A fresh series of arrests against underground Christian churches in China has refocused attention on Tonga’s earlier attempts to establish a Christian mission presence there—an ambition previously championed by members of the Tongan Royal Family.
Chinese police this month detained members of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan province, including its leader Li Yingqiang, after a raid on his home.
According to a report by the BBC, nine people were detained on Tuesday last week after police carried out raids on their homes and a church office in the central Chinese city of Chengdu. The Early Rain Covenant Church told the broadcaster that five of those detained had been released by Wednesday.
The BBC also reported that, more than 1,000 miles away in Wenzhou, authorities began demolishing the Yayang Church building. Video footage obtained by the non-profit organisation ChinaAid, which monitors religious persecution in China, showed the demolition taking place.
Christian groups cited by the BBC said the latest arrests—following similar actions last year—underscore what they describe as the Chinese Communist Party’s determination to suppress churches that do not align with state ideology.
Human Rights Watch said the detentions were part of a pattern of intensified pressure on unregistered Protestant churches.
In Zhejiang province, authorities recently detained around 100 members of Yayang Church and surrounded the building with armed police before demolition work began.
Other recent operations have included coordinated arrests involving leaders and members of the Zion Church and additional underground congregations across multiple cities.
Authorities Cite Legality
Chinese authorities maintain that such measures fall within legal regulations governing religious activity.
The Chinese government frames its crackdown of Christianity policies as being for the benefit of social harmony and national stability through “Sinicization,” or the alignment of religious doctrines with Chinese culture and the ideology of the Communist Party, says a report by the South China Morning Post.
Estimates of China’s Christian population vary widely, ranging from about 44 million registered believers in 2018 to more than 100 million when unregistered house church members are included.
Some projections suggest that, if current trends continue, China — with a population of about 1.42 billion in 2024–2025 — could become the world’s largest Christian nation by 2030.
Evangelical Hopes Reassessed
The recent developments revisit media report from 1998 in which Princess Pilolevu described Tonga’s growing diplomatic engagement with China as an opportunity for Christian outreach.
She said that while she was in China, she had been permitted to offer grace at official meetings, including at the Great Hall of the People and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — a practice she interpreted at the time as a sign of respect for Tonga’s Christian identity.
Nearly three decades after the Princess spoke of a Tongan Christian mission in China, there remains no known Tongan church established there. This stands in stark contrast to the flourishing network of newly founded Tongan congregations across the diaspora, including in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan.
Despite this, the close relationship between the Tongan Royal Family and the Chinese Communist Party has remained strong and continuous.
King Tupou VI of Tonga undertook a state visit to China last year from November 21 to 27 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking the monarch’s first visit in seven years.
Chinese officials said the visit was aimed at strengthening bilateral relations, with discussions held on cooperation between the two countries as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest.
The Tongan constitution allows freedom of religious practice, freedom of worship, and freedom of assembly for religious services, provided these freedoms are not used “to commit evil and licentious acts” or to “do what is contrary to the law and peace of the land.”
