evant bureaus and offices within the Depart-
ment of State and other agencies across the 
United States Government; 
(B) ensuring sustained advocacy over time 
across bilateral and multilateral fora to secure 
Gao’s unconditional release, proof of life and 
whereabouts, access to legal counsel, commu-
nication with family—including relatives in the 
United States—and, if appropriate, humani-
tarian parole; 
(C) working in concert with United States 
allies and partners, including through mecha-
nisms at the United Nations, to increase inter-
national pressure on the People’s Republic of 
China to release Gao Zhisheng and uphold his 
human rights; 
(D) seeking concrete responses from offi-
cials of the People’s Republic of China to 
United States and allied advocacy efforts, espe-
cially on matters related to Gao’s health, loca-
tion, communication, and legal status; 
(E) employing all appropriate diplomatic, 
legal, and sanctions tools, including available 
human rights sanctions authorities, to hold ac-
countable officials of the People’s Republic of 
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China complicit in the human rights violations 
committed against Gao Zhisheng; and 
(F) maintaining transparency with Con-
gress regarding past and ongoing advocacy ef-
forts by submitting a timely report, in unclassi-
fied form (with a classified annex as needed), 
detailing such efforts, responses received, co-
ordination with allies, and any use of sanctions 
authorities to promote justice in this case. 
SEC. 4. DIPLOMATIC STRATEGY ON POLITICAL PRISONER 
ADVOCACY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 
or the Secretary’s designee, shall brief the appropriate 
congressional committees on a strategy to embed political 
prisoner advocacy into the critical mission plan of all 
United States Government agencies, diplomatic posts, and 
regional bureaus in the Department of State. 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The strategy shall 
include the following matters: 
(1) Cases of concern involving individuals arbi-
trarily detained for exercising internationally recog-
nized human rights. 
(2) Bilateral diplomatic efforts to secure the re-
lease of Gao Zhisheng and other political prisoners, 
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including a record of cases raised and the relevant 
foreign government officials engaged. 
(3) Multilateral diplomatic efforts to advocate 
for the release of political prisoners, including en-
gagement within the United Nations system and co-
ordination of diplomatic advocacy and sanctions 
measures with allies and partners to maximize inter-
national pressure. 
(4) Details on efforts to secure the release of 
Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong. 
(5) Details on Department of State efforts to 
support human rights defenders, independent media, 
and the families of political prisoners and the re-
sources needed to conduct such support. 
(6) Use of accountability tools, including the 
Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 
and other targeted measures, to hold government of-
ficials accountable for complicity in the arbitrary de-
tention of political prisoners. 
(7) Public diplomacy efforts designed to frame 
advocacy for political prisoners as a United States 
national interest and to highlight human stories of 
political prisoners that evade censorship and other 
digital restrictions put in place by foreign govern-
ments to hide complicity in arbitrary detention, tor-
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ture, and other gross violations of universally recog-
nized human rights. 
(8) Progress on the preparation of a Global 
Prisoner Registry as required by section 5 of this 
Act. 
(9) An assessment of resource gaps or institu-
tional deficiencies that adversely affect the Depart-
ment of State’s ability to advocate effectively for po-
litical prisoners in the People’s Republic of China 
and globally. 
(c) FORM.—The briefings required by subsection (a) 
shall be conducted in unclassified form, but may include 
a classified annex if necessary to protect sources and 
methods used to acquire such information. 
SEC. 5. GLOBAL POLITICAL PRISONER REGISTRY. 
Section 873 of the Admiral James W. Nance and 
Meg Donovan Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 
Years 2000 and 2001 (Appendix G to Public Law 106– 
113; 113 Stat. 1501A–474) is amended— 
(1) in the section heading to read as follows: 
‘‘GLOBAL POLITICAL PRISONER REGISTRY.’’; 
(2) in subsection (a)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘in the People’s Republic 
of China’’ and inserting ‘‘held by foreign gov-
ernments worldwide’’; and 
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(B) by striking ‘‘Prisoner Information 
Registry for the People’s Republic of China’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Global Political Prisoner Reg-
istry’’; 
(3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘of prisoners 
in the People’s Republic of China’’ and inserting ‘‘of 
such prisoners’’; 
(4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘regarding po-
litical prisoners in the People’s Republic of China’’ 
and inserting ‘‘regarding political prisoners and 
those detained for exercising the rights to the free-
dom of religion around the world’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) PUBLIC ACCESS.—To the extent practicable and 
consistent with the protection of sensitive information, the 
Secretary shall make information from the Global Political 
Prisoner Registry available for use in diplomatic advocacy 
by United States Government officials and Members of 
Congress. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘political 
prisoner’ means an individual imprisoned or detained by 
a foreign government primarily for seeking to exercise 
internationally recognized human rights, including be-
cause of the individual’s political or religious beliefs, 
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peaceful expression, or opposition to that government; 
and’’. 
SEC. 6. POLITICAL PRISONER ISSUE BRIEFS. 
(a) IN
GENERAL.—The Congressional-Executive 
Commission on China shall prepare and make available 
issue briefs to Members of Congress, upon request, to fa-
cilitate discussions of political prisoner cases and unjustly 
detained Americans with officials from the Government of 
the People’s Republic of China. Such issue briefs shall be 
available on the website of the Congressional-Executive 
Commission on China, as appropriate, and subject to rel-
evant privacy concerns. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec-
essary to carry out this section for each fiscal years 2026 
through 2029. 
(c) CLARIFICATION.—The issue briefs required by 
subsection (a) shall be in addition to and not replace the 
information required by section 108(d) of the Inter-
national Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 
6417(d)). 
SEC. 7. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
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