A Chinese lawyer who helped defend the Zion Christian Church as the communist regime was persecuting it has left China under pressure from government authorities.
Ruth Wang has temporarily escaped to Taiwan and is seeking resettlement in another country, hoping for help from the U.S. or Canada. She said Chinese officials ordered the VDoor Law Firm to close.
As CBN News reported last October, 18 members of the Zion Church in China, including its founder, Pastor Ezra Jin, were arrested in one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single church in decades.
Wang’s legal team represented the pastor and others in October 2025, when security officials put them in prison.
Pastor Jin was eventually released, two months ago, and is now in the United States with family after President Donald Trump brought his case to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a meeting in May.
Nine other pastors have been freed, but eight remain in jail. And Wang’s plight further exposes how China has refused to stop pressuring the church and those affiliated with it, despite Jin’s release.
Zion Church is one of the largest unregistered churches in China, with scores of worship sites and more than 5,000 members. As an underground church, they utilize apartments, restaurants, and even karaoke bars in around 40 cities across China.
The regime has previously targeted the VDoor Law Firm. The license of the firm’s founder and Wang’s mentor, Zhang Kai, was revoked, and he was barred from leaving the country; other lawyers at their firm were suspended from practicing for six months, Wang said.
Wang was already out of the country, visiting Japan on vacation last month, when Chinese officials asked her to come and meet with them in Beijing. She chose not to return, fearing for her future.
Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, a nonprofit human rights organization based in the U.S., said Wang’s case shows how lawyers who dare to defend persecuted Christians are then targeted by the regime.
“Attorney Wang sought to fulfill the most basic responsibility of a lawyer,” he said. “Yet because her clients include detained leaders associated with Beijing Zion Church, she came to fear that she herself could become the next target.”
*** AI tools threaten to hide CBN News from your online searches! Sign up for CBN Newsletters today to ensure you can still find the latest news from a Christian perspective.***
Fu urged Taiwan’s government to protect Wang’s family and ensure they would not be forcibly returned to mainland China. He also called on the U.S. and other democratic governments to help find a safe solution for her.
Taiwan won’t allow her to stay, saying it can’t accept cases of political asylum from mainland China because of tensions with the Chinese government. China claims Taiwan belongs to it, and has been working for years toward taking over the island country.
“Our family is currently facing an uncertain future, and we don’t know what will happen in the future, or whether there is anywhere that can accommodate us,” Wang told AP in an exclusive interview.
She pointed to the Bible account of Ruth, and how God sent Boaz to help when she Ruth also faced an uncertain future after moving to a new place. “I also believe that God will give (me) such a person,” Wang said.
MORE ‘We Truly Witnessed a Miracle’: Freed Chinese Pastor Has a Big Request for God
