Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has called upon the Chinese government to allow a 60-year-old pastor with stage four cancer to return to the United States, where he holds permanent residency.
Pastor John Cao served a seven-year prison sentence after being charged with “illegal border crossing” in 2017. The charges relate to Pastor Cao’s work on the Chinese-Myanmar border, where he assisted in the establishment of 16 schools in the area. He was charged after returning to China’s Yunnan Province from Myanmar.
Although he was released in 2024, Pastor Cao is effectively barred from leaving the country as the authorities have refused to return his passport to him. According to CSW, this is believed to be linked to an incident in 2024, when he was held for questioning after a police raid on an unregistered church. Pastor Cao was accused of “illegal evangelism” and of conducting public baptisms.
Pastor Cao’s wife and sons live in the US and hold US citizenship. Pastor Cao himself has held a US green card for over three decades.
CSW has joined with a number of other Christian organisations in urging US President Donald Trump to raise Pastor Cao’s case and others like it, with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is due to visit the US this week.
CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said, “CSW condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy of imposing exit bans on religious leaders across China to restrict freedom of religion and belief in an attempt to silence and prevent voices speaking out about human rights abuses in China on the international stage.
“We call on China to immediately return missionary Pastor John Cao’s passport so that he can be reunited with his family in the US as he faces the difficult battle against late-stage cancer. We also call on US President Trump to raise this case in his meetings with President Xi from 24 September in Washington DC.”
