In November, The London Telegraph reported that China's insatiable demand for oil could eventually trigger broad international instability. Industry analysts say that risking conflict over oil fields with Japan in the East China Sea has gone beyond what is safe for China and will not fulfill the country’s interests. 

        "Nobody thinks there will be a lot of oil and gas in this part of the world," states Claude Mandill, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency. Economists suggest that China’s wider aggression to secure oil and gas could ultimately cause a worldwide economic crisis, and poses the greatest threat to its own international standing. However, Beijing continues to flout its international attractiveness for investors and its economic muscle. Jason Kindopp of the Eurasia Group states, "If China's economy falters, which appears increasingly likely, commodity prices will plummet, and with them the value of the assets that produce them."

        Of great concern to the house churches of China and even the registered church is a report in the Toronto Globe and Mail, by Tibetan writer Jamyang Norbu. He warns that despite its economic glitter, China, with its planned-capitalism, nationalist indoctrination, one-party-rule, forced labor camps and an unprecedented military build-up, is becoming a fascist state reminiscent of the right-wing dictatorships of the 1930s.  Norbu describes how police crush all possibility of organized independent labor unions. He also cited a recent Human Rights Watch report, entitled ‘Dangerous Minds’ describes police run psychiatric institutions called Ankang [Peace and Health] where dissidents, religious believers and labor activists are forced to take mind-altering drugs and are possibly subjected to psycho-surgery.

        In light of the recent arrest on December 1st of one of the countries' best known house church leaders, Zhang Rongliang, who heads a network of churches estimated to have 10 million followers, this report has some very serious ramifications. Nothing has been heard of Zhang since his arrest. It is reported also that the police are searching for his wife and children and other leaders of the church.

        This information was provided by China Reform Monitor on December 17, 2004 and the
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC