries,
they have people coming by thousands every single day.
What will you first do when people come?
You verify if the person has the passport,
then you register the person,
then you start the asylum process.
So these things are very difficult.
My advice to you is that you should work very hard
to really prepare enough information, enough reliable information,
because for the moment (what) you know perfectly well
is that the things are changing lately.
But like a year or two years ago,
if somebody would try to get information about The Church of Almighty God,
you open the Internet,
you find the information about the McDonald's case,
which has nothing to do with you,
but the person who is reading cannot know.
It's the fake news that lately is extremely popular.
The entire media space is overflown by the news that are totally fake.
The biggest problem is
because for many years, the fake news is the only news.
Then you have the balanced information.
There is information which is objective, and there is propaganda,
but all these things are accessible and then you can choose.
You can see everything.
Professor Folk wrote about you,
and Professor Introvigne wrote about you.
Who else?
These good objective articles where you can really find the real information about you
just appeared.
Because like a year ago it was none,
it was only the bad news.
So what I have said in the beginning of our interview
is that there is more needed.
Because as you have the good news about you,
the objective assessments (about you) and not the propaganda,
the propaganda is just there, but it's not that important.
When you have the reputable professors, scholars making the objective analysis
and you have the Chinese (fake) information,
for anybody who is really intelligent enough and who is critical enough,
they know that human rights problems are big in China.
So the information that, for instance, countries like China is providing,
you should question, you cannot believe (it) right away,
but you should have something that is reputable,
something that is objective and reliable.
These things are very new.
This process is very very new.
Because if you would say to me that five years ago or ten years ago,
it was this objective information available
and then the judges and countries didn't take into account,
then they just listened to what the Chinese government had said,
I would say it's very wrong.
But the problem is that this objective information just starts to come.
So I would say that the patience is needed.
The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted house church by the CCP—
this is common knowledge in mainland China.
There are banners with slogans in the streets against The Church of Almighty God,
the national propaganda machine creates public broadcasts against the Church,
newspapers openly publish articles condemning and blaspheming against the Church,
and armed police officers and public security officers
openly arrest Christians from The Church of Almighty God.
In mainland China, this is known by practically everyone;
it is common knowledge.
In particular,
the CCP shifted the blame for the May 28 Zhaoyuan McDonald's Murder
onto The Church of Almighty God
and used that to suppress the Church.
They also openly spread it to the rest of the world.
Why is it that so many countries in Asia and Europe
won't acknowledge the fact of the oppression of The Church of Almighty God?
Especially the Christians who have applied for political asylum
in countries such as South Korea, France, and Italy—
these countries' governments have not referred to
the independent research literatures on The Church of Almighty God
conducted by experts and academics,
but just deny the truth of their oppression
based on fake news manufactured by the Chinese government
that have been debunked by experts and academics.
They do not grant these Christians asylum.
Particularly in France,
over a hundred Christians have already received departure orders,
and they are facing the danger
of being deported back to China and suffering more serious persecution.
These countries generally reject their applications for asylum
by claiming that there is no sufficient evidence
that these Christians are individually persecuted.
What do you think of this?
You don't need to.
Because the United Nations High Representative for Refugees
in 2004 issued the guidelines
and the guidelines very clearly indicate
that you don't need to prove the individual persecution.
If the group is persecuted, you are persecuted.
It's very logic,
it would be like person who is in prison for 10 years,
he cannot flee the foreign country.
But if you are denounced, for instance,
some of your brothers and sisters have received from some friends the advice
that if they don't flee, tomorrow they will be persecuted.
By the way,
if you cannot confess your religion freely and there are some punishments,
that is the persecution.
The torture is another level
when you are physically abused.
What we are talking about the person is arrested,
it's a little bit higher than just the persecution.
Your books are taken away, you are not allowed to have the (religious) services,
that is the persecution.
But the rest already goes a little bit higher than just the simple persecution.
So you don't need to prove it.
The only thing that you need to prove is
that you are the member of the specific Church.
So you see why it is difficult to get the refugee status?
Because there are a lot of problems
and for the countries there are a lot of challenges.
So they need really to be sure (who is real refugee),
but on the other hand sometimes the states are not doing their work as well.
But the good news, if you have,
is you are clearly entitled to the refugee status.
You're clearly entitled.
There are all the details,
because we made a lot of analysis
and I interviewed many members of your Church,
so it's clear that you are the classic cases for refugee status.
To tell you the truth,
nobody in democratic countries believes
that the human rights situation in China is okay.
That is the fact.
So if somebody would say that
China is the country where the human rights are respected
and people feel free and (are) in prosperity,
that would be very difficult (to believe).
But the problem is that China is a big economic power right now.
So for the state,
when you have a contract (with China) and you criticize China,
you have good economic relationships and money comes from this business
and you criticize it,
and finally very often the economical side is taking over.
All the countries but in particular Korea,
naturally they have a very close economic relation.
They have the political issues to do like the North Korean factor,
and China is really a very important intermediator.
So there are a lot of challenges for Korea,
so that is understandable.
All the countries prefer to have good relationships with China
and China will try to force them,
but there are limits on how long and how much it can do that.
Because if the facts are really proven, nobody really can deny.
But it's a long work.
Ms. Šorytė,
you as well as some well-known religious experts and academics
have issued appeals and gone all over the place
for the sake of The Church of Almighty God Christians being granted asylum.
We'd like to express our admiration for such acts of justice.
Experts and academics such as yourself
are all people who have been lifted up by God in the last days—
you have your own missions within God's management,
and you emit light in a dark and evil world.
What you are doing is incredibly meaningful,
and it is the most gratifying and joyful thing
that a person can do in their life.
You will certainly be blessed by God.
Thank you for inviting me. It was a pleasure. Thank you.
We look forward to the day
that the countries where The Church of Almighty God Christians are displaced
are able to fully understand our faith
and can accept the correct information and news on our Church.
Ideally, they will personally come to our churches to see for themselves,
read Almighty God's words in the last days
as well as various films, hymns, and videos disseminated by the Church.
All of these things bring mankind a great positive impact and contribution.
One cannot only listen to the one-sided lies from the CCP—
hearing one side of the story keeps you in the dark,
but hearing both sides brings you into the light.
This is the only way to understand the true fact of
the persecution of The Church of Almighty God,
and asylum should be granted to these Christians.
This is what we are hoping for.
Thank you so much for watching.
See you next time.