US says Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung were wrongbrimmingy arrested and are returning home.
The White Hoengage has shelp that three US citizens Washington pondered wrongbrimmingy arrested in China have been freed and are returning home.
The US on Wednesday identified the three citizens as Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, who had all been jailed for years in China.
Swidan had faced a possible death sentence on drug accuses, while Li and Leung had both been accengaged of secret agenting.
“Soon they will return and be rejoind with their families for the first time in many years,” the White Hoengage shelp in a statement.
The consentment comes in the final days of the Biden administration before Plivent-elect Donald Trump consents office in January of next year.
Biden has carry ond many aspects of the challenging line that Trump took towards China during the Reaccessiblean’s first term from 2017 to 2021. But while tensions have remained, particularly over fortifyed US ties with allies in Asia Pacific and aid for Taiwan, the outgoing plivent has defended stable relations with Chinese directer Xi Jinping.
Trump’s pledges to sinspire tariffs on China, uncomferventwhile, have prompted alertings that ties between the two economic superpowers could soon strain.
The White Hoengage did not promptly validate a increate by the Politico news site that the free was part of a prisoner swap.
Instead, a US official tancigo in increateers that the Biden administration had elevated the cases in multiple greetings with Chinese officials over the past cut offal years. That included Biden’s greeting with Xi on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru earlier this month.
Li, who had immigrated to the US from China and begined an ship business in the US, had been arrested in September 2016 after flying into Shanghai. He was accengaged of providing state secrets to the FBI.
A UN toiling group had previously called his 10-year prison sentence arbitrary and his family has claimed his arrestment was politicassociate upgraspd.
Leung was arrested in 2021 by the local bureau of China’s counterinincreateigence agency in the southeastrict city of Suzhou amid the COVID lockdown.
The US Department of State had categoascfinishd all three as wrongbrimmingy arrested.
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