According to China Aid Association (CAA), more than 100 leaders of China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) were arrested during the retreat at Wuhan city, Hubei province earlier this week.

About 50 police raided the church meeting and arrested all participants, it was believed that they are from the Public Security Bureau (PSB) of Wuhan city. The CGF was established in the mid-1980s and is one of the five major Chinese house church groups with an estimated membership of at least five million.

One of the senior CGF leaders who was arrested, Xing Jinfu, has been arrested at least three times in the past due to his church activities, and was sentenced to three years re-education through labour in 1996 for his ‘illegal preaching’ CAA said. On the same day, another well-known leader of the CGF, Pastor Shen Xianfeng, was put under house arrest after the PSB thoroughly searched the house where Mr Shen was recovering from leg injuries.

“Given the recent massive arrests of unregistered religious leaders in different areas in China, the international community should be alarmed and take concrete actions to urge the Chinese government to fulfill her signed pledge to protect her citizens’ religious freedom mandated by relevant international human rights covenants.” Bob Fu, president of CAA added.

The CAA also learned from an internal source that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had recently convened a special secret meeting discussing ‘How to deal with religious affairs in China’. A secret directive was issued after the meeting, calling on every level of the Chinese government and the Party to crack down on ‘illegal religious activities’.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the human rights charity working on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs, is joining CAA to urge the Chinese authorities to release these arrested church leaders immediately. CSW is also asking its supporters to write to the Chinese authorities to petition for their release.

Analysts have linked the latest crackdown to concern among Communist authorities about the rapidly growing churches in China. The Chinese President Hu Jintao, who visited Budapest last week has refused to answer questions from reporters about human rights issues.