The Chinese government’s campaign to develop “religion with Chinese characteristics [1]” has increased persecution of the country’s Christians, the human rights watchdog ChinaAid has said.
A 53-page report by the Texas-based NGO accuses Chinese officials of destroying churches, imposing strict regulations on religion, and encouraging both non-religious people and officially recognized churches to inform on illegal house churches.
Government policies “encourage reports of illegal religious activities, mainly targeting house churches,” it said.
“Encouraging snitching is a common method applied by the Chinese Communist Party to reinforce its rule,” said ChinaAid. “Authorities used money incentives to motivate non-believers to report house churches’ so-called ‘illegal religious activities’, attempting to produce conflicts and tension between non-Christians and Christians and increase the mistrust between the two people groups.”