Bishop of Guangzhou - Walking a Tightrope between Beijing

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000412

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2033
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV SOCI CH
SUBJECT: Bishop of Guangzhou - Walking a Tightrope between Beijing
and Rome

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(U) Classified by Consul General Robert Goldberg for Reasons: 1.4 (b)
and (d).


1. (C) Summary: The Bishop of Guangzhou is clearly someone to watch -
politically savvy, a man of immense faith and considerable charm, a
connoisseur of fine wines (not just those used in the mass) and
someone capable of both walking a tightrope between Rome and Beijing
as well as finding ways to get his message without a backlash from
the very conservative political and religious establishment in south
China. Of some note were his views on Tibet, which were somewhat
surprisingly, pretty much in line with those of the government in
Beijing. End Summary.


2. (C) Joseph Gan (Gan Jinqui),the 44-year-old Bishop of Guangzhou,
oversees a diocese of some 260,000 Catholics. How does he have such
a precise handle on the number of believers? Simple. His local
priests take attendance, go out and minister to their parishioners
and count heads - while the local religious authorities simply
estimate and come up with a total that is 30,000 fewer. The
politically savvy Gan, who was appointed Bishop in October 2006 and
ordained in December 2007, well understands just how deftly he has to
navigate the distance between Rome and Beijing, but even more how
"indirect" he has to be in making the case for the church here with
the very conservative south China political and religious
establishment. The latter would just as soon he spend most of his
time in devotional moments in his church (which is undergoing, in his
view interminable repairs) rather than seek permission to go outside
the city and visit parishioners in the rest of the diocese. For his
part, Gan would just as soon not have to spend any time with the
establishment at all since most evening soirees and get-togethers
with them amount to massive drinking bouts (theirs) and lots of head
nodding (his). Gan has so far resisted the blandishments of senior
Guangdong leaders like Party Secretary Wang Yang and Provincial
Governor Huang Huahua for meetings. Simply put, he doesn't think
they have much to "offer" him.


3. (C) Over dinner with the French, Polish and American Consuls
General on July 10, Gan, who will soon start an advanced course in
religious studies at Renmin University in Beijing, provided his views
on a variety of issues. First, he sees little hope for
reconciliation between the Vatican and Beijing, despite all of the
talk in the press. The key issue, in his view, is not so much the
ordination of priests; his own was finessed through an opaque process
wherein one side or the other proposes and the other
counter-proposes, often the same name. The larger issue is religious
freedom. At this point, the Chinese government is not willing to
widen the bounds for freer expression of one's religious beliefs.
Small steps in this direction are welcome, but there is no way, in
Gan's view, that Rome can tolerate the narrow confines in which
religious work is currently undertaken.


4. (C) The more interesting and revealing discussion with Gan
centered on Tibet, where he is more or less completely behind the
efforts of the Beijing government, dating back to the time of Mao
Zedong, to reduce the authority of the lamas and the "slavery" to
which so many Tibetans have been condemned in the service of the
lamas. When asked about an "outside" authority (Beijing) imposing
its will on a traditional religious society and the inevitable
backlash that would come from both Tibetan priest and Buddhist
believer, Gan dismissed any suggestion that somehow there was any
similarity to how Beijing deals with believers in general or seeks to
wield authority over religious organizations which might pose as
counter power centers. He also dismissed the Dalai Lama's claims
that he was only a religious leader, interested in the welfare of his
followers. Religious leaders don't go before Parliaments in Britain
or Congress in the United States and deliver deeply political
statements, as the Dalai Lama has done, in Gan's view.


5. (C) The conversation eventually turned to the issue of values and
here Gan - optimistic about the long term but realistic about the
near term - said that it would take several generations for the
Chinese to learn that what holds society together is more than taking
care of your families, that it is also love of your neighbor, charity
and justice. In that regard, the response of so many young people to
the Sichuan earthquake was promising, but it needed the kind of
follow-through that relies on non-government organizations and what
one could only see as the equivalent of faith-based initiatives. In
Gan's view, thousands of years of history that emphasize the small
communities in which Chinese have traditionally lived can't be
replaced in thirty years of reform and opening with the greater
consciousness needed for communities of the spirit, a term he used
several times in the course of the evening.


6. (C) Note: At the end of the evening, Bishop Gan told the CG that
he hoped to see him again soon, but perhaps an invitation to dinner
should best be proffered through the French CG. The Chinese are less
concerned about him, he noted. He also said that he had hoped to
travel to the U.S. four-five years ago, but had been not permitted to
go, even though he has traveled to France, Belgium and Hong Kong in

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the past. He indicated he would welcome participating in a U.S.
International Visitor program, though that might best be organized
with other religious leaders as he doubted that the government would
allow him to go on his own. The Bishop, a 1991 graduate of Zhongnan
Seminary in Wuhan, also told the CG, that when his parishioners do
talk about the United States, it's often to ask why America is always
so critical of things China does and does not give China - its people
as well as its government - the kind of praise it deserves for
advances in the post Mao period.

GOLDBERG