Wrongfully Detained No More! US-China Deal Brings Americans Home 

Wrongfully Detained No More! US-China Deal Brings Americans Home. Credit | Alliance for China's Peaceful Unification, USA
Wrongfully Detained No More! US-China Deal Brings Americans Home. Credit | Alliance for China's Peaceful Unification, USA

United States: In a recent report, it is revealed that three fellows from America who had been detained in China for years have been freed in a prisoner swap between Washington and Beijing. 

More about the news 

According to a spokesperson from the US National Security Council, “We are pleased to announce the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung from detention in the People’s Republic of China,” CNN reported. 

“Soon, they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” he added. 

The Americans were swapped for some unidentified Chinese men and are now in the custody of the United States so said a US official. 

On Wednesday, the US also lowered its travel advisory level to Level 2, as the exercise raised caution for mainland China. 

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“Thanks to this Administration’s efforts and diplomacy with the PRC, all of the wrongfully detained Americans in the PRC are home,” the spokesperson added. 

About detainee 

Li and Swidan were the two individuals who were declared wrongfully detained by the US State Department. Another American who was wrongfully detained in China was David Lin, who was released in September. 

Their releases occur less than two months before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. 

It comes after years of behind-the-scenes diplomacy by the Biden administration, including Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, and other US officials with their counterparts. 

The families of Li and Swidan had been strongly demanding the administration to work harder in order to secure their release. 

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Harrison Li, son of Kai Li, regularly traveled to Washington and raised the case of his father, who had been detained in 2016 and sentenced to ten years imprisonment on espionage charges and was a frequent visitor to Washington. 

Harrison Li, in 2023, was worried if he would not be able to see his father, and stated, “God forbid, is my dad going to come home in a box?” he asked at the time. “I just don’t know at this point, and given the conditions and the situation in China, it’s actually quite scary,” CNN reported. 

Katherine Swidan, Mark Swidan’s mother, feared for her son’s life and wondered if he could get home alive. He was arrested in 2012 for possession of banned substances. 

He had been imprisoned for more than a decade in what his mother acknowledged as a “holding tank,” where she claimed he had been physically and psychologically tormented and had tried to take his life. He was condemned to death in 2019. 

Leung was arrested in 2021 and charged and convicted in 2023 for life on spying charges.