The International Campaign for Tibet is urging President Donald Trump to ask Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to release the Panchen Lama and to resume “Sino-Tibetan dialogue—especially at this critical juncture, when China’s new so-called ‘Ethnic Unity and Progress Law’ threatens the very foundations of Tibetan identity.”
Shortly after the Dalai Lama recognized six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh Panchen Lama in 1995, he and his family were kidnapped. No one has seen them since.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is urging President Trump “to continue his efforts for the release of freedom of religion or belief prisoners—as well as for the cessation of religious persecution by the Chinese government.”
Vice Chair CeCe Heil: “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. USCIRF also asks President Trump to urge the Chinese government to provide a passport to U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident Pastor John Cao and allow him to reunite with his family and seek urgent medical treatment in the United States.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists is urging the U.S. Congress and President Trump to demand the release of “jailed Hong publisher Jimmy Lai…. Separately, CPJ joined 29 other human rights groups in urging the Chinese leader to free prisoners of conscience, including Lai and veteran Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu ahead of his U.S. visit, as well as abolishing repressive laws such as Hong Kong’s national security law.”
On September 16, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a hearing about Lai’s case and what it “reveals about the continued erosion of freedom of the press, judicial independence, and the rule of law in Hong Kong.” Among the witnesses was Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai.
