E/CN.4/1995/91 page 119 With regard to the enforcement and monitoring of policy on freedom of religious belief, the Chinese Government includes a Department of Religious Affairs which is responsible for enforcement of the law and policy on freedom of religious belief, not for meddling in the religious activities of individual religious groups. "In case of any infringement of the policy on freedom of religious belief, the Government will promptly correct the mistakes and handle the incident properly. The People’s Congress and the People’s Political Consultative Conference at all levels supervise the implementation of the policy on freedom of religious belief by democratic means." According to information transmitted to the Special Rapporteur prior to his visit, the five religions officially recognized in China have been amalgamated into a patriotic association, which is answerable for its activities to the Government’s Office of Religious Affairs. Eight religious organizations are said to have official authorization in the whole of China: the China Buddhist Association, the China Taoist Association, the China Islamic Association, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, the National Administration Commission of the Chinese Catholic Church, the Chinese Catholic Bishops’ College, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee of the Protestant Churches of China and the Christian Council. It appears that the Chinese authorities are trying to restrict and repress all religious activities outside the existing structures mentioned above and are at the same time reducing authorized religious activities across the whole of China (see the allegation of 25 November 1993, E/CN.4/1994/79). The Tibet Autonomous Region continues to encounter grave difficulties as far as religious tolerance is concerned (E/CN.4/1994/79 idem). The Chinese Communist Party is reported to have issued two documents on religion: Document No. 6 of 6 February 1991 and Document No. 19 of March 1982. "Document No. 6 would call for registration of all religious meetings and for tighter control of religious affairs. It would state that ’Communist Party members are allowed neither to believe in religion’ nor participate in religious activities ’and would contain a prohibition on the activities of "Self-styled preachers"’; ’Document No. 19 would state that religious work is an important part of the Party’s mass and of our Party’s United Front Work. Therefore, our Party committees at all levels must powerfully direct and organize all departments, including the United Front departments, the Religious Affairs Bureaux ... and all other people’s organizations to unify their thinking, understanding and policies’. It would also state that the only religious professionals permitted to perform religious duties are those who, after examination, are judged ’politically reliable’." 2. (a) Concerns of the Special Rapporteur Situation of the religious communities: statistical data During his visit, the Special Rapporteur attempted to collect statistical data on the five main religious communities in China. The tables below reproduce the information obtained from the Office of Religious Affairs and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). They indicated that the data were sometimes approximate, or even non-existent (as in the case of the Taoist population), because of difficulties in establishing statistics. The Ministry for Public Security told the Special Rapporteur that