LUANG PRABANG, Laos -- The West is well aware of the brutality of communist China. Issues like forced abortion and sterilization, forced organ harvesting of prisoners, Protestant and Catholic priests in gulags (sometimes working to make toys and machine tools while standing in vats of acid), the rape of Tibet, the gendercide against female babies as old as two years of age -- most of these atrocities have made headlines worldwide.
Add to that the bullying of Taiwan, the export to the West of massive amounts of heroin, and even the threatened launch of nuclear weapons against the U.S., and Americans have much to be concerned about with respect to China.
Yet, there is one more chapter in the China book the West has not yet seen.
According to Western diplomats based in Laos, Communist China controls, orchestrates and directs the crackdown against Christians in Stalinist Laos, in Vietnam, in Burma -- indeed, throughout most if not all of Southeast Asia.
China directs the ongoing genocide against the Hmong hill tribes of Laos and Vietnam (known as "Montagnards" in Vietnam -- the French word for "Mountain people"), according to the sources. Additionally, China is reportedly arming the fascist Burmese regime in its genocidal campaign against the Christian Karen hill tribes of eastern Burma.
As first reported by WorldNetDaily, the Vietnamese Montagnards must trek over a thousand kilometers to escape the machine guns of the communist Vietnamese government. These Montagnards are ethnic Hmong hill tribes who are currently turning to Christianity in droves.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen traveled to Vietnam in an effort to seek "engagement" with its military, which almost exclusively controls the Vietnamese economy. Not unexpectedly, Cohen said nothing in defense of the persecuted Christian Hmong of Vietnam.
Much to the chagrin of the Clinton administration, the U.S. has virtually no influence in the Indochina region -- better known these days as the "Greater Mekong Subregion." One of the last unspoiled, natural habitats on earth, the region is currently being carved up by Japan, China and the European Union while America sits on the sideline.
"In the past, America bravely fought against communism in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Today, the Marxists and communists in those nations are still in power and are consolidating that power," said Ray Billingsly, a former British SAS officer who served in Cambodia.
"It's ironic that the pro-communist Vietnamese types like Clinton have their hands tied now when it comes to influencing Indochina. Europe, China and Japan never opposed communism in Southeast Asia, and thus they are welcomed by the communist nations as economic partners."
In Stalinist Laos, the ethnic Hmong hill tribes have suffered a horrendous genocide at the hands of the ruling Pathet Lao government. This genocide, which continues to this day unabated, includes the use of Russian-made and exported biochemical weapons, forced repatriation of Christian Hmong from refugee camps in neighboring Thailand, and the imprisonment of Hmong citizens engaging in simple Bible studies.
Reminiscent of past genocidal nightmares, the Pathet Lao have bashed the heads of Hmong babies against trees, impaled women and thrown them off high cliffs and other horrible acts too terrible to recount. Incredibly, all of this has happened under the nose of the United Nations and the U.S. State Department, which deny the existence of these documented atrocities.
China's crackdown begins
"I first noticed China's involvement in controlling dissent in Laos after the U.S. bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in April of 1999," said a Western diplomat in a secret interview with WorldNetDaily. The diplomat asked that his name not be used, in fear that it would hinder his ability to help persecuted Laotian Christians in the future.
"About 1,500 Laotians protested the bombing in front of the U.S. Embassy here in Vientiane. The Pathet Lao ordered a media blackout of the event, at the request of the Chinese government. You would think that China would be happy about the protest. But they weren't. The Chinese thought it might be a stamp of approval for all sorts of public expression. That would destabilize their puppet regime here in Laos."
The diplomat then explained the next massive crackdown, which occurred on October 26, 1999. During WorldNetDaily's first investigative journalism trip to Laos, this reporter, along with other foreigners in Laos, witnessed a grand celebration of the culmination of Buddhist Lent held on the shores of the Mekong River.
Yet not far away, only a few blocks in fact, an equally impressive display was unfolding as the Laos Secret Police Intelligence Unit was arresting a group of anti-Stalinist protestors in front of the presidential palace.
The Vientiane-based Western diplomat told WorldNetDaily, "The Pathet Lao's secret police had arrested at least 50 protestors, some of whom are still in prison, including 10 students," as of this writing.
"Then there is the well-documented arrest of Christian missionaries from America, France and Thailand," he added, referring to the 44 Christians imprisoned in Laos in 1998 from the Evangelical Church of Christ. Most of the 44 were members of the Little Rock, Arkansas-based "Partners in Progress" group. Those imprisoned in this case were officially charged with "creating social division."
