The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is urging President Donald Trump to make religious freedom a central issue in his planned September 24 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, arguing that direct presidential intervention can produce results.

The commission wants Trump to press for the release of Hong Kong publisher and Catholic democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, as well as Christian leaders and other people detained over their beliefs. USCIRF chair Asif Mahmood said Trump had already shown in Beijing that the United States would advocate for freedom of religion or belief, and argued that raising the matter again would signal that Washington expects China’s leadership to respect religious practice rather than persecute people for it.¹

USCIRF points to the July release of Zion Church pastor Ezra Jin after an earlier appeal by Trump as evidence that diplomatic engagement can matter. But it stresses that eight other Zion Church leaders detained with Jin remain in custody. Vice chair Cece Heil said Xi’s decision to release Jin showed that he has the power—and, in the commission’s view, an international legal obligation—to free other religious prisoners.¹

Beyond Lai, the commission named Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, and the Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family. It also asked Trump to seek a passport and urgent medical access in the United States for pastor John Cao, a U.S. lawful permanent resident.²

The China appeal is paired with a separate USCIRF warning about Kyrgyzstan. The commission says new restrictions adopted under President Sadyr Japarov, often enforced alongside broadly framed anti-extremism provisions, have intensified state control over communities deemed “non-traditional.” It says independent Muslims and unregistered Christian groups have faced raids, fines, confiscations, imprisonment and physical abuse, and recommends placing Kyrgyzstan on the State Department’s Special Watch List.²

For USCIRF, the two cases differ in scale and setting but share a common concern: governments using law and state power in ways the commission says restrict religious belief and practice.