Response to Information Request CHN22225.E of 9 November 1995 includes attachments reporting on arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses in Shanghai in November 1991. Additional information on the status of Jehovah's Witnesses in China is included in Response to Information Request CHN22399.E of 21 November 1995. Both are available at Regional Documentation Centres.

According to a representative of the Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society in Brooklyn, New York, there has been no recent change in the status of Jehovah's Witnesses in China (3 Dec. 1996). Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to work openly, cannot go door-to-door, and are not allowed to open their congregation meetings to the public (ibid.). In addition, foreign representatives of the Society have not been allowed to visit China for decades (ibid.). The Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society does not publish statistics on how many Jehovah's Witnesses are in China, but the number is "very small," according to the representative (ibid.). The representative was not aware of any recent arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses in China since the 1991 Shanghai arrests (ibid.).

According to a representative of the Amity Foundation in Hong Kong, a non-governmental organization doing religious and development work in China, Jehovah's Witnesses are considered a sect by the China Christian Council (4 Dec. 1996). The representative stated:

There are all kinds of sects in Shanghai, usually brought in by foreigners (I've heard of the Children of God, and Moonies), and the government in Shanghai is keeping a close watch over religious developments in the city. Two foreign Christian groups, both of them pentecostal, which met in international hotels, were closed down in spring this year because they had not been properly registered. The Shanghai [Christian Council] then refused to help them get registration. (Foreign Christian congregations have been registered in other provinces with the help of the respective provincial [Christian Councils]). So all of this would suggest that Jehovah's Witnesses would have a rather difficult time in Shanghai (ibid).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Amity Foundation, Hong Kong. 4 December 1996. E-mail letter from a representative.

Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society, Brooklyn, NY. 3 December 1996. Telephone interview with a representative.