TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In recent months, a church group fleeing religious persecution in China and seeking asylum in a welcoming country has gained significant media attention. However, the group remains stuck in Thailand, where the Chinese state security apparatus threatens their safety on a daily basis.
Taiwan News recently spoke to ChinaAid Founder and President, Bob Fu (傅希秋), who said he hoped that Taiwan could offer a temporary safe haven for the refugees, as their situation in Thailand grows more urgent by the day.
Fu said there are ongoing discussions in Washington about the Mayflower Church, and how to assist the group members and ensure their well-being. However, many diplomatic hurdles remain to ensuring their safe transit to the U.S.
According to Fu, there are 58 refugees stranded in Bangkok, which is home to a UNHCR Office, which the group hopes will assist them in seeking asylum. Another four members are still in South Korea trying to safely join the others, but they are being pursued by Chinese state security agents.
The Mayflower Church was previously known as the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, and was founded in 2012 by Pastor Pan Yongguang (潘永光). As a “house church,” it represented a small community of believers who gathered privately to worship.
Although such churches were never permitted to operate openly under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) governance, brutal crackdowns on unapproved religious gatherings have escalated under the leadership of CCP Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平). In 2019, things reached a breaking point, as church members began to worry about the safety of their children.
In November of that year, a vote was held by church members on whether to go, or to stay. As the church consists of almost 50% young adults and children, the choice was clear. They chose to leave Shenzhen and headed to the most accessible place they could reach: South Korea’s Jeju Island, a popular tourist destination which does not require a visa for arriving Chinese visitors.
The church members applied to South Korean authorities for asylum status, but were ultimately denied any legal protection, despite the likelihood of their imprisonment should they return to China. After years of struggling to make a living, while also facing harassment from Chinese officials in Jeju, who declared them guilty of “treason,” the group realized that Jeju was no longer safe for them.
The decision was made to go to Thailand in the summer of 2022. This latest development in the group’s quest for religious freedom prompted the church to adopt the new name of the “Mayflower Church.” The name recalls the English Protestants who fled tyranny to seek religious freedom in North America in the 1600s, just as Pan Yongguang’s congregation seeks to do.
In early October, the church group submitted all of their materials to the UNHCR headquarters in Bangkok to apply for protection as asylum seekers fleeing religious persecution. However, the U.N. has not provided any response to their urgent requests.
Pastor Pan Yongguang leads church members to apply for asylum with UNHCR. (VOA video)
According to an article in the Washington Times, authored by Fu and the U.S. Commissioner on International Religious Freedom, Frank Wolf, most of the Mayflower Church members’ tourist visas in Thailand have already expired, which makes their situation even more perilous. There is a very real fear that Chinese agents, operating in an extrajudicial and illegal capacity in Thailand, may attempt to kidnap and forcibly repatriate the asylum seekers.
As the group waits patiently but anxiously, for a positive sign from the U.N. or the U.S., their faith remains strong. Pastor Pan was quoted by a reporter at the Washington Stand as saying, “We left China at God’s leading ... we still believe God is with us.”
In the meantime, as the group’s situation grows more dire with each passing day, Bob Fu told Taiwan News that he hopes the free and democratic government of Taiwan might consider opening its borders to members of the Mayflower Church. Even if only for a temporary stay, Taiwan could serve as a safe haven and a proverbial “Noah’s ark” for the refugees on their journey to seek religious freedom and a new beginning for themselves and their children.
Members of the Mayflower Church gather outside the UNHCR Office in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP photo)
