Published on: 14 November 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY
John (Sanqiang) Cao, a Chinese national, is a Protestant pastor and missionary. His wife and two children are U.S. citizens. Since 1990, Cao has been a U.S. permanent resident.
Cao served as a pastor to churches in the USA and established Bibles schools in China. For the past ten years, his work has focused on humanitarian aid to Wa State, Myanmar, which included building of 16 schools (with funds raised from churches in China) for 2,000 impoverished minority children, working to fight poverty, increasing medical access, and campaigning against drug use in the region.
Due to this work, Cao traveled regularly between Yunnan, China, and Wa, Myanmar, using ferries to cross the river that serves as a border dividing the two countries. According to sources, the ferries are small rafts that can shuttle 2-3 people at one time across the river. This method of crossing the border has been used for centuries by locals with little to no government enforcement on passport checks or border passes. Chinese officials were aware that Cao crossed the border in this manner.
On March 5, 2017, security agents in Yunnan province captured Cao, along with his colleague, a Chinese Christian teacher, as they stepped off the ferry on a return trip to China. Cao was detained on charges of “illegal border crossing.” In 2018, Cao was officially charged with “organizing illegal border crossings” – a charge that is used in crimes involving human trafficking, not in the prevention of humanitarian aid to impoverished children.
At the time of Pastor Cao’s arrest there were about a dozen people who crossed the border at the same time and in the same manner. Only Cao and his Christian colleague were arrested and criminally prosecuted. Therefore, Pastor Cao’s arrest was because of his Christian faith.
According to reports, prison conditions where Cao is being held are inhumane and Cao has been denied proper medical care. He suffers from severe back pain, headaches, inflammation, and dental issues and has experienced significant weight loss (roughly 22 kilograms).
Pastor Cao is being held in Kunming No. 2 Prison. His wife and children reside in the US.
TIMELINE
March 5, 2017: Detained for “illegally crossing the border.”
March 28, 2017: Formally arrested on the basis of a warrant stating “illegal border crossings” as the reason for arrest (Art. 322, CCL).
February 9, 2018: Trial held. Cao’s application for bail denied on four occasions preceding the trial.
March 22, 2018: Convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison. The initial charge was changed to “organizing illegal border crossings.”
July 25, 2019: The Pu’er Intermediate Court upheld Cao’s sentence.
September 2019: The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Cao was “was singled out due to his Christian faith and that the measures implemented against him were done so in a manner that constituted profiling and discrimination on the basis of Mr. Cao’s religious identity.”
February 7, 2023: Cao’s mother, Sun Jinhuan, who is in her eighties, visited her son for the first time since the COVID outbreak in 2019.
March 2024: Released from prison at the end of his 7-year term. Cao was taken by police escort to Changsha City where he is currently living with his mother. The Chinese authorities have refused to issue him an ID. Without an ID he cannot travel outside of Changsha City. He has been told by the Public Security Bureau that he will be placed under surveillance for 5 years. Cameras have been set up facing the apartment complex where he lives and directly in front of his door to watch when he enters and leaves, as well as who goes to visit him. This is a brutal form of enforced isolation as friends and family will be wary to associate with Cao, knowing that they too will be watched and even questioned if they visit him often. We ask that you keep him in prayer as it is highly likely that any Christian activity on his behalf may jeopardize his freedom. Pray that he will be given travel papers and be allowed to reunite with his family in the USA.
PRAYER NEEDS
In a letter from prison to his mother, Pastor Cao shared that he hopes to eventually write several books. He wrote, “I never thought about expounding my ideas in writing because there are plenty of books…in bookstores. What can I write about? After a 7-year reflection, I believe that I will (be able to) write a few good-quality books.”
As Pastor Cao approaches his last year in prison, pray that the Lord would speak to his heart, that he would know what book(s) he is to write upon his release from prison.
Pray that the Lord would comfort him and heal him of all his physical sufferings. Ask God that the prison officials grant Cao proper medical care when necessary.
Pray that upon his release from prison, Cao would be able to return safely to the US and be reunited with his wife and sons.
TAKE ACTION
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) advocates for Pastor Cao as part of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s Defending Freedoms Project.
Write to Sen. TIllis today and encourage his continued diplomatic efforts on behalf of Chinese Pastor John Cao and others like him who have been imprisoned in China for the sake of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Send your letter to: (view Sample Letters here)
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
House Committee on Foreign AffairsAtt: Senator Thom TIllis
4150 O’Neill House Office Building
200 C Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20515
