Three congressional Republicans are calling on President Donald Trump to confront Chinese leader Xi Jinping at their upcoming meeting over the cases of Americans who have been wrongfully detained or barred from leaving China under exit bans.
In a letter dated Oct. 22 to Trump, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) called the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) the “world’s largest hostage-taker.”
“It uses detentions and exit bans to punish and censor Americans, gain leverage over U.S. businesses, and pressure changes in U.S. policy—disproportionately targeting Chinese-American and Uyghur-American communities,” the lawmakers wrote, noting that the CCP has engaged in these practices “with impunity.”
Sullivan and Smith are the chair and cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). Moolenaar is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP.
Trump is slated to meet Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea on Oct. 30, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Oct. 23. Trump last met Xi in person at the G20 summit in Japan in 2019.
The lawmakers cited two Americans—Nelson Wells Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt—saying both have suffered mistreatment and now face life-threatening medical conditions that are being inadequately treated. Both have been held in Chinese custody since 2014 on drug-related charges.
Trump, the lawmakers said, should push for the pair’s immediate humanitarian transfer or release.”
At a CECC hearing in September 2024, Tim Hunt said his sister, Dawn Hunt, was tricked into believing she had won a cash prize, which led her to Hong Kong and China, where she was given a handbag containing illicit drugs.
Speaking at the same hearing, Nelson Wells Sr. said his son, Nelson Wells Jr., was arrested at an airport after Chinese authorities allegedly found drugs in a bag he believed to contain baked goods.
Citing independent reports, the lawmakers said tens of thousands are ensnared in China’s exit bans each year, with most cases kept out of public view.
The lawmakers said Trump should raise two known cases: the wife and son of U.S. permanent resident Gao Zhen, and a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office employee who, according to the State Department in July, had gone to China “in a personal capacity.”
Gao Zhen and his older brother, Gao Qiang, are known for their works of art critical of the CCP. His wife, Zhao Yaliang, and their 7-year-old son, Gao Jia, a U.S. citizen, are barred from leaving China after a family trip there in 2024.
The lawmakers applauded the Trump administration for its “persistent diplomacy” in securing the return of Mao Chenyue, a Wells Fargo executive who had previously been barred from leaving China.
“CCP authorities also detain individuals to silence their U.S.-based family members or influence U.S. policy,” the lawmakers wrote, citing the cases of detained or harassed relatives of Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service journalists and the continued imprisonment of retired Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas.
The lawmakers also urged Trump to instruct his administration to prioritize the cases of Abbas, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, and Ekpar Asat, saying that efforts to “censor Americans or influence long-standing U.S. policy through detentions should be considered a form of hostage-taking.”
Earlier this month, Jin was detained at his home in Beihai, a city in China’s Guangxi Province, as part of the CCP’s broad clampdown on pastors and members of the Zion Church, one of the largest unregistered house churches in the country.
They said Trump should also meet privately with impacted families and coordinate with allies confronting similar abuses.
The lawmakers suggested Trump could use Executive Orders 14348 and 14078 to “ensure accountability for those responsible for unjust detentions, mistreatment, and exit-ban practices.”
In September, Trump signed Executive Order 14348, which would allow the United States to designate nations as state sponsors of wrongful detention, using the threat of sanctions to discourage the detention or hostage-taking of Americans abroad.
“We are grateful for your unwavering dedication to reunite American families—and would appreciate continued top-level engagement until all hostages are liberated, and their families are free from fear, worry, coercion, and censorship imposed on them by the Chinese Communist Party,” the lawmakers wrote.
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