A US congressional commission is pressing President Donald Trump to confront his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping over detained Americans when the leaders meet this week, warning that silence would leave Beijing free to “use human beings as bargaining chips”.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), in a letter to Trump dated May 7, aired concerns over the growing threat arising from the Communist Party’s use of “hostage diplomacy, coercive exit bans and transnational repression” against US citizens, residents and their families.

“The CCP’s repression does not stop at China’s borders. It is designed to pressure people in the United States, chill speech and advocacy on US soil, and demonstrate that the party can impose costs on Americans and their loved ones with impunity,” it said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

The letter acknowledges Trump’s willingness to directly raise pending cases such as those of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Nelson Wells Jnr and Dawn Michelle Hunt.

It also urges him to raise the cases of Ezra Jin Mingri, a pastor at the unregistered Zion Church, Gulshan Abbas, a retired Uygur doctor, and Ekpar Asat, founder of a Uygur-language website.

“In each of these cases, the CCP is not only punishing an individual. It is sending a message both at home and abroad that it can control the lives of people in China and reach into American families and influence conduct in the United States,” the commission said.