By The Staff Published May 13, 2026 WASHINGTON, D.C. — As President Donald Trump prepares for a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, bipartisan pressure is mounting for the administration to prioritize human rights and the release of political prisoners held by the Chinese Communist regime. Leading that effort is New Jersey’s Congressman Chris Smith (R, NJ-04), co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Smith revealed this week that more than 100 lawmak... Read more

U.S. Representative Chris Smith speaks to the press. — March 24, 2026, Washington. Photo by Shotaro Hata. By Sotaro Hata Published May 13, 2026 at 9:51 AM On May 11, U.S. President Trump indicated his intention to raise the case of Jimmy Lai (78)—the founder of the now-defunct Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, who is currently imprisoned following his conviction for violating the Hong Kong National Security Law—during an upcoming summit meeting. Representative Chris Smith (Republican), a U.S. Ho... Read more

By Catie Edmondson Published May 13, 2026 Human rights activists, lawmakers and family members are calling on President Trump to press China’s leader, Xi Jinping, for the release of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media mogul, and Dong Yuyu, a prominent Chinese journalist, at the summit in Beijing. Supporters have framed the meeting as a critical opportunity for Mr. Trump to use his leverage to win the freedom of prominent members of the press and religious leaders who have been jailed, amid a broa... Read more

By Sudiksha Kochi Published May 13, 2026 at 6:58 PM ET The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution urging President Trump to push to secure the release of five people detained in China. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), passed the lower chamber by a vote of 414-0. It states that Trump “should prioritize securing the release of Pastor Jin Mingri, Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, and Jimmy Lai detained by the People’s Republic of China dur... Read more

By Joey Fox Published May 13, 2026 at 7:14 PM The House unanimously passed a resolution led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) tonight urging President Donald Trump to prioritize the release of Chinese political prisoners, among them Hong Kong activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai, in future engagements with the Chinese government. Smith has made Lai, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail under Hong Kong’s 2020 national security law, a priority in Congress, even bringing Lai’s daughter to this year... Read more

By Olivia Enos Published May 13, 2026 at 10:47 PM ET For over seven years, Ziba Murat has been waiting for news that her mother Gulshan Abbas, a peaceful Uyghur doctor unjustly detained by the CCP, would be released. Seven birthdays have passed. Seven-almost-eight anniversaries of her detention have gone by. And most recently, her eighth Mother’s Day took place with no word from China on when her innocent mother would be returned to her family in America. The more years that go by, the harder it... Read more

By Dan Hart Published May 13, 2026 With President Trump set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday for a high stakes summit on issues like the Iran war, trade policies, and artificial intelligence, lawmakers and human rights advocates say that the American leader must address perhaps the most shocking and gruesome human rights violation uncovered in the 21st century: the communist regime’s ongoing clandestine organ transplant industry fueled by harvesting the organs of prisoners of con... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), recently joined EWTN News Nighty’s Veronica Dudo and LiveNOW From Fox’s Ryan Schmelz to highlight his recent letter to President Trump, which garnered the bipartisan support of more than 100 lawmakers, urging the President to call for the release of Hong Kong political prisoner Jimmy Lai during his upcoming meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Smith also raised the cases of other political prisoners ... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, recently sat down with Ryan Schmelz of LiveNOW From Fox to expose the dangerous and underreported complications of the chemical abortion pill mifepristone and urge the Supreme Court to reverse the Biden Administration’s dangerous mail-order abortion drug policy. “What was largely unknown is that [mifepristone] is very dangerous to women as well. The most recent study that was done found that one out of every eleven women ha... Read more

By Tessa Gervasini Published May 12, 2026 at 4:41 PM ET Daughter of imprisoned Catholic activist Jimmy Lai said she is feeling “hopeful” ahead of President Donald Trumpʼs visit to China where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “My father, his fight, the rights and values that he stands for, and the urgency of his case is one that speaks to a lot of people,” Claire Lai said in an interview with EWTN News. “And we’re just extremely grateful for the people who have taken his case to he... Read more