Colombo, Dec. 13 (LatestNewsX) – Beijing’s tightening grip on religious expression seems to be becoming even harsher, as recent detentions of church leaders underscore a broader move to bring all religious practice under state control, a new report said on Saturday.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign against unregistered Christian communities escalated sharply in November with the formal arrest of 18 leaders from one of the country’s most influential underground churches. Rights group ChinaAid announced that the detentions – part of a sprawling, multi-city clampdown – signal an increasingly aggressive posture toward independent religious activity, deepening concerns about the shrinking space for faith outside state-sanctioned channels,” a report in Sri Lankan media outlet Ceylon Wire News detailed.
“The arrests, which follow weeks of nationwide raids targeting members of the Beijing Zion Church, underscore the Chinese regime’s growing intolerance for religious networks operating beyond the control of the state’s ideological apparatus. For many observers, the developments reflect not only a hardening of the CCP’s longstanding suspicion of unregulated religion but also its willingness to deploy criminal charges to dismantle organisational structures it views as politically threatening,” it added.
On Oct. 9, police in Beihai, a coastal city in southern China, launched a coordinated raid on the Beijing Zion Church, a prominent house‑church movement that began in 2007. In the subsequent days, almost 30 pastors, ministers, and congregants were taken by authorities across several provinces—including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan—highlighting the scale and planning behind the crackdown.
ChinaAid noted that 18 people who remain in custody were formally charged on Nov. 18 after weeks of being held without communication. The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom quickly condemned the arrests, urging Beijing to release those detained and to stop targeting unregistered Christian groups.
Yet the conversation inside China remains tightly censored. Posts about the arrests were swiftly removed from heavily monitored social media, and state media offered no reaction. “For China’s underground churches, the sweeping crackdown on Zion Church represents a stark reminder of the CCP’s determination to dismantle religious networks it cannot control. The arrests of 18 leaders—not merely congregants—signal a hardening approach: an effort to eliminate the organisational backbone of one of China’s most influential unregistered churches,” it stressed.
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