The founder of the Zion Church, a prominent independent or “underground” Protestant church, who was imprisoned last October after “one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single church in decades,” has been released. Other Zion Church leaders detained in the same sweep remain behind bars.
In May, President Trump brought up the case of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri (shown above) during meetings with Xi Jinping in Beijing. Trump also again requested the release of Jimmy Lai but got the impression that Jin had a much better chance (NBC News, July 5, 2026).
Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted on charges including conspiring with foreign forces and publishing seditious material.
The case has prompted widespread condemnation from Western governments and human rights organizations, which have accused Beijing of using national security laws to silence dissent.
Jin’s family said his release came promptly and thanked the Trump administration “for their tremendous leadership,” adding that they believed it could not have happened without the direct intervention from Xi.
“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” the family said in a statement.
Human rights advocates have also welcomed Jin’s release but cautioned that many members of Zion Church still remain behind bars.
“At least eight members of Zion Church remain detained in China,” notes Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch. Seventeen other Zion Church leaders had been detained along with Jin in October. “They should all be freed.”
Whatever Xi’s motive for granting Jin’s release, it is unfortunately not a signal that he and others in the PRC government are now willing to stop harassing and imprisoning people for practicing their religion minus “Sinicizing” oversight and control by the Chinese Communist Party. Even the beginnings of a change that big and fundamental would not escape notice, and the Chinese government’s recent enactment of the Ethnic Unity law signals, if anything, even greater intolerance of religion.
