'Unfolding siege': Watchdog group sounds alarm as CCP authorities surround church

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, January 07, 2026

A watchdog group that monitors Christian persecution in China is pleading for international attention as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities appear poised to destroy a prominent church in Wenzhou, a port and industrial city in China's Zhejiang province.

CCP authorities dispatched hundreds of armed police to surround Yayang Christian Church on Monday after forcibly dispersing or arresting Christian residents near the church and prohibiting individuals from recording, according to sources on the ground who spoke to ChinaAid, a U.S.-based non-governmental Christian nonprofit.

Cranes, bulldozers and other large equipment have reportedly shown up outside the church in what the watchdog group described as an "extremely tense" situation. Authorities have reportedly remained tight-lipped about the government's intentions, though the fear is that they intend to remove the large cross atop the church or demolish the entire building.

"Believers are facing intimidation, isolation, and the imminent threat of violent enforcement. This unfolding siege represents a serious escalation in the CCP's systematic campaign of religious persecution under the policy of so-called 'Sinicization of religion,'" ChinaAid said in a press release, referring to the CCP's coercive policy of bringing all religious doctrines, practices and institutions in China under its control.

A photo posted Tuesday on X by ChinaAid founder Bob Fu, who escaped China in 1996 after being imprisoned for leading unregistered house churches in the country, shows that scaffolding had been erected around the church's cross, and Fu claimed "part of the church building is being destroyed forcefully by the CCP [government]."

Update on Yayang Church:
Part of the church building is being destroyed forcefully by the CCP govt on January 6. pic.twitter.com/wnduGjespA

— Bob Fu ??? (@BobFu4China) January 6, 2026

"The mobilization of hundreds of armed police and heavy demolition equipment against a peaceful Christian church is not law enforcement — it is state-sponsored religious persecution. Wenzhou, long known as 'China's Jerusalem,' is once again under siege," Fu said in a statement.

Fu expressed hope despite the alleged government persecution, but urged other nations to stand up to the CCP and its ongoing mistreatment of Christians.

"History has shown repeatedly that no regime can extinguish faith through force. If the world remains silent at this critical moment, it will only embolden the CCP to destroy more churches and trample fundamental human dignity," he added.

ChinaAid's entreaty for international attention regarding Yayang Christian Church comes weeks after the group reported that more than 1,000 police, SWAT and paramilitary units spent days cracking down on Christian churches across at least 12 congregations in Yayang Town. Christian groups in the town have resisted government surveillance and church demolition since Zhejiang province first began removing crosses from churches in 2014.

Last month, local church leaders Lin Enzhao, 58, and Lin Enci, 54, were taken into custody and accused of being "principal suspects of a criminal organization" suspected of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a charge commonly used in political cases.

Multiple residents said information and communication about the crackdown were promptly censored from online platforms.

During a 2023 interview with Fox News, Fu said Christian persecution in China has worsened to a point not seen since the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong.

According to a ChinaAid report released that year, Chinese Christians are imprisoned and tortured routinely, and the government has used the practice of tithes and offerings to trump up fraud charges against house churches to "financially suffocate" them.