US calls for China to release Christian lawyer ahead of President’s Xi Jinping’s state visit

The United States demanded on Tuesday that China release a well-known Christian lawyer and other religious figures who were detained last month before meeting a visiting senior US diplomat.

In addition, the US also urged China and other nations to release female political prisoners.

The calls come before this month’s visit by President Xi Jinping to the US, the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly and the 20th anniversary of a 1995 global conference on women that was hosted by Beijing.

David Saperstein, the US ambassador at-large for religious freedom, said the August 25 detentions of lawyer Zhang Kai and the others were a “particularly alarming development” as it came while he was in China preparing to meet the group the next day.

He said other religious figures whom he had met had also been detained or harassed.

Saperstein called the actions “outrageous”, particularly as Chinese authorities had encouraged his visit from August 20 to 28 to take stock of religious freedom in the country.