[link|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1607-2002Feb12.html|Control freaks persecute religions left and right]

Excerpt:

BEIJING, Feb. 12 -- A religious rights group in the United States has published a set of internal Chinese government documents describing in remarkable detail the suppression of unauthorized religious groups, including efforts to crush underground Catholic churches, use of secret agents to infiltrate illegal Protestant congregations and orders for "forceful measures" against the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.

The eight documents, which include classified speeches and memos by security officials, were smuggled out of the country by Chinese Christians working with sympathetic local police officers and a former Chinese intelligence official, according to the group that released them, the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China, which is based in New York.

The documents confirm the ruling Communist Party's determination to expand its crackdown on Falun Gong into a nationwide campaign against a wide range of unauthorized spiritual organizations, and they offer a rare glimpse into the workings of the vast, secretive security apparatus assigned to carry out the assault.

Robin Munro, a China specialist at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London who examined the documents, said they appeared to be authentic and could be among the most significant internal documents on religious persecution in China seen in the West.

"I've never seen anything like it in such quantity," he said. "These documents are from all around the country, all consistent, all quite draconian, and all expressing implacable hostility toward these groups and determination to eradicate them. The party sees these groups as a mortal threat, and it's really going into overdrive now."