"What concerns me more is that China has ordered the Pathet Lao to increase the amount of time that government employees must spend in communist political indoctrination training. You see, it is totally inevitable that more persecution is coming against Christians. And also inevitable that more protests of the government will erupt due to Laos' failing economy."
Other diplomats and sources interviewed by WorldNetDaily in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Ponsavan said that 46 Christians are being held in Laos without trial. Most of those imprisoned are being held in very harsh conditions.
A European diplomat told this reporter, "There is a connection between the 1997 Asian meltdown and the current crackdown against dissent in Laos. The Pathet Laos saw the protests against the governments in South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand after the '97 crash."
"The Pathet Lao fear massive protests against their regime. The crackdown on Protestant Christian groups appears related to religious crackdowns in China and Vietnam, which are close allies of the communist leadership in Laos," he said.
"Certainly the Pathet Lao keep a special eye on these events [protests and religious meetings] and are briefed by the Chinese secret police, PLA and also the Vietnamese government at special bilateral meetings on controlling Christians."
Why are Christians so hard to control?
"Because they have a long-term view of life, believe in heaven and freedom and they are not afraid to die for their faith," says Intelligence analyst Don McAlvany in his McAlvany Intelligence Advisor.
Keeping score on the persecution
A representative of a Bangkok-based non-governmental organization, or NGO, told WND that 11 Christians are currently being held in Attapeu province in Laos. Three Christians are currently in jail in Luang Prabang (WorldNetDaily had the chance to visit them), 15 in Saavannakhet, four in Udomsay, seven in Xieng Khouang and six in Houaphan.
The source believes the persecution of Christians in the southern Laotian city of Savannakhet began in November and December of 1998. At that time, Nouhak Phoumsavan, the ex-president of Laos, visited the region and declared it to be a "Christian-free zone."
Phoumsavan ordered the arrest of Evangelical Church leader Pa Tood, who had been arrested twice previously. Pa Tood's relatives told WorldNetDaily he had been "kept in solitary confinement day and night, with his legs in a wooden stockade. The Pathet Lao offered him bail if he would only renounce Jesus Christ as the Son of God and say that Jesus had no healing powers, and never did rise from the dead."
The Pathet Lao government's charges against the groups, shown to WorldNetDaily by European diplomats, said the Christians had been detained because they had a "belief in Jesus religion," and "tried to use the Bible as a means of propaganda for conversion against the [Communist] Party."
Most of those detained belong to the Lao Evangelical Church. These Christians are farmers from the Hmong ethnic hill tribes, although Oy and Bru hill tribes are also represented in those currently in prison for their faith.
The Loatian foreign ministry denies the detentions, especially those of a religious nature.
A top-level Japanese trade official in Vientiane told WND, "Christians may well be made the scapegoats for Laos' economic problems. I am not a Christian, but I am saddened to see any peaceful group persecuted. It's a terrible thing. But this is the world we live in. And today the world revolves around trade and money. Everything else is just conversation."
And the Chinese involvement in the crackdown?
"Between 1990 and the October 26th incident of 1999, there was not a single incident of protest against the Pathet Lao. I can tell you why. In 1990, three ex-government officials in Laos passed around a petition calling for economic reform. The officials were all imprisoned at the request of the Chinese government. The officials were sentenced to 14 years in prison. One of them died while in custody. After that, the people in Laos knew that civil disobedience in even the smallest respect was impossible."
For its part, while China's demand that India surrender the teenaged Buddhist Karpama Lama back to Beijing had made global headlines, away from the limelight communist China has been increasing its persecution of evangelical Christians.
For example, in December of last year, Beijing outlawed several major evangelical organizations (whose membership reach as high as 3 million) as "evil groups." In that month alone, over 100 evangelical leaders were arrested across China. In Hunan province, six evangelical Christian leaders were sentenced to gruesome logai gulags for leading the "evil cults." Other Protestants have been sent to the gulags for simply organizing a Bible study and/or posting the meeting on the Internet.
Rabbi David Saperstein, the chairman of a U.S. congressional commission to monitor religious freedom and persecution around the globe, has said of China's increasing persection, "In the last few months there has been a clear pattern of escalation."
"China is the largest holder of America's foreign debt. As such, they are America's bank. There is persecution and marginalization of Christians in America going on right now, so we can't expect the U.S. government to help our brothers and sisters being persecuted in China now, or in Laos and Vietnam," says Eunice Xu, of the Hong Kong-based China-Indochine Christian House. Xu was educated in France, and maintains close ties with Christians in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam as well as mainland China.
"If the West believes it can use money, trade and development as a carrot to end the persecution of Christians in Asia, they are very mistaken," added Xu in an interview with WorldNetDaily.
