WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is monitoring Chinese persecution of Christians and religious minority groups in China, The Daily Wire can first report.

The State Department informed Republican senators Friday morning that State shares their concerns about “the Chinese Communist Party’s systematic abuse of religious freedom,” according to a May 8 letter sent to Republican North Carolina Senator Ted Budd, first obtained by The Daily Wire.

“We are monitoring the detentions of leaders and members of Christian house churches, including Zion Church, Yayang Church, Light of Zion Church, and Early Rain Covenant Church,” writes Paul Guaglianone, Senior Bureau Official in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the State Department.

“Even churches that have registered with the party-state system designed to control them have faced increasing restrictions and political pressure to replace Christian theology and practice with the ideology of the CCP.”

The news comes just days ahead of the president’s visit to Beijing to meet with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Trump has already promised that he will speak with President Xi about Jimmy Lai, a Catholic, pro-democracy newspaper publisher and media tycoon imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party.

The State Department regularly speaks with Chinese authorities about both the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government’s “abuses and violations of religious freedom,” the letter notes.

“We also consider the use of all appropriate authorities, such as targeted sanctions and visa restrictions, to hold perpetrators of religious freedom abuses accountable,” Guaglianone wrote. “This Administration will continue to champion international religious freedom.”

State’s letter was a response to a bipartisan March 24 letter sent to President Trump regarding the release of Pastor Ezra Jin. That letter was led by Budd and Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and joined by dozens of other lawmakers, who urged Trump to advocate for the release of Jin and other Christians.

They shared that abuses against Christians in China “include arbitrary detentions, lengthy prison sentences, forced closures of places of worship, destruction of religious property, and surveillance and intimidation of clergy and congregants.”

“Through the International Religious Freedom Act, the Administration is empowered to use targeted sanctions and increase reporting and diplomatic engagement to support your efforts to address severe violations of individuals’ right to freedom of religion,” the lawmakers wrote.

Trump is currently scheduled to head to China on May 14, where U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that Trump and Xi will discuss the Iran war. Trump will reportedly urge China to join the United States in opening the Strait of Hormuz. He will also push for trade concessions from Beijing.