China has a new tactic when hunting down Christian leaders they can’t find – they go after their families and members of the congregation.

BTJ is receiving new reports from Christian partners inside China that the government is going after the family members of pastors and Christian leaders who are on the run. They are imposing fines that they know the family members cannot pay and threatening them with arrest when they are unable to pay the exorbitant fees.

Seeing their families suffer has caused many Christian leaders and pastors untold anguish and pain. If fining and arresting family members does not work, then the government takes the next step, by putting pressure on the church. In some cases, it is being reported that entire congregations are being detained in efforts to find pastors and underground house church leaders.

This is not a new tactic. China has been caught red-handed terrorizing the families of individuals they oppose. In an explosive new report shared by Back to Jerusalem, the Communist Party of China have been running 110 Chinese police stations in cities around the world including New York, London, Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Toronto, and many others. Since BTJ shared this report, the information has been even more revealing.

China does not like Christian leaders being in areas that they do not know – even if they travel abroad. These Chinese police stations are extremely effective ways for the Communist Party to extend their power and influence in nations outside of China. In the period between April 2021 and July 2022, Chinese authorities claimed that 230,000 Chinese nationals were successfully “persuaded to return” to China to face criminal proceedings for their actions because of the presence of their overseas police stations.

The police stations are not necessarily marked with signs outside the door that say “CHINESE POLICE STATIONS,” but instead are cooperative efforts made up of several thousand agents based in capital cities all over the world, working in cooperation with Chinese police to enforce Chinese law in other countries.

According to the report, “On 23 May 2019, People’s Public Security News published the article《探索爱侨护侨助侨机制，设立 警侨驿站海外服务中心 青田警方积极打造“枫桥经验” 海外版》48 on the Qingtian County Public Security Bureau’s “innovative set up of Overseas Police Service Centers,” providing “convenient services for the vast number of overseas Chinese,” in a cited 21 cities in 15 countries, including Rome, Milan, Paris, Vienna, Austria, etc., “hiring 135 Qingtian-born overseas Chinese leaders and leaders of overseas Chinese groups,” and “establishing a team of more than 1,000 overseas grid service information personnel,” coordinated by a “domestic liaison center.”

The overseas police stations use three main ways to “convince” law breakers to return to China and it is similar to the way that they are dealing with Christian leaders and pastors.

The first is to threaten personal harm, injury or loss if they do not return to China to face their punishment. The second is to threaten personal harm, injury, or loss to friends, family, parents, and children if they do not return. The third and least used option is to kidnap the individual and forcefully transport them back to China.