Places of worship for religious groups and people should be protected by legislation, said Liu Bonian, a member of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on Thursday.

As vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, Liu said courts won't accept cases of infringing places of worship because there are no relevant laws.

There are policies to protect places of worship, but it's not enough and cannot replace legislation, Liu added.