Senators fire off bipartisan letter asking Trump to press Xi on religious persecution

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, September 23, 2026

A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. senators sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Tuesday urging him to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on Beijing's persecution of Christian pastors and other religious minorities during their bilateral summit this week in Washington.

Led by Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., the letter expressed gratitude to Trump for the diplomatic pressure that led to the release of Beijing Zion Church founder Ezra Jin, who was released to the U.S. on July 3 as a goodwill gesture from Xi following Jin's 266 days of detainment.

The letter emphasized that the work in pressuring the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to relent in its crackdowns on people of faith is not over. Other senators who signed the letter included 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 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 letter said.

Citing Trump's success with securing Jin's release, the senators requested that he "continue keeping those persecuted for their faith in China, including ethnic and religious minority groups such as Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Uyghur Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners, top of mind in conversations with President Xi."

The letter highlighted the cases of Pastor Gao Quanfu, pastor of Light of Zion Church in Xi'an and his wife; Pastor Tang Bingyi, also from Light of Zion Church; as well as the remaining eight leaders from Jin's Zion Church in Beijing: Gao Yingjia, Wang Lin, Yin Huibin, Wang Zhong, Wang Cong, Liu Zhenbin, Lin Shucheng and Wu Qiuyu.

The letter comes ahead of Xi's first formal state visit to the U.S. since 2015, where he will meet with Trump at the White House on Thursday and Friday amid escalating tensions between their countries over Iran, Taiwan, trade, human rights and other issues.

Last week, an event at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, which was sponsored by various religious freedom advocacy groups, featured an array of speakers who highlighted the CCP's escalating oppression of Christians and other religious minorities.

Among the speakers was Ding Shuqi, a young pastor from the persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China. Ding urged the world to remember the suffering of Chinese Christians, whose freedoms he said are being crushed by the CCP. He also recounted how he was physically tortured in prison after being among the more 100 Early Rain members who were detained in 2018.

Ding, who mentioned other members of his church who remained imprisoned, noted the pervasive, widespread nature of the CCP's persecution against house churches, which he warned is a direct assault against the basis of all human rights.

Cherie Geng, wife of imprisoned Zion Church Pastor Gao Yingjia, told The Christian Post in an interview last month that the continued imprisonment of her husband and seven other Beijing Zion Church leaders has united Christians in China and refined her own faith.

Speaking by phone from Thailand, where she fled with her 6-year-old son after the CCP's nationwide crackdown last October on unregistered house churches, Geng also expressed hope for revival and urged prayer for the officials persecuting her husband.

"Pray for the persecuted church and pray for unity; and also pray for the country, for the authorities, for them to be able to have justice and to see the value of Christianity," Geng said.