Free Sandy

Trump should demand that China release Houstonian.

There’s an international injustice hitting close to home in Houston, and it needs to be remedied immediately. Longtime Houstonian Sandy PhanGillis was leading a delegation to China two years ago this month when she was detained by the Chinese government, which alleged she was a spy and had stolen state secrets.

The detention of PhanGillis, a naturalized American citizen, is arbitrary and wrong. National news outlets report that Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump may be planning to meet at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, perhaps as early as April.

The election of a new president is always an opportunity for countries to reset their relationship. Prior to this meeting, Trump should demand the immediate release of this noteworthy Houstonian.

Phan-Gillis has dedicated her life to improving U.S.-China relations. She founded Houston’s Chinese New Year festival and headed the Houston Shenzhen Sister City Association. She even helped introduce Houston to Yao Ming when she organized a goodwill basketball tour of Houston NCAA all-star players. They traveled to China in the summer of 1998 and played a number of games against the China National Team, including its youngest member, teenager Yao Ming, according to husband Jeff Gillis’ testimony before the Congressional Executive Commission on China on March 1.

This Houstonian’s health is poor, and her husband and daughter have had little contact with her. No one can understand why after two years, no trial date is scheduled.

China has accused Phan-Gillis of spying for the FBI in 1996. But the Central Intelligence Agency conducts international surveillance operations, not the FBI. Furthermore, as extensively documented by Jeff Gillis, she was not in China in 1996.

Recently, 10 U.S. senators joined Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn to write Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., to urge the release of Phan-Gillis. Her 57th birthday falls on April 8. We join in these senators’ request and ask that Xi Jinping release her in time to celebrate her birthday at her home in Houston.

Phan-Gillis’ April release prior to the upcoming meeting would be a gift not only to the residents of Houston for whom she has done so much but to the citizens of the United States. With all of her years of good works for U.S.-China relations, all Americans should be concerned. If Phan-Gillis isn’t safe in China, then no American is safe.

Then-Mayor Pro Tem, Ed Gonzalez, was accompanying her on the trip when she was detained. If Phan-Gillis isn’t home by then, Mayor Sylvester Turner should reconsider any upcoming trade trips to China.

It’s past time to end the arbitrary detention of Sandy Phan-Gillis, a true Houstonian.