Beijing’s new Silk Road is a project that China is investing over 55 billion US dollars in. It is part of China’s grand plan to connect Asia and Europe. The majority of the work is happening in Pakistan, where China is building major infrastructure in Balochistan province.
China’s ambitious project to develop new trading routes and carve out influence across Asia, Africa and the Middle East comes with its fair share of risks. Most notably, Balochistan is one of Pakistan’s most dangerous provinces. It is home to jihadist groups, and was where two young Chinese nationals were kidnapped and murdered in May of this year.
It was later discovered that Meng Lisi and Li Xinheng were not in Pakistan to work on the new Silk Road as was first thought… They had travelled to the province’s capital, Quetta, on a secret mission to spread the Gospel in one of the most dangerous parts of Muslim dominated Pakistan.
Their story highlighted an “overlooked byproduct” of China’s aggressive drive to create the new Silk Road. It is opening the way for Christian missionaries, possibly thousands of them, who are taking advantage of the opportunity to travel “freely”. It is estimated that thousands of China’s growing Christian population are in Pakistan and neighbouring countries.
But Beijing clearly doesn’t want them there. Since the deaths of the 2 young missionaries, China has arrested pastors from Zhejiang, a province on China’s eastern coast.Zhejiang is known as one of the country’s Christian centres and home to thousands of official churches permitted by China’s communist government, as well as unofficial “underground” churches, whose members meet in secret. Those connected to overseas missions are especially targeted, and although the pastors are released they are banned from continuing their meetings, and from giving media interviews.
The Chinese government has a dilemma on it’s hands; how to handle Chinese Christians who are getting into trouble abroad and embarrassing their proudly atheist government, while at the same time providing protection for its people as it goes global, sending large amounts of Chinese workers into foreign countries as part of the new Silk Road construction that China is promoting.
Hidden among the Silk Road workers are thousands of Chinese missionaries who are finding it easy to get into countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Burma. Why? Because no one suspects that Communist China would be home to so many Christians. The violence in Pakistan doesn’t seem to have had any affect on the Christian missions. If anything it has caused missionaries to become more sensitive and careful in the way they work.
They will need to be, because since the murders of Mr Li and Miss Meng, Pakistani authorities have vowed to better regulate the inflow of Chinese nationals to Pakistan. It is not the first time that militants have targeted Chinese but due to the huge media attention the case received, top-level officials have had to look at the implications for relations with China.
Louise Carter
Source: BBC: Risky road: China’s missionaries follow Beijing west
