O.C. pastor imprisoned in China is released after nearly 20 years

After nearly 20 years in Chinese custody, Orange County pastor David Lin was released over the weekend and has returned to the United States.

Lin, 68, had been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of contract fraud related to his efforts raising money to build a church in China. Both Lin’s family and the State Department denied the charge.

“We welcome David Lin’s release from prison in the People’s Republic of China,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a news briefing Monday, adding that the Biden administration is continuing to push for the release of other Americans wrongfully detained by foreign governments.

For the last year, Lin has been at the center of an intense diplomatic campaign.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom brought up the case during a visit to Beijing in October. This summer, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken pressed for Lin’s release during a diplomatic meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Last month, national security advisor Jake Sullivan also met with Wang and discussed Lin’s situation.

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Lin was one of three Americans that the State Department considered “wrongfully detained” by China, a formal designation that allows the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to negotiate for their release. Miller declined to say whether any concessions had been made to China for Lin’s release.

The others still in Chinese custody are Kai Li, a businessman from Long Island, N.Y., held for eight years on espionage charges, and Mark Swidan, held for 12 years on a drug-related offense.

On Wednesday, a bipartisan congressional committee will hold a hearing to draw attention to Li, Swidan and other Americans in Chinese prisons. The San Francisco-based human rights group Dui Hua Foundation, which helped work for Lin’s release, estimates that more than 200 Americans are being held in China against their will.

China detains more Americans than any other foreign country, according to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, with detention defined as either being held in police custody or being banned from leaving the country. The Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles did not respond to a request for comment.

Lin, who was born in China, is a naturalized American citizen. He began returning to China in the 1990s to spread the gospel, according to China Aid, a Texas-based Christian advocacy group that was working for his release.

In 2006, the Chinese government detained Lin for his efforts to build a “house church,” or a place of worship independent from state-sanctioned religious institutions. In 2009, Lin was arrested, convicted of fraud and sentenced to life in prison. His sentence was eventually reduced, and he was scheduled to be released in 2029.

Bob Fu, founder and president of China Aid, argued that Lin’s conviction was a case of entrapment by the Chinese government.

“David had been promised that he could build a church,” said Fu, “and so he started to build support, selling some properties and borrowing money.”

Fu called Lin’s release “wonderful news” but doesn’t believe Chinese authorities are loosening their grip on religious freedom.

“The current regime is not happy with anyone trying to advance religious freedom,” he said.

In 2019, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom named Lin as part of its prisoners of conscience project. The commission cited Lin’s work ministering to fellow prisoners and translating the Bible into Chinese. It also called attention to reports of his declining health and to threats to his safety in prison.

On Sunday, Lin was flown from China to San Antonio, according to his daughter, Alice Lin.

“No words can express the joy we have,” she told Politico. “We have a lot of time to make up for.”

Alice Lin last saw her father in 2010. She and her brother traded off visiting him in prison until their visiting privileges were canceled, she told The Times last year.

During brief phone calls, she said, he didn’t like to discuss his health, but she believed he was growing frail and suffering from malnutrition.

This year, in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, she made an emotional plea for her father’s release.

“I dream of him meeting my husband and my 8-year-old son for the first time,” she wrote. “I yearn to hug him again myself. I don’t know how much time either of us has left.… He is elderly now, and I have cancer. We can’t afford to wait.”

With her father now back in the U.S., she is “overjoyed and grateful for all those who played a role in bringing him home.”

“We appreciate the attention to my dad’s return and the awareness it brings for other families in this situation,” she wrote in a text message. “Right now we are focused on my dad’s health and well-being as we spend time together as a family for the first time in many years.”