Ahead Of Xi Summit, Trump Urged To Free Panchen Lama

WASHINGTON, DC-The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 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.

The independent US federal commission issued the appeal 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 USCIRF 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.

The commission pointed to the release of another religious leader as grounds for renewing the appeal.

According to USCIRF, 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. The commission said the release followed a direct appeal by Trump during his summit with Xi in Beijing in May.

USCIRF 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.

The commission said their arrests were part of a crackdown on Christian house churches launched by the Chinese Communist Party in 2025. (IANS)