The Chinese government is engaging in a three-phase strategy to eradicate Protestant house churches, according to the China Aid Association. The strategy calls for local authorities, in phase one, to conduct a thorough investigation of house churches and create dossiers on each of them. In phase two, authorities would strongly encourage unregistered churches to affiliate with the government-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement. In phase three, to be completed within 10 years, churches refusing to comply would be shut down.