3 Americans detained in China are released in prisoner swap and are back in U.S. (2024)

Three American citizens who had been detained for years in China were released, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday.

They are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung.

The three Americans were back in the United States, having returned through Lackland Air Force Base, part of Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, an administration official confirmed Thursday.

The official declined to provide further information, citing privacy concerns.

Li, 62, who is from Long Island, New York, was detained in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in 2018 on espionage charges his family says are baseless. Swidan, a Texas businessman in his 40s, had been detained since 2012 and was sentenced to death with a reprieve in 2019 after being convicted on drug-related charges that a United Nations working group said had no evidential basis.

Li and Swidan were considered “wrongfully detained” by the State Department.

Leung, an American in his 70s who also has permanent residency in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, was sentenced to life in prison last year after being found guilty of espionage by a court in eastern China. Leung, who was detained in 2021, had been a member of a pro-Beijing group in the United States and had been pictured with senior Chinese officials, according to Hong Kong and Chinese news outlets.

Their release was part of a prisoner swap for Xu Yanjun,an officer of China’s Ministry of State Security, and Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national, a U.S. government official said.

Xu was arrested after an alleged attempt to steal technology from GE Aviation, an American aircraft engine supplier. Ji was accused of spying for the Chinese government.

Biden told reporters Thursday that he has spoken with the three Americans.

"I’m really happy they’re home," Biden said.

The White House has not said who, if anyone, was being freed in exchange for the U.S. citizens. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday that three Chinese citizens “who were wrongly detained by the U.S.” had safely returned to China.

The senior official as well as another U.S. official said the release had been in the works for months.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he had worked closely over the years with Li’s son, Harrison Li, “to speak directly to the highest levels of the Chinese and U.S. governments to advocate for Mr. Li’s releaseand safe return to his family in Huntington, New York.”

“Even when it felt like there was no hope, we never stopped believing that one day Mr. Liwouldreturn home,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “I look forward to welcoming Mr. Li back home to New York very soon.”

For the families of all three freed Americans, “this Thanksgiving there is so much to be thankful for,” he added.

The news was first reported by Politico.

The announcement on Wednesday follows thesurprise release in Septemberof American pastor David Lin, who like Li and Swidan, had been classified by the State Department as wrongfully detained. He had been jailed in China since 2006 after being sentenced to life in prison on charges of contract fraud.

The Dui Hua Foundation, which monitors prisoner rights in China, estimates there are about 200 American detainees, more than in any other foreign country, including Americans who are imprisoned as well as those who are prevented from leaving the country while a case is under investigation.

With the return of Li and Swidan, all Americans officially designated as wrongfully detained in China have been released, the State Department spokesperson said.

Peter Humphrey, a British advocate for foreigners detained in China who was imprisoned there for two years himself after being convicted on what he says were false charges of gathering illegal information, disagreed with that characterization.

According to his research, he says, there are closer to 300 Americans detained in China, “and none have had a fair and impartial and transparent trial, which are the basic criteria under U.S. law for a citizen to be declared arbitrarily detained by a foreign state.”

Beijing says all cases are handled in accordance with the law.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry added that the government had “always firmly opposed the U.S. using political motives to oppress and persecute Chinese citizens.”

“Thanks to the persistent efforts of the Chinese government, three Chinese citizens who were wrongly detained by the U.S. have safely returned to China,” spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular briefing in Beijing. “This once again proves that China will never give up on its own people.”

Mao said a fugitive “who had been hiding in the U.S. for many years” had also been deported back to China.

“This shows that justice is inevitable — there is no place that can forever be a safe haven for criminals,” she said.

Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others had repeatedly raised the issue of the detained Americans in meetings with Chinese officials, including Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinpingon the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru earlier this month.

In a statement on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, praised their efforts.

“Negotiations aimed at securing the release of unjustly held Americans are among the most difficult and wrenching tasks that our diplomats face, and they have shown unceasing dedication culminating in today’s release,” he said.

But families of Americans detained in China had been frustrated by the slow pace of progress, particularly as major prisoner exchanges werenegotiated with Russiaand other countries. In September, Swidan’s mother, Katherine Swidan, and Harrison Li were among relatives who appeared before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to press the Biden administration to do more.

“I have now spent a third of my life missing my dad,” Li said at the hearing. “Every day, I wake up and shudder at the thought of him crammed into a tiny cell with as many as 11 other people.”

Li said that in the last eight years, his father had suffered a stroke, lost a tooth and spent more than three years “essentially locked in his cell 24/7” due to China’s “zero-Covid” pandemic restrictions. He also expressed concern that efforts to release his father and others could be slowed by the change of administration in January.

Other families who appeared at the hearing are still waiting for the return of relatives detained in China, including Nelson Wells Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt.

While they share in the joy over the three Americans’ release, Humphrey said, “They’re also saying, ‘Now, what about us and what about everyone else?’”

CORRECTION (Nov. 27, 2024, 6:32 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated Kai Li’s age. He is 62, not 70.