China-backed separatist authorities in the north-east of Myanmar’s Shan state are cracking down on Christians over alleged links to Western missionaries, it was reported in December.
The United Wa State Army, which controls the Wa Special Region that borders China’s Yunnan province, issued an edict ordering an investigation into ‘missionaries’ and banning the construction of new churches.
Plea for prayer
Within a fortnight of the order being issued, Baptist Christians in Shan State pleaded for prayer in a letter to the outside world, reporting that authorities had, by that point, already closed 52 churches, destroyed three others and arrested 92 pastors. They had also shut down a Bible School and arrested 41 of its students, sending them to work as military porters, who are known to sometimes be worked to death by carrying heavy loads.
