September 23, 2026 — Ten U.S. senators, led by Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), sent a bipartisan letter to President Donald Trump on September 22, 2026, urging him to press Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Beijing’s persecution of Christian pastors and other religious minorities during their summit in Washington this week.
The letter thanks Trump for the diplomatic pressure that led to the release of Beijing Zion Church founder Jin Mingri, who was released to the United States on July 3 after 266 days in detention, and asks him to keep securing the freedom of detained pastors and people of faith at the top of the summit agenda.
“The United States should continue to promote international religious freedom by calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to end its harassment and persecution of members of religious organizations, unconditionally release all unjustly detained political prisoners imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religious belief, and ensure that detainees who have not yet been released are treated humanely,” the senators wrote.
The letter specifically asks Trump to raise the cases of Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, Pastor Tang Bingyi of the Light of Zion Church in Xi’an, and the eight remaining detained leaders of Beijing’s Zion Church — Gao Yingjia, Wang Lin, Yin Huibin, Wang Zhong, Wang Cong, Liu Zhenbin, Lin Shucheng, and Wu Qiuyu — all of whom remain detained awaiting trial following the October 2025 nationwide crackdown on unregistered churches.
Joining Budd and Kaine as signatories are Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). The letter also highlights the persecution of Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Uyghur Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners.
Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on September 23 for a state visit running through September 25 — his first formal state visit to the United States since 2015 — with a White House arrival ceremony scheduled for September 24.
What you can do
Contact U.S. officials and your representatives to ask that the named cases — Pastor Gao Quanfu and Pang Yu, Pastor Tang Bingyi, and the eight detained Zion Church leaders — be raised with Xi during the summit; share this page to keep the cases visible while the summit is underway.
FreeChina.live verification note: the letter’s existence, signatories, named cases, and quoted text are verified against Senator Budd’s official September 22 press release; background details on the summit schedule are drawn from the White House and attributed press reporting. Free China Movement has not independently verified individual case details beyond the letter’s claims.
Sources
- Office of U.S. Senator Ted Budd, “Budd, Kaine Lead Letter Urging Trump to Prioritize Securing the Freedom of Detained Pastors & People of Faith at U.S-China Summit,” September 22, 2026
- The Christian Post, “Senators urge Trump to press Xi on religious persecution,” September 23, 2026
- The White House, “First Lady Melania Trump Releases Details Ahead of His Excellency Xi Jinping … Visit to The White House,” September 2026