Republicans hawkish on China are calling on President Trump ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to push for the release of unjustly detained Americans and for Beijing to cease a campaign of religious and political persecution.

The meeting between Trump and Xi — set for Wednesday night, or Thursday morning in South Korea — largely focused on coming to a ceasefire in an escalating trade war. But Trump has made securing the release of Americans and those unjustly detained abroad a feature of his two terms in office.

"This administration has already, miraculously, gotten a lot of hostages out in other contexts and this could present an opportunity to further solidify a legacy of freeing prisoners in multiple high stakes regions," said Bill Drexel, the son-in-law of Ezra Jin, whom Chinese authorities arrested on Oct. 10 for his role as a leader in the underground Zion Church. All three of Jin's children are American citizens.

Drexel said they have heard from his father-in-law intermittently through a lawyer, and he expressed concern that Jin is not able to access needed medication for his diabetes.

“What we understand is that initially he wasn't given any medication. They still aren't allowing him to have his prescribed medication, but the state has provided some other medicine. And he's in with roughly 30 or so other individuals in a shared cell. Those are the main outlines of what we know so far.”

Earlier this........

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