Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) has urged President Joe Biden to meet with the wives of a pair of Chinese human rights defenders who are being detained by the Chinese Community Party.
According to Smith’s webpage, the defenders are Gao Zhisheng and Ding Jiaxi and the wives are named Geng He and Sophie Lou. The wives testified to Congress that the White House has not contacted them about what has happened to their spouses. The hearing was called “China’s Political Prisoners: Where’s Gao Zhisheng,” and Rep. Smith expressed growing concerns about Chines President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on civil liberties in China. Human Rights lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi were sentenced to 14 years and 12 years in prison respectively, and this was discussed in the hearing.
“The United States must stand up to the Chinese Communist Party and make it clear that we will not ignore or trivialize these crimes,” said Smith, who has chaired more than 85 congressional hearings and markups on the CCP’s human rights abuses.
He added, “The Biden Administration must step up and lead a global effort to free China’s prisoners of conscience,” said Smith. “We cannot afford to separate human rights from other interests—especially trade—sacrificing both Chinese victims and American values in the process.”
According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Zhisheng was taken from his home in Shaanxi Province in August 2017 and has been missing ever since. Gao represented Christians and Falun Gong practitioners and was subjected to forced disappearances and imprisoned in the past. In 2006 he disappeared and later was convicted of subversion, and given a suspended sentence. Then in 2011, he was ordered to serve that sentence after being accused of violating his terms. He was released from prison in 2014 but was under home confinement until disappearing again in 2017. According to USCIRF, his whereabouts and condition are unknown.
According to an April 10 report by Axios, in 2019 Xu and Ding were detained after attending an informal gathering with more than 20 lawyers and activists in Xiamen where they discussed governance and human rights. Xu called for President Xi’s resignation in an open letter and was arrested soon after. They both served prison sentences before due to their activism, with Ding serving three-and-a-half years and Xu serving four years.
