Tag: Political Prisoners

‘Suddenly, I Was Free’: A Chinese Pastor’s Journey From Jail to the U.S.

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The Chinese police officers hurried the pastor out of the jail cell where he’d been held for 266 days. They hustled him into a van, then onto a train — where he sat surrounded by about two dozen officers, many with cameras trained on him. The pastor, Jin Mingri, who founded one of China’s most prominent underground churches, wondered aloud if he was being transferred to a secret prison. An officer laughed and told him to think more positively. Hours later, Mr. Jin, who also goes by Ezra, had been…

U.S. Presses China to Free American Seismologist Accused of Spying

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An American seismologist who did contract research for the U.S. government related to nuclear tests in North Korea has been detained in China for nearly two years and accused of spying, his family and supporters said. Youlin Chen, who was born in China, was detained by Chinese state security officers at a Beijing airport in November 2024, when he was about to return to home in Boston. Dr. Chen’s family and supporters said they were making his case public for the first time this week in the hope that the…

China Frees Pastor Detained in Crackdown on Religion After Trump’s Urging

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The pastor of a prominent underground church in China who was detained last year as part of a crackdown on religious activity was released on Friday, his daughter said, less than two months after President Trump raised his case with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. The pastor, Jin Mingri, who also goes by the name Ezra, was freed after more than 250 days in custody and allowed to leave for the United States. Mr. Jin, the pastor and founder of Zion Church, was detained in October and later charged with “illegally…

Imprisoned Chinese Journalist Seeks Medical Parole for Lung Tumor

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A prominent Chinese journalist, who was imprisoned on spying charges that he denies, is caught in a deadlock with the authorities in Beijing after they rebuffed his request for medical parole to remove a potentially cancerous lung tumor, his son said on Thursday. The journalist, Dong Yuyu, 64, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2024. He was an editor for a Chinese Communist Party-run newspaper, Guangming Daily, but in past years wrote essays that called for political liberalization. He mixed with foreign journalists and…

Chinese Dissident Who Fled by Sea to South Korea Lands in Canada

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About a month ago, the Chinese dissident Dong Guangping spent 36 hours at sea in an inflatable rubber boat with a sputtering engine, a peeling face and a dying phone before getting detained in South Korea. But on Saturday, Mr. Dong, 68, told The New York Times that he had flown to Toronto, ending a treacherous and decade-long search for freedom. He also recounted details of his voyage across the Yellow Sea from China to South Korea for the first time. Mr. Dong, a critic of China’s ruling Communist Party,…

China Arrests U.S. Scholar on Spying Charge

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Chinese security officers have arrested an American citizen who studies politics in Myanmar, an authoritarian nation on China’s southwest border, and accused him of endangering national security, according to people with knowledge of the arrest. The U.S. citizen, U Min Zin, was arrested in early June, the people said on the condition of anonymity because of sensitive diplomacy surrounding the previously unreported arrest. He disappeared on June 3 while in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, which borders Myanmar. American diplomats visited him on Friday. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman…

In Taiwan, ‘Mainland Spouses’ From China Become a Focus of Infiltration Fears

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Among the hundreds of thousands of Chinese women who have settled in Taiwan after marrying men from the island, Hsu Chun-ying stood out for her political ambition. She organized other migrants from China, mingled with prominent Taiwanese politicians and came close to becoming a candidate for the legislature. Now she is in jail, fighting charges that she was recruited by the Chinese Communist Party to secretly infiltrate and influence Taiwan, the island democracy that Beijing claims as its territory. Prosecutors have accused her of taking instructions from Chinese officials to…

A Dissident Escapes China by Rubber Boat and Lands in South Korea

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A Chinese critic of his country’s ruling Communist Party had already escaped to Thailand and Vietnam and tried swimming to Taiwan — only to be sent back to mainland China each time. He was jailed, prohibited from working and barred from leaving, despite international calls to let him seek asylum elsewhere. Now the dissident, Dong Guangping, 68, is in custody in South Korea after escaping China by sea, two of his friends and his lawyer told The New York Times. They said he arrived in a rubber boat late Monday.…

Why the Trump-Xi Summit Matters, Even if Little Seems to Come of It

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President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to meet in Beijing this week for a high-stakes summit that could shape the next stage of rivalry between the world’s two major powers. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are expected to discuss the war in Iran, trade, Taiwan and other points of contention during a two-day summit beginning on Thursday. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi last met in October in South Korea, where they agreed to pause a bruising trade war in which the U.S. imposed triple-digit tariffs on Chinese…

Where Are Hong Kong’s Leading Pro-Democracy Figures Now?

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In 2019, Hong Kong erupted into the most stunning expression of public anger with Beijing in decades. Protesters broke into the legislature and vandalized it. They bought full-page advertisements in international newspapers, criticizing the government. Lawmakers hurled unsavory objects in meetings to protest unpopular bills. In the years since then, China has waged an expansive crackdown on Hong Kong to crush the opposition. Beijing directly imposed a national security law on the city in 2020 that gave the authorities a powerful tool to round up critics, including a prominent pro-democracy…