Wartime Origins of China’s Protestant Policy

This article examines the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party’s policy toward Protestant Christianity through the lens of wartime governance. It argues that religious regulation under Xi Jinping is best understood as the reactivation of a united front strategy forged in recurrent episodes of war and conflict. Tracing the CCP’s engagement with Protestant institutions and communities from the Republican era through the Cold War to the present, the article shows how Protestantism has consistently been treated as a transnational network subject to co-optation, surveillance, and control. Recovering this historical legacy clarifies contemporary church–state tensions and informs diplomatic and religious engagement amid intensifying U.S.–China rivalry.