A church in Hong Kong has alleged it was hacked by Chinese agents while hosting a webinar. The session, hosted by the Church of Christ in China (CCC) Tuen Mun Church, was titled 'The Historic Changes of the Cross Under the Red Flag' and addressed China’s church-state relations.
However, not long after starting the Google Meets session, the church reported that three unknown users identifying themselves as being affiliated with the Chinese government attempted to join the meeting. The individuals said they were from the “National Security Bureau in China- Hong Kong Branch,” “National Security Bureau in China”, and “Shenzhengovernment” respectively and requested to join the meeting. They were denied entry by the administrator.
The church's leader, Pastor Chan Minyi, said that when he mentioned the imposters to those in attendance, an unknown person attempted to remove him from the session. This occurred despite Minyi making it clear that the webinar was not about matters of national security. After the pastor was removed at least ten times, CCC Tuen Mun Church was forced to end the webinar abruptly.
According to persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, Chan was insistent that his coworkers were not the ones attempting to remove him from the meeting and is convinced that “other people” were attempting to hack into the session. He also noted that the webinar was only open to church members and that each of the attendees had their identity verified at the start of the meeting.
Pastor Minyi said that he did not feel intimidated or frightened by the action because he believes the webinar "is speaking the truth and is not in violation of any law". He also added that he would not be reporting the incident to the police, because there is a high likelihood that they are collaborating with China's national security personnel.
