Rep. Chris Smith is calling on the president to help free political prisoners ahead of the U.S.–China summit.
The House of Representatives is set to vote on a resolution urging President Donald Trump to make the freedom of political prisoners in China a priority in talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, including during this week’s summit in Beijing.
H.Res.1259, introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, names five individuals that he said were “unfairly punished” by Beijing for exercising freedom of speech and religion.
The vote is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, ahead of Trump’s two-day trip to China, The Epoch Times has learned.
“Shamefully, the People’s Republic of China currently detains thousands of political and religious prisoners, which include American citizens and the family members of U.S. nationals,” Smith told The Epoch Times.
He said the resolution calls out the Chinese regime’s “abysmal record of human rights abuses and arbitrary detentions” and urges the U.S. president to raise these concerns at their upcoming meeting.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been waging a war against faith for more than 100 years, with successive Party leaders having launched repeated campaigns to regulate, suppress, and control religious groups in China.
In March, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) again called on the U.S. government to designate China as a country of particular concern over the suppression, which one of the commissioners described as “across the board” and “systematic.”
The five individuals mentioned in the resolution are Chinese pastors Jin Mingri and Gao Quanfu; Gao’s wife, Pang Yu; retired Uyghur medical doctor Dr. Gulshan Abbas; and Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
In May last year, Gao, pastor and founder of a house church called Light of Zion Church, was detained at his home and accused of “using superstitious activities to undermine the implementation of law,” according to the USCIRF.
Two months later, his wife, Pang, another church leader, was also detained. The resolution noted that she has since been “denied access to critical prescription medication.”
Their son, Gao Pu, confirmed the concerns to The Epoch Times.
By Eva Fu and Frank Fang
