{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415849", "The Washington Times article featuring Smith's commentary'Republican Rep. Chris Smith urges Trump to confront Xi about Americans jailed in China'", "2026-09-21", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Kerry Picket\n\nPublished Monday, September 21, 2026\n\nWith as many as 300 Americans detained in China, where some are subjected to sexual abuse and torture, Rep. Chris Smith is demanding that President Trump make their release a centerpiece of his upcoming summit with China\u2019s President Xi Jinping.\n\nThe New Jersey Republican, who co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, warned that quiet, piecemeal diplomacy has only emboldened Beijing to keep taking American hostages.\n\nMr. Smith, who has been chairing hearings with witnesses testifying about people imprisoned and persecuted by the Chinese government, told The Washington Times that China \u201conly recognizes strength.\u201d\n\nHe cited his 1994 meeting with Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, who warned that Western pleading is held in contempt by the Chinese Communist Party.\n\n\u201cThey only recognize one thing, and that is strength. I met with [Wei Jingsheng] in 1994 when he was released briefly in Beijing,\u201d Mr. Smith said.\n\n\u201cThey rearrested him. \u2026 We worked really hard to make sure he got out, because they were going to kill him. When we, the West, and especially the United States, in any way kowtow \u2026 they hold that in contempt.\u201d\n\nMr. Smith said, \u201cThat\u2019s why we have to be firm. Very civil, but very firm. Our hope is that the president will have a very well-defined list \u2026 to effectuate the release of these individuals.\u201d\n\nLawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been advocating for all American citizens unlawfully or wrongfully detained in China.\n\nAmong the people detained or imprisoned by China, the most well-known include Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai; Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti; American think tank scholar Min Zin; American businessman Kai Li; Americans Dawn Michelle Hunt, Nelson Wells Jr., and John Chen; Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu; and the Zion 8 \u2014 eight pastors and co-workers of Beijing Zion Church.\n\nA senior official told The Washington Times that Mr. Trump raises the issue of Americans and others detained in China every time he has met with Mr. Xi. \u201cIf I had to guess, he will be consistent again this time,\u201d the official said.\n\nMr. Smith is also calling on the Trump administration to elevate China\u2019s travel advisory to Level 4, the most severe, saying the current rating of Level 2 dangerously understates the risk, which includes exit bans and arbitrary criminal charges, to American businesspeople and travelers.\n\n\u201cIf you go there even as a businessman or woman, and your interlocutors and your business associates over there don\u2019t like what you\u2019re doing, good luck,\u201d Mr. Smith said. \u201cThey bring charges, you\u2019re in prison, and you won\u2019t get out anytime soon. \u2026 Once accused, you\u2019re convicted. There\u2019s no due process.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re in a Chinese prison camp, you\u2019re going to be tortured,\u201d Mr. Smith said. \u201cSome of the most horrific tortures on the face of the earth against women \u2014 many of them are sexual. I chaired the hearing on [Dawn] Hunt and with [Nelson] Wells [Jr.], with the family members. And I have to tell you, it was heartbreaking,\u201d Mr. Smith said.\n\n\u201cThe sexual abuse that is being visited upon them, the racial prejudice that is being further exacerbating their situation in prison,\u201d he said.\n\nMr. Smith co-authored legislation known as the Nelson Wells/Dawn Michelle Hunt bill, introduced after a congressional hearing held two years ago, which would establish a formal \u201ccases of concern\u201d framework, require State Department engagement with families, and create an action plan for detained Americans.\n\nHowever, the Foreign Affairs Committee pulled the bill from markup early last year, stalling legislative progress.\n\nThe legislation requires the Secretary of State to develop a diplomatic plan of action within 60 days of enactment to secure detainees\u2019 release, including \u201ca determination on expanded use of the International Prison Transfer Program.\n\nThe bill also calls for an explanation of why allied nations without a prisoner transfer treaty with China have nonetheless used China\u2019s own Law of International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters to get their citizens transferred/released.\n\nThe State Department has so far declined, and Mr. Smith says the agency\u2019s legal interpretation holds that humanitarian prisoner transfers cannot occur without an extradition treaty with China, a position the New Jersey Republican disputes, noting France and other countries have achieved such transfers.\n\nThe Washington Times reached out to the State Department for comment.\n\nMr. Smith said the Trump administration has several legislative tools to deploy to gain leverage over China when the country engages in what has been called hostage diplomacy against the U.S.\n\nThis includes the Global Magnitsky Act sanctions, visa bans, and relinking Most Favored Nation trade status to human rights progress.\n\nMr. Smith criticized previous administrations, particularly the Clinton administration, for delinking human rights from trade in May 1994, calling it a damaging precedent of capitulation.\n\n\u201cWhen Bill Clinton delinked human rights on May 26, 1994 \u2014 human rights from most favored nation status from trade, he sold out the Chinese people like nobody else has ever sold out a group of people.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-23T09:45:16Z", "2026-09-23T09:46:14Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415849"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.578802078962326, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}