A Beijing lawyer who represented an underground church in China has landed safely in Taiwan and been granted temporary accommodation amid a crackdown on unofficial worship which has resulted in the detention of eight pastors from the Zion Church.
Wang Xiahong, also known as Ruth Wang, fled mainland China with her two children on Sept. 2 amid increased government pressure related to her legal work with detained Zion Church leaders known as the Zion 8, ChinaAid said in a statement.
The Zion 8 initially faced charges of "illegal use of information networks" under the "Online Code of Conduct for Religious Professionals" after they were detained in a broader crackdown last October.
But this has since been upgraded to include charges related to fraud and illegal business operations stemming from their ministry and the sale of online religious courses.
The church has rejected the allegations.
“Their scheduled Aug. 14–18 trial was later delayed after defense lawyers objected that they had insufficient time to review the case files,” China Aid said, adding defense lawyers claimed the case file consisted of more than 300 volumes of evidence.
“According to the defense, authorities have disregarded essential procedural safeguards, reducing the proceedings to a mere formality.” it said.
Wang, a partner at Beijing’s Vdoor Law Firm, fled mainland China “because of concerns for Wang and her family’s safety” ChinaAid said, adding “retaliation against defense lawyers threatens both access to legal representation and the independence of China’s legal system.”
The Zion Church is an unregistered Protestant congregation that operates outside China’s state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement. About 30 people, pastors and church members, were detained during coordinated raids on Oct. 9–11 last year.
Pastor Ezra Jin, who founded Zion Church in 2007, was also arrested last year but he was released in July after US President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to free all political prisoners of US interest.
The remaining eight are being held at Beihai Detention Center in southern Guangxi province. One estimate suggests the Zion Church has about 5,000 members, and more than 100 sites for worship, ranging from apartments and restaurants to karaoke bars in some 40 cities across China.
Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, called Wang’s departure “a wake-up call to the entire international community,” saying the case demonstrates the pressure faced by lawyers who defend persecuted Christians and other prisoners of conscience.
“All that Lawyer Wang Xiahong did was fulfill the most basic professional responsibility of a lawyer,” he said, adding her involvement with Zion Church leaders led her to fear that she could become a target herself.
Taiwanese media confirmed its Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) had provided “temporary humanitarian accommodation” to a Chinese citizen, after ChinaAid reported Wang had fled to the island.
The MAC did not name Wang but in an exclusive interview she told The Associated Press from Taiwan that she was now considering her options which included resettlement in the United States or Canada.
“I feel that our family is currently facing an uncertain future, and we don’t know what will happen in the future, or whether there is anywhere that can accommodate us,” she said.
About 80 million Protestants and 10-12 million Catholics live in China where all religions are faced with severe communist-government imposed restrictions and demands to conform with state policy that demands the “Sinicization of religion”.