Bipartisan Lawmakers Urge Trump to Press Xi on Political Prisoners During China Visit

‘It raises the reputational cost to the relationship and affects China’s standing in the world,’ Rep. Chris Smith said.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 4, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing this week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging him to confront Chinese leader Xi Jinping about political prisoners in China.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan and bicameral panel, sent a letter to Trump on May 11, urging him to raise the unjust detentions of Americans, U.S. lawful permanent residents, and their families.

Raising individual cases helps protect American citizens and businesses in China, the letter states. It was signed by the commission’s leadership, including Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the commission’s chair and co-chair, respectively. Other co-signees include CECC ranking members, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.).

“China’s use of hostage diplomacy and transnational repression does not stay within China’s borders—it affects Americans and their families and is used to silence, intimidate, and coerce people beyond China,” Smith told The Epoch Times.

In the letter, the lawmakers said that raising the issue at the highest levels is a “low-cost, high-return instrument that raises the price of repression” and “denies the CCP a cheap tool of leverage,” making clear the United States will address “arbitrary detention and family intimidation in the normal course of bilateral relations.”

“It raises the reputational cost to the relationship and affects China’s standing in the world,” Smith said.

The lawmakers named four individuals who are currently detained: Chinese pastor Jin Mingri, Uyghurs Dr. Gulshan Abbas and Ekpar Asat, and U.S. permanent resident Gao Zhen.

Jin was detained in October 2025 at his home as part of a broader operation by Chinese authorities targeting the prominent underground Zion Church, during which multiple church leaders were detained across China. According to the letter, his U.S.-based family “has been threatened in an effort to stop them from raising his case with the White House and the Department of State.”

On May 7, Trump told reporters he would bring up Jin’s case during his meeting with Xi.

In a May 9 Instagram video, Jin’s daughter Grace Jin Drexel, who lives in the United States, thanked Trump, saying his remarks gave her family “tremendous hope.”

“My father has been in prison for almost seven months for doing nothing more than leading his church in faith,” she said.

Abbas has been imprisoned for nearly 3,000 days, with her detention widely believed to be linked to her sister’s advocacy for Uyghurs in the United States. Asat, a businessman, was sentenced to 15 years in 2020.

Gao, known for his artwork critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was detained in August 2025. According to the letter, his child, a U.S. citizen, “has been barred from returning home to New York City.”

“In each of these cases, the CCP is not only punishing an individual. It is sending a message both at home and abroad that it can control the lives of people in China and reach into American families and influence conduct in the United States,” the lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers applauded Trump for pledging to raise the case of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy activist who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong, and praised his commitment to securing the release of “unjustly detained Americans,” such as Nelson Wells, Jr., and Dawn Michelle Hunt, both of whom CECC highlighted in a Smith-chaired hearing in 2024.

The lawmakers also asked Trump to direct the State Department to establish a list of priority cases of political prisoners and individuals facing exit bans, for the purpose of engaging in all senior-level diplomatic engagements with Xi or other CCP leaders.

The letter recommends many names to be added to the list, including human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, and two Falun Gong practitioners, Xu Na and Zhou Deyong.

Xu is one of 11 people imprisoned for sharing pandemic-related information with The Epoch Times. Both Xu, an artist, and Zhou, a geological engineer, were handed an eight-year jail term. Zhou’s wife You Ling and his son Zhou You currently reside in Florida.

“My father is an innocent, kind-hearted man, but these people are going after him like this?” the younger Zhou previously told The Epoch Times, after learning of his father’s heavy sentence

Smith said the list would help in protecting Americans.

“Detentions are used to extract concessions and gain economic leverage. Most exit bans target business people,” Smith said.