Three Americans held for years in China have been released, the White House says

The White House announced on Wednesday that three American citizens, who had been imprisoned in China for years, have been released and are returning to the United States. This is a diplomatic agreement reached with Beijing by the Biden administration in its final months in office.

The three released American citizens are Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Liang. The U.S. government had previously determined that they were wrongfully detained by China. Swidan faced the death penalty on drug charges, while Li and Liang were imprisoned for espionage.

“They will soon be back home with their families, which is for the first time in many years,” the White House said in a statement.

This release comes two months after China released David Lin, a Christian pastor from California, who had spent nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted on contract fraud charges.

For years, U.S.-China relations have been turbulent due to significant disagreements on issues such as trade, human rights, fentanyl precursor production, security matters including espionage and hacking, China's aggression towards Taiwan and its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea, and Beijing's support for Russia's military industrial sector.

The release of American citizens wrongfully detained by China has been a top agenda item for the U.S. in every dialogue with China. Wednesday's development suggests that Beijing is willing to engage with the outgoing Democratic administration before Republican President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.

Trump took major trade and diplomatic actions against China during his first term. He has pledged to continue these policies in his second term, which has made many uneasy, fearing that a full-blown trade war would severely impact the international economy and could provoke potential military action by China against Taiwan.

Nevertheless, the two countries have maintained dialogue, including the partial restoration of military-to-military contacts. U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met earlier this month to discuss potential improvements.

A U.S. official stated that the Biden administration has engaged with China multiple times over the past few years regarding the cases of these detained American citizens, including during Biden’s meeting with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru earlier this month.

According to a report first published by Politico, the release of these individuals was part of a prisoner exchange with the United States. The White House did not immediately confirm whether any Chinese citizens were repatriated.

Kai Li, a Chinese immigrant who founded an export business in the U.S., was detained after flying to Shanghai in September 2016. He was placed under surveillance, interrogated without a lawyer, and accused of providing state secrets to the FBI.

A United Nations working group called his 10-year sentence arbitrary, and his family said the charges were politically motivated.

John Liang was sentenced to life in prison last year for espionage. He was detained in 2021 by a local bureau of China’s counterintelligence agency when China closed its borders and imposed strict domestic travel restrictions and social controls to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Swidan was imprisoned for 12 years on drug charges. Like Li and Liang, he was also deemed by the U.S. State Department to be wrongfully detained.