A group of US Republican lawmakers is urging President Donald Trump to confront Chinese President Xi Jinping at an expected summit next week about Americans they view as unjustly detained or barred from leaving China, framing Beijing’s use of exit bans and detention as “tools” to gain leverage.
In a letter released on Thursday, three Republicans – Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Representatives Chris Smith of New Jersey and John Moolenaar of Michigan – highlighted the cases of Dawn Michelle Hunt and Nelson Wells, Americans imprisoned in China on drug trafficking charges, as well as exit bans imposed on a US Commerce Department employee and a US-citizen son of dissident Chinese artist Gao Zhen.
They also named cases of detained Chinese citizens with US-based relatives involved in human rights advocacy, including Gulshan Abbas, a retired Uygur doctor; Ezra Jin Mingri, a pastor of the unregistered Zion Church, taken by authorities earlier this month; and Ekpar Asat, a founder of a Uygur-language website.
“The [Chinese Communist Party] is the world’s largest hostage-taker. It uses detentions and exit bans to punish and censor Americans, gain leverage over US businesses, and pressure changes in US policy – disproportionately targeting Chinese-American and Uygur-American communities,” the lawmakers wrote.
Sullivan and Smith are the respective chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which advises Congress and the US president on human rights and the rule of law in China. Moolenaar is the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Trump is expected to meet Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea next week, as part of a stabilising effort after a recent escalation in tensions.
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