After nearly 20 years in Chinese custody, Orange County pastor David Lin was released over the weekend and returned to the United States.
Lin, 68, had been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of contract fraud related to his efforts to raise money to build a church in China. Both Lin's family and the State Department denied the charge.
“We welcome the release of David Lin from prison in the People's Republic of China,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a news conference on Monday, adding that the Biden administration continues to press for the release of other Americans unjustly detained by foreign governments.
Over the past year, Lin has been at the centre of an intense diplomatic campaign.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom raised the case during a visit to Beijing in October. This summer, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken pushed for Lin’s release during a diplomatic meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Last month, national security adviser Jake Sullivan also met with Wang and discussed Lin’s situation.
Lin was one of three Americans the State Department deemed “wrongfully detained” by China, a formal designation that allows the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to negotiate their release. Miller declined to say whether any concessions had been made to China for Lin’s release.
The others still in Chinese custody are Kai Li, a Long Island businessman detained for eight years on espionage charges, and Mark Swidan, detained for 12 years on a drug-related charge.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan congressional committee will hold a hearing to call attention to Li, Swidan and other Americans in Chinese prisons. The San Francisco-based human rights group Dui Hua Foundation, which helped work for Lin’s release, estimates that more than 200 Americans are being held in China against their will.
According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, China detains more Americans than any other foreign country. Detention is defined as being held in police custody or being barred from leaving the country. The Chinese consulate in Los Angeles did not respond to a request for comment.
Lin, who was born in China, is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He began returning to China in the 1990s to spread the gospel, according to China Aid, a Texas-based Christian rights group that was working for his release.
In 2006, the Chinese government detained Lin for his efforts to build a “house church,” or a place of worship independent of state-sanctioned religious institutions. In 2009, Lin was arrested, convicted of fraud, and sentenced to life in prison. His sentence was eventually reduced, and he was scheduled to be released in 2029.
Bob Fu, founder and chairman of China Aid, argued that Lin's conviction was a case of entrapment by the Chinese government.
“David had been promised that he could build a church,” Fu said, “and so he started to rally support, selling some property and borrowing money.”
Fu called Lin's release “wonderful news” but does not believe Chinese authorities are loosening their grip on religious freedom.
“The current regime is not happy with anyone who tries to promote religious freedom,” he said.
In 2019, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom named Lin as part of its prisoners of conscience project. The commission cited Lin’s work in ministry to other prisoners and translating the Bible into Chinese. It also called attention to reports of his deteriorating health and threats to his safety in prison.
On Sunday, Lin was flown from China to San Antonio, according to his daughter, Alice Lin.
“There are no words that can express the joy we feel,” he told Politico. “We have a lot of time to make up for.”
Alice Lin last saw her father in 2010. She and her brother alternated visiting him in prison until their visitation privileges were revoked, she told The Times last year.
During brief phone calls, she said, he did not like to talk about his health, but she believed he was weakening and suffering from malnutrition.
Earlier this year, in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, she made an emotional appeal for her father's release.
“I dream of him meeting my husband and eight-year-old son for the first time,” she wrote. “I long to hold him again. I don’t know how much time either of us has left… He’s older and I have cancer. We can’t afford to wait.”
