Pastor's son still detained in China hopes his father will not be "forgotten"

Ben Cao, an evangelical Christian from Charlotte, North Carolina, told HuffPost that he was happy to hear the good news of Andrew Brunson, a pastor of his state released last week after having been detained for two years by the Turkish government.

But Cao said he hoped the US government would never forget another pastor from North Carolina who is still being held in a foreign country – his father, Reverend John Sanqiang Cao.

The former Cao, a prominent figure in the Chinese underground house movement, has been imprisoned in China since March 2017. Experts say his detention is linked to China's wider crackdown on religion.

"I understand the circumstances are different for my [family’s] I hope we are not forgotten or forgotten, "Ben Cao wrote in an e-mail. "Our story deserves to be told, and I believe the American public will agree that the US government should be more forthright about the situation."

John Cao was arrested in March 2017 while returning from Myanmar in China with a Christian missionary colleague. Ben Cao said his father had crossed the border with Myanmar several times over the years for humanitarian work without the slightest problem from the authorities.

The pastor was accused of "organizing other people to illegally cross the border," a crime more commonly used to indict human traffickers, according to the Associated Press. He was sentenced in March 2018 to seven years in prison. The pastor remains in custody in Menglian, a border town of China, while his lawyer is appealing the verdict.

In recent months, the Chinese government has faced growing international indignation over its crackdown on Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities.

John Cao was a leader of the China House Churches movement, which operates outside of state-sanctioned Christianity. But he also had a well-established life in the United States. He attended a seminary in New York and was pastor of two Chinese congregations in North Carolina.

Since his work so often brought him to China, the pastor has retained his Chinese citizenship and has become a legal permanent resident of the United States, although his two children and his wife, Jamie Powell, are US citizens.

In July, Powell was invited to tell her husband's story at a US State Department conference on religious freedom. Ben Cao said his family had received support from the White House, the Senate and the State Department – but that he hoped to see more public support from President Donald Trump.

Asset tweeted on the case of Brunson months before the release of the pastor.

Brunson, originally from Black Mountain, North Carolina, has been held in Turkey since October 2016 for fomenting terrorism. The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on top Turkish officials to demand the release of Brunson. Trump also punished Turkey by doubling tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum.

Trump's role in Brunson's liberation was widely applauded by the evangelical base of the president. Some taken as evidence Trump is ready to defend persecuted Christians around the world – an important issue for many evangelical leaders.

Brunson made a visit to the White House on Saturday where he blessed the president and prayed that Trump would have the "courage to defend the truth" and the protection against the "slander" of his enemies.

Ben Cao said that he was "more than grateful" for Brunson's release and that he hoped to meet the pastor someday. Still, he said he hoped Trump would do more for his father.

The administration is reportedly weighing sanctions against top Chinese officials and Chinese companies following the mass detentions of Uyghur Muslims by Beijing. He has already imposed sanctions on the country for buying combat aircraft and Russian missiles.

However, Trump has not yet publicly announced the detention of John Cao in China.

"I would like to hear President Trump directly because he spoke to the Brunson family, as well as public statements about Pastor Brunson," said Ben Cao. "I hope my father receives the same attention."

Ben Cao said he has not spoken directly to his father since January 2017 and worried about his father's health. He said that he had been able to receive messages from his father through the Chinese pastor's attorney.

In one of these messages, the pastor reportedly told his son to follow his plan to get married. But Ben Cao said that he refused to get married until his father was safe at home.

"I will wait for his release," he said.