Chinese authorities have widened their campaign of cross removal in Zhejiang province by targeting a Catholic church for the first time. Government officials removed the cross of Zhuangyuan Church, Yongqiang parish, just two weeks after Zhejiang’s religious affairs director called for “religious stability” ahead of the G20 summit in September. Ucanews.com reported that the previous evening, the Catholic community in Yongqiang parish called an emergency meeting amid warnings that the cross was about to be removed. They were unable to stop state officials despite resisting a similar attempt to remove the cross last year. “The person in charge of the church did not inform the parish priest about the removal this time, possibly because government officials threatened him to keep quiet,” a church worker told ucanews.com on condition of anonymity. “When the priest realised the situation from others, he called a meeting immediately.” At least 18 Protestant church crosses have been removed in Zhejiang so far this year. Ucanews.com said this was the first time authorities had targeted The much smaller Catholic community – an estimated 210,000 people – amid a campaign in which more than 1,700 crosses have been removed since the end of 2013. In an apparent effort to contain simmering discontent among the millions of Christians who live in Zhejiang province, authorities have ordered no more cross removals in Hangzhou, the capital of the province, before the G20. A priest in Hangzhou who asked not to be named said: “But I am not certain authorities will really stop removing crosses, as policy often changes.”