Ruth Wang, Chinese lawyer for underground church, flees to Taiwan – rights group
Taiwan said Friday it has provided “temporary accommodation” to a Chinese citizen, after a rights group reported that a lawyer representing detained leaders of an underground church in Beijing had fled to the island. Taiwan’s top China policy body did not identify the person, but ChinaAid said Ruth Wang, a partner at Vdoor Law Firm […]
Taiwan has granted "temporary accommodation" to a Chinese lawyer, according to a rights group's report. Ruth Wang, a partner at Vdoor Law Firm in Beijing, arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday seeking protection from Taiwanese authorities. ChinaAid, a rights group, revealed that Wang was representing detained leaders of the Zion Church, an unregistered church in China.
Wang and her family left China due to growing government pressure related to her legal work. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council confirmed on Friday that they had provided temporary accommodation to a Chinese national transferring through a Taiwanese airport on humanitarian grounds. The Zion Church, founded by Ezra Jin, faced detention in October on suspicion of illegally using information networks.
Eight of the detained members are still in custody. China's ruling Communist Party has a history of mistrust towards organized religion and has intensified its scrutiny of unofficial groups under Xi Jinping's leadership. Authorities have been intensifying crackdowns on unregistered churches in recent months.
Written by urgent.news from Hong Kong Free Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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