WASHINGTON—Hudson President and CEO John P. Walters released the following statement on the recent detention of Zion Church leaders by the Chinese Communist Party:
“On Friday, the Chinese Communist Party launched the largest coordinated assault on an underground church in China in four decades. Nearly 30 pastors and church workers affiliated with Zion Church were abducted in simultaneous raids across 10 cities. This was a calculated and sweeping effort to dismantle one of China’s largest and most prominent churches and strike fear into any others—both in China and beyond—that resist the party’s totalitarian ideology.
“Under the leadership of Pastor Ezra Jin, father-in-law of Hudson Fellow Bill Drexel, Zion Church has stood as an exemplar of spiritual conviction and moral courage in the face of tyranny. The unjust detention of the pastor and his fellow church members is a grave violation of religious freedom, and Hudson unequivocally condemns this human rights abuse.
“Hudson Institute stands in full solidarity with Zion Church and all those in China who risk their freedom for their faith. The U.S. government and the international community need to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its numerous ongoing human rights violations.
“As former Vice President Mike Pence said at Hudson in 2018, ‘A country that oppresses its own people rarely stops there. Beijing also aims to extend its reach across the wider world.’ His words ring painfully true today. We echo his and Secretary Marco Rubio’s calls for the detainees’ immediate release.”
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