China has freed three Americans classified as wrongfully detained in a swap with Beijing, US officials said, meeting a key goal of outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration.
The State Department and White House confirmed the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung. They are being freed in a swap for Chinese nationals in US custody who were not identified, a source close to the matter said.
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.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s ruling junta did not answer calls from Reuters immediately after the announcement.
“Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” it said.
China’s embassy in Washington declined to comment. Beijing says such cases are handled according to law.
Politico, which first reported the release, said a number of Chinese citizens detained in the United States would also be released.
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.
Chinese-American Kai Li was detained in China since 2016 on espionage charges he denied, and John Leung was sentenced to life in 2023 and accused of being an American spy.
Senior US officials had raised the detainees in talks with Chinese counterparts over years, but families feared their cases were overshadowed by other considerations in the complex and fraught US-China relationship.
A US 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 together while still managing national security risks.
In September, China freed US. pastor David Lin, who had been in jail since 2006 and was also considered wrongfully detained. US officials declined to confirm reports at the time that a Chinese national was released in exchange for Lin.
Biden’s successor, 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 US citizens being detained and used as bargaining chips.
US 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 US advice to travelers to mainland China changed from Level 3, “reconsider travel,” to Level 2, “exercise increased caution,” although the advisory still warned that US citizens in China “may be subjected to interrogations and detention without fair and transparent treatment under the law.”
