This article, written by a Taiwan-based “sinologist,” has been copied and pasted over several major outlets and a dozen other Christian clickbait news sites. The pastor in question is John Sanqiang Cao, and was charged with human trafficking upon returning from a mission trip to Myanmar.
I don’t know anything about the validity of the charges he’s facing, and I’m quite certain that IF the events alleged by the article are true, then this is a clear miscarriage of justice.
There is something very funny about this story appearing all over American media, though. As if ex-convicts in the US don’t deal with very similar problems…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
BEIJING (AP) — Unable to buy a train ticket, or even see a doctor at a hospital, a Chinese pastor found that even after his release from prison, he is not quite free.
John Sanqiang Cao was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison while coming back from a missionary trip in Myanmar.
Now back in his hometown of Changsha in southern Hunan province, he is without any legal documentation in his country, unable to access even the most basic services without a Chinese identification.
He had studied in the U.S., married an American woman and started a family, but said he felt a calling to go back to his home country and spread the faith.
In the years leading up to his arrest, he had started bringing Chinese missionaries to parts of northern Myanmar that had been impacted by the country’s civil war.
Later in life, the hukou is needed to apply for a national ID card, which is used in everything from getting a phone number to public health insurance.
The original article contains 748 words, the summary contains 173 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!