The prime minister’s visit to China from 31st January to 2nd February comes as new restrictions on churches are due to come into force this week. The rules will impact those which aren’t registered with the Government.
Andre Boyd with Release International told Premier persecution against Christians in the country has become dire.
“The government wants all churches to be registered, by that, they want to control them. They want to control the appointment of pastors; they want to control what these churches will teach,” he said.
“In all conscience some Christians simply can’t do that. Christians who are not part of the official system under the government control are being branded as evil cults.”
In Yunnan Province, six members of an unregistered church group were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison for ‘using an evil cult to organize to undermine law enforcement’ this month.
Also this month, Chinese authorities in Shanxi Province demolished the 50,000-member Golden Lampstand (Jindengtai) Church using dynamite, and two pastors in Guizhou, one of whom is in prison, were fined over $1 million for collecting ‘illegal’ donations from members of the congregation.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said while talks about expanding trade are important, they shouldn’t come at the expense of challenging Chinese leaders on their treatment of…
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