Chinese lawyer seeks Taiwan protection, group says

Taiwan said Friday it had provided temporary accommodation on humanitarian grounds to a Chinese national transferring through a Taiwanese airport, after ChinaAid said a Beijing lawyer for detained Zion Church leaders had arrived on the island seeking protection.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council did not identify the person. ChinaAid said Ruth Wang, a partner at Vdoor Law Firm in Beijing, arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday. The rights group said Wang and her family left China because of concerns about increasing government pressure linked to her legal work.

ChinaAid said Wang represented detained leaders of Zion Church, an unregistered church in China. Members of the church, including founder Ezra Jin, also known as Mingri, were detained in October on suspicion of illegal use of information networks. Jin was released in July after US President Donald Trump raised his case with Xi Jinping, while eight church members detained in October are still being held, ChinaAid said.

China's ruling Communist Party has historically regarded organised religion with suspicion, and authorities have tightened scrutiny of unofficial religious groups under Xi.