The Chinese Underground in the Spotlight

https://world.wng.org/2018/05/arrested_in_chengdu

The Chinese state knows about the underground church. They know where many of them meet and who attends them. They do not want to simply arrest everyone. The logistics are too difficult. What Beijing really wants is for everyone to formally register and become normalised. At that point, the state can apply the bureaucracy in an efficient and patient manner. The underground knows this and that is in part why they will not capitulate.

Thus we could say there is a 'public' aspect to the house churches of the underground. Everyone knows they exist and thus the fact that everyone isn't arrested every time they meet indicates Beijing 'accepts' their reality, to some degree.

This government 'acceptance' tends to wax and wane. Some groups are always under the gun so to speak while others are certainly known and yet tolerated. But being known means that on other occasions the government can come down hard on them. They're easy to find and indeed some (like the group mentioned in this article) make no serious attempt to hide themselves.

I don't agree with Wang's litigative approach and yet I respect the notion that he's saying we're doing this and we're not going to obey you. I don't believe filing lawsuits is the Christian route, although I will grant in his case he's simply trying to trip up the bureaucracy and entangle it in its own morass.

Everyone is waiting to see what direction Xi Jinping is headed. Many fear a new crackdown is under way and about to intensify. As China is being involuntarily forced into a new Cold War scenario vis-à-vis Washington the pressure will certainly increase on the Chinese Christian underground. Beijing fears that Western intelligence agencies will utilise these groups to launder money and stir up trouble. Bob Fu's China Aid is but one example of this. His organisation has collaborated with the US government and while he seeks to help Christians in China, I contend by allying with Washington and the American Christian Right, he's actually endangering them and destroying their witness by politicising it.