An economic disaster
Laos was admitted over two years ago to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, erected in the 1960s as an anti-communist alliance. Yet today it includes Stalinist Laos, communist Vietnam, Marxist Cambodia and fascist Burma.
According to the American Embassy in Laos, the Kip -- Laos' official currency -- has lost 87 percent of its value since July of 1997. June of 1997, some will recall, marked the beginning of the Asian economic meltdown, which began in Thailand.
In September of 1999, Laotian finance minister Khamphoui Keoboulapha instituted an International Monetary Fund plan to create an artificial shortage of the Kip. This boosted the Kip's value to 7,600 Kip to one U.S. dollar. However, instead of going along with the IMF plan, almost all Laotians switched to using U.S. dollars and Thai baht for their everyday financial transactions.
Yet, the Laotian financial meltdown rolled on. Wages worth $100 in July of 1997 are today worth no more than $30. Inflation is growing at 130 percent per year in the Stalinist paradise of Laos. Direct foreign investment is down from a peak of $1.2 billion in 1995 to a mere $150 million today.
For its part, Thailand had given Laos almost 45 percent of its total amount of foreign investment, but given Thailand's economic meltdown, that figure has shriveled considerably. Even the World Bank has cut back its feeding orgy of the Pathet Lao. World Bank aid reached a high of $50 million in 1995, but has now been cut in half.
Having driven its Western-educated middle and upper classes abroad since the 1975 communist takeover of the nation, the Laos government suffers under gross macroeconomic mismanagement. The Politburo, led by Khamtay Siphadone, is exclusively composed of communist military cadres who have no training or education in market economics.
One German diplomat said, "We are scaling back our loans to the Pathet Lao. The one-party system in Laos, Stalinist as it is, can't bring reform to the economy." Germany has been the second largest bilateral donor of aid to Laos, ranking just behind Japan.
"Inflation is now over 300 percent in Laos since the mid to late 1990s. This is the highest in all of ASEAN," added the diplomat.
Prince Soulivong Savang, the 36-year-old exiled crowned leader of Laos, currently residing in France (Laos' former colonial ruler) has repeatedly said that the "Pathet Laos are a human rights disaster."
The prince has tried to get the U.S. to negotiate a return to democracy in Laos.
"If I had a chance to go back to Laos, the first thing I would bring is freedom. But this is not going to be an easy task. Democracy has to be learned, and people have to learn their rights. In light of the disastrous economic situation in Laos right now, and the fact that Laotians abroad are successful, we can go back and help rebuild the country," said the prince, who has been trying to gain access to meet with top officials at the U.S. State Department.
Unless a radical and totally unexpected transformation occurs in Laos, it appears that economic depression, public outcries for political and monetary reform, and religious persecution of Christians will continue to go hand and hand for the next decade, and possibly into the next generation.
"Even though this (penalty) is favorable, we are not satisfied. If a crime of falsification truly had been committed, that would make me an accomplice to trafficking in humans, and I would not have been acquitted," Lamelas told Compass News. "How can it be that I am innocent of the original crime, and nevertheless guilty of the one they later invented?"
He had been arrested on Feb. 20, 2006, and taken to the Villa Marista Detention Center where he was held for months, being given only weekly 15-minute meetings with his family.
The pastor had been key to starting a number of house churches while serving his own church congregation on The Isle of Youth, and moved to Havana after being elected national president for his denomination.
Reports say his troubles began after he refused to sign a government-required loyalty pledge to the Communist regime headed by Fidel Castro, because he considered the government control of the church unconstitutional.
A report from the Christian Post said Release International is forecasting that around 250 million Christians around the world will face persecution in 2007, just for following Jesus Christ.
While it is growing fastest in the Muslim parts of the world, the report said, it also is active in those parts of the world under control of Communists, Hindus and Buddhists.
The organization said Communist groups are ideologically opposed to the freedoms of Christianity and continue to pursue "systematic" programs to weaken and destroy the church.
Persecution also continues under the "old guard" of Communism, such as areas of what used to be the Soviet Union as well as China and Cuba, officials said.
Experts who monitor persecution worldwide said the current attacks on Christians in Cuba have been going on since an escalation in 2003, when dozens of Christian activists were arrested and ordered to serve prison terms of up to 25 years.
Other pastors in Cuba have reported increasing government harassment, including the forcible closure or destruction of church structures, and at least one other leader fled to Europe because of the persecution, officials said.
While Lamelas was behind bars, his wife and two daughters were supported by donations.
VOM is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.
It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.
He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.
The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.
