Chinese Regime Releases Jailed US Citizen After Nearly 20 Years

David Lin was a pastor on a missionary trip to China when he was arrested in 2006; in 2009, he was sentenced to life in prison.

U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns speaks during a climate finance roundtable discussion at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on July 8, 2023. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese regime has released David Lin, a U.S. citizen and pastor who was on a missionary trip to China and helping a group of house Christians when he was arrested in 2006. In 2009, he was sentenced to life in prison.

“We welcome David Lin’s release from prison in the People’s Republic of China,” a State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times. “He has returned to the United States and now gets to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years.”

Christianity under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rule requires registration and worship under CCP-controlled churches, and independent Christians who do not follow CCP doctrines are subjected to religious persecution. They are also known as house Christians because they gather instead in private homes.

Last year, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns was able to meet with three U.S. citizens who, according to the United States, have been wrongfully detained by China. He met with businessman Kai Li, jailed on charges of spying; Mark Swidan, a Texas-based businessman who was given the death penalty on drug charges; and Lin.

Lin’s family has been campaigning for his release for years, and shortly before President Joe Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2022, Lin’s life sentence was reduced to 24 years.

According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Lin was, until 2019, translating the Bible into Chinese and ministering to his fellow prisoners but had stopped; at the same time, reports emerged of Lin’s declining health and concerns for his safety.

Lin’s daughter Alice Lin gave her first media interview that year, telling Washington Watch that her family had a “huge scare” when her father reached out urgently to ask the U.S. Embassy to have his Bible translations removed. Her family received a box with Lin’s Bible translations, as well as his Bible and the letters, pictures, and memorabilia that his family had sent him over the years, she said. They knew something was wrong. USCIRF added Lin to the Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project upon Alice Lin’s interview.

The United States and China most recently held diplomatic talks in late August, when national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with high-ranking CCP officials and said securing the release of wrongfully detained U.S. citizens is a priority.

“These meetings were also about managing tough issues, as I said, and areas of disagreement,” Sullivan said at a press conference after the meetings. “It is a top priority for this administration to resolve the cases of American citizens who are wrongfully detained or subject to exit bans in China.”