China releases three US citizens in rare prisoner swap

Three US citizens are returning home after several years imprisoned in China in a rare prisoner swap agreed between Beijing and the White House.

The Chinese government said on Thursday that the US had returned four people to China in exchange for the prisoners, including three Chinese citizens it said were held for “political purposes” and one person sought by Beijing for alleged crimes.

The US nationals released in China were identified as Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung. Swidan has been facing a death sentence in China on drug charges, whilst Li and Leung were imprisoned on espionage charges.

All three were designated by the US government as “wrongfully detained”.

“Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” the White House said in a statement.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that the three Chinese citizens had arrived back in China, adding that the country opposed “US suppression and persecution of Chinese nationals”.

Their release comes a few months after a Christian pastor from California was freed from Chinese prison after spending almost 20 years behind bars on charges of contract fraud.

Rare agreement

The release of US citizens detained in China has been a top agenda item in conversations between the US and China for years, including this month when US President Joe Biden raised the topic with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a summit in Peru.

Responding to the news on Wednesday, the US State Department lowered its travel warning for US citizens visiting China.

Senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties in the US celebrated the news of the swap.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said he had worked for years to try to secure Li’s release, said in a statement that “we never stopped believing that one day Mr Li would return home”.

Li, a Chinese immigrant, was detained in September 2016 after flying to Shanghai. He was accused of providing state secrets to the FBI and given a 10-year-sentence.

Wednesday’s development suggests that the Chinese government is willing to engage with the outgoing Biden administration before president-elect Donald Trump takes over in January next year.

While the US and China have been at odds over trade, human rights and security issues for years, Trump has positioned himself as particularly hard on the country.

During his first term, he took significant actions against China on trade and diplomacy which he has promised to continue.

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On Monday, he threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on China on his Truth Social platform, fuelling worries that the two countries might soon be engaged in a trade war that could pose major problems for the international economy.