Washington: A US religious freedom commission has urged President Donald Trump to seek the release of the Panchen Lama and other prisoners during his planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, placing their cases before the leaders’ next meeting.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, or USCIRF, issued the appeal on September 14. Its statement identified September 24 as the date of the planned summit and called on Trump to press Beijing to end religious persecution.
The commission’s list includes Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, whom it identifies as the Panchen Lama, and his family. It also named Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, and Jimmy Lai.
“USCIRF again asks President Trump to seize the opportunity during his upcoming summit with President Xi to call for the release of Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, Jimmy Lai, the Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family,” Vice Chair CeCe Heil said.
The commission pointed to the release of another religious leader as grounds for renewing the appeal.
According to its statement, Chinese authorities freed Pastor Ezra Jin of the Zion Church in July and allowed him to move to the United States to reunite with his family. USCIRF said this followed a direct appeal by Trump during a summit with Xi in Beijing in May.
“In releasing Pastor Jin, President Xi showed that he has the power to release FoRB prisoners if he so desires—and indeed he has an obligation to do so under international law,” Heil said.
FoRB refers to freedom of religion or belief.
The commission said eight Zion Church leaders arrested alongside Jin remained detained. It named them as Wang Lin, Yin Huibin, Wang Cong, Lin Shucheng, Liu Zhenbin, Gao Yingjia, Elder Wang Zhong and Wu Qiuyu.
USCIRF said their arrests formed part of a crackdown on Christian house churches launched by the Chinese Communist Party in 2025. Police arrested Jin and dozens of others during that campaign, according to the statement.
Chair Asif Mahmood urged Trump to repeat his intervention on behalf of religious prisoners.
“Speaking up again sends a clear and consistent signal that religious freedom for all is a priority for the United States and that it expects the CCP to respect its population rather than persecute millions for practicing their faith,” Mahmood said.
The commission also raised the case of Pastor John Cao, whom it described as a US lawful permanent resident. It asked Trump to urge Chinese authorities to issue Cao a passport so he could rejoin his family and obtain urgent medical treatment in the United States.
(IANS)
