Efforts by U.S. and Taiwanese politicians to ensure the safety and resettlement of a group of religious refugees from China have drawn praise from the president and founder of the ChinaAid Association.
“It is encouraging to see politicians around the world take notice of the Mayflower case,” Bob Fu said in a statement published Feb. 27 by ChinaAid. The statement was in response to a letter sent by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) to the U.S. Department of State requesting U.S. assistance for members of the "Mayflower Church," according to the statement.
“I urge democratic governments including the United States and Taiwan to heed the call from Chairman McCaul and President You in resettling the church members now rather than later due to the increasing threats of refoulement,” Fu said in the ChinaAid statement.
Taiwan’s president of the Legislative Yuan, You Si-Kun, called on "our friends around the world to pay attention to the development of democracy and religious freedom in China. For centuries, the people of Taiwan have lived for freedom, and they will continue to fight for it now and in the future."
You said he had asked Taiwan' executive branch "to care about helping these persecuted Chinese religious refugees and to show concrete actions to help them, because democracy, freedom, and human rights are common values in Taiwan and the world!" according to ChinaAid.
Members of the Shenzhen Reformed Holy Church, also known as the Mayflower Church in reference to the Pilgrims who left England in 1609 in search of religious freedom, fled persecution in China in 2019, according to the statement. The group went first to South Korea; in 2022, after "exhausting the immigration system in South Korea" and under continuous threat from the Chinese governement, the group traveled to Thailand where they sought U.N. refugee status. They suffer constant harassment by the Chinese government and are at risk of being kidnapped and returned to China, according to ChinaAid.
The group's pastor Pan Yongguang told the Associated Press last September that exiled church members "have been stalked, harassed, and received threatening calls and messages," and that relatives in China "have been summoned, interrogated and intimidated."
One church elder told the AP that life in exile has been difficult but worth the sacrifices, saying he wasn't able to give his children a religious upbringing in China but he can outside of the communist country.
“We’re willing to pay this price,” he told the AP. “God always has the best plan.”
Pastor Pan Yongguang released a "statement of faith" last October that was published by ChinaAid. In it, he says he "was personally threatened and harassed since submitting my refugee claim in Thailand. My relatives still residing in China have been coerced by the PRC government to call me and attempt to force me to return to China."
Yongguang said the AP interview, which took place in Bangkok, had to be stopped "when operatives from China entered the venue."
He wrote that "apparent threats and unspecified dangers" meant he could possibly be kidnapped and returned to China by CCP agents; arrested by Thai immigration authorities and "illegally escorted to mainland China and 'go disappeared' as have so many others who stood for the same principles of religious freedom and human rights that I also espouse."
"I declare I will not return to mainland China voluntarily," Yongguang wrote in the statement of faith.
"I will not leave my family and church members without a pastor," he wrote. "I will not leave the Christian Church, and I will not betray my faith. I firmly believe that my life belongs to Jesus Christ, and I will not choose to commit suicide, no matter what the circumstances. If I lose my freedom, anything I do or say is not of my own volition, and is contrary to my declaration, and has no legal effect."
