US, China swap detained citizens after years of diplomacy

By Simon Lewis, Trevor Hunnicutt and Colleen Howe

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) -China and the U.S. have each released three citizens both governments said were wrongfully detained in the other country, concluding years of diplomacy as leaders of both nations work to repair strained ties.

The White House said on Wednesday that China released U.S. citizens Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, and the U.S. changed its travel advisory for China lowering its risk warning, a move long sought by Beijing that U.S. officials have tied to China's detention of American nationals.

The National Security Council said in a statement the three men's release meant all Americans it deemed wrongfully detained in China had now been released.

"Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years," it said.

Politico, which first reported the release, said a number of Chinese citizens detained in the United States would also be released.

China's embassy in Washington declined to comment. Beijing says such cases are handled according to law.

When asked at a Thursday press briefing, China's foreign ministry said three Chinese citizens who were wrongfully detained by the U.S. government have returned to their motherland safely.

"I want to stress that China firmly opposes U.S. oppression and persecution of Chinese citizens for political purposes," ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.

Mao said a Chinese fugitive had also been repatriated from the U.S., showing that "no place can be a permanent safe haven for criminals." She added that the Chinese government would continue to pursue fugitives.

China did not reveal the identities of those released and repatriated.

RETURNING HOME

Kai Li's son, Harrison Li, said in a statement that his father was expected to land at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas late on Wednesday, and thanked Biden administration officials for working on the release.

"They delivered just in time for the holidays," he said, referring to Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Li had been detained in China since 2016 on espionage charges he denied.

Texas-based businessman Mark Swidan was imprisoned for 12 years in China on drug-related charges and in 2019 was given a death sentence with reprieve, despite a lack of evidence.

John Leung was sentenced to life in 2023 and accused of being an American spy.

Senior U.S. officials had raised the issue of the detainees in talks with Chinese counterparts over the years, but families feared their cases were overshadowed by other considerations in the complex and fraught U.S.-China relationship.

A U.S. official said President Joe Biden had pressed for the return of the three when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping this month at a regional summit in Peru.

Biden and Xi have worked to lower tensions in recent months by holding phone calls and meetings aimed at identifying areas they can work on together while still managing national security risks.

In September, China freed U.S. pastor David Lin, who had been in jail since 2006 and was also considered wrongfully detained. U.S. officials declined to confirm reports at the time that a Chinese national was released in exchange for Lin.

Biden's successor, President-elect Donald Trump, has signaled a more hawkish approach, including proposing vast new tariffs on goods from China.

TRAVEL ADVISORY

Biden, whose four-year term ends on Jan. 20, has secured the release of more than 70 Americans detained overseas, in some cases swapping them for prisoners in the United States.

In 2022, China was one of six countries the State Department slapped with a "D" warning to its travel advisory to indicate the risk of U.S. citizens being detained and used as bargaining chips.

U.S. officials said they told Chinese officials that the detention of American citizens had to be addressed before the travel advisory would be changed.

On Wednesday, that warning was removed and the U.S. advice to travelers to mainland China was changed from Level 3, "reconsider travel," to Level 2, "exercise increased caution," although the advisory still warned that U.S. citizens in China "may be subjected to interrogations and detention without fair and transparent treatment under the law."

Mao called the move "conducive".

"We always oppose creating chilling effects and we hope the U.S. will provide more facilitation for the culture and people-to-people exchange between the two countries," she said.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Simon Lewis, and Colleen Howe in Beijing; additional reporting by Michael Martina; Writing by Susan Heavey, David Ljunggren, Simon Lewis and Liz Lee; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Timothy Heritage, Jonathan Oatis, Rod Nickel and Kim Coghill)