{"id":131137,"date":"2024-11-28T19:53:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T12:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=131137"},"modified":"2024-11-28T19:53:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T12:53:59","slug":"china-releases-3-americans-it-imprisoned-for-years-and-beijing-says-us-returned-4-people-to-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=131137","title":{"rendered":"China releases 3 Americans it imprisoned for years, and Beijing says US returned 4 people to China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China have been released and are returning to the United States, the White House said Wednesday, announcing a rare diplomatic agreement with Beijing in the final months of the Biden administration. <\/p>\n<p>The Chinese government also announced Thursday that the U.S. had returned four people to China, including at least three Chinese citizens who it said had been held for \u201cpolitical purposes,\u201d and a person who had been sought by Beijing for crimes and had been living in the United States. It did not identify the four.<\/p>\n<p>The three Americans released by Beijing are <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/china-detained-americans-congress-294b10f51d76c89af8c49f76b967ae00\">Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung<\/a><\/span>, all of whom had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained by China. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/e5db75c146b843a987328a38f459a295\">Swidan<\/a><\/span> had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/american-hostages-wrongfully-detained-joe-biden-0fb40f42130f59dadb783e8a9823d3e1\">Li<\/a><\/span> and <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/american-charged-spying-china-prison-2de86767bbc828ec4362af23fb271afd\">Leung<\/a><\/span> were imprisoned on espionage charges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSoon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,\u201d the White House said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The release comes just two months after China freed David Lin, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/china-american-detainee-released-pastor-ad3a2104bac2490f0d7eb773faaeafda\">a Christian pastor from California<\/a><\/span> who had spent nearly 20 years behind bars after being convicted of contract fraud.<\/p>\n<div class=\"AudioEnhancement\" data-separate-event=\"audioModule\" data-separate-value=\"AP AUDIO: 3 Americans held for years in China have been released, the White House says\" data-module=\"\" data-gtm-region=\"AP AUDIO: 3 Americans held for years in China have been released, the White House says\" data-align-center=\"\">\n<p>    <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"ap-audio-3-americans-held-for-years-in-china-have-been-released-the-white-house-says\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"AudioEnhancement-description\">AP correspondent Donna Warder reports on the release of three Americans held for years in China.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>U.S.-China relations have been roiled for years over major disagreements between the world\u2019s two largest economies on trade, human rights, the production of fentanyl precursors, security issues that include espionage and hacking, China\u2019s aggressiveness toward Taiwan and its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea, and Beijing\u2019s support for Russia\u2019s military-industrial sector.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Infobox\" data-module=\"\" data-gtm-region=\"What to know about Trump's second term: Staffing the administration: Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far. Plus, a look at recess appointments and how could Trump use them to fill his Cabinet.Follow all of our coverage as Donald Trump assembles his second administration.\" data-align-center=\"\">\n<div class=\"Infobox-items RichTextBody\">\n<p><b>What to know about Trump\u2019s second term:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Follow all of our coverage as <\/i><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/donald-trump\"><i>Donald Trump<\/i><\/a><\/span><i> assembles his second administration.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The release of Americans deemed wrongfully detained in China has been a top agenda item in each conversation between the U.S. and China, and Wednesday\u2019s development suggests a willingness by Beijing to engage with the outgoing Democratic administration before Republican President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House in January.<\/p>\n<p>Trump took significant actions against China on trade and diplomacy during his first term. He has pledged to continue those policies in his second term, leading to unease among many who fear that an all-out trade war will greatly affect the international economy and could spur potential Chinese military action against Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the two countries have maintained a dialogue that has included a partial restoration of military-to-military contacts. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met this month to discuss potential improvements.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate but related move, the State Department on Wednesday lowered its travel warning to China to \u201clevel two,\u201d advising U.S. citizens to \u201cexercise increased caution\u201d from the norm when traveling to the mainland. The alert had previously been at \u201clevel three,\u201d telling Americans they should \u201creconsider travel\u201d to China in part because of the \u201crisk of wrongful detention\u201d of Americans.<\/p>\n<p>The new alert removes that wording but retains a warning that the Chinese government \u201carbitrarily enforces local laws, including exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration had raised the cases of the detained Americans with China in multiple meetings over the past several years, including this month when Biden spoke to Xi on during the <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/peru-apec-biden-xi-lima-china-fc2ac014b2f7314bfa1a53351b0bc3a7\">Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit<\/a><\/span> in Peru.<\/p>\n<p>Politico was first to report the men\u2019s release, which it said was part of a prisoner swap with the U.S. The White House did not immediately confirm that any Chinese citizens in American custody had been returned home.<\/p>\n<p>However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced in Beijing on Thursday that \u201cthree Chinese citizens have returned to the motherland safe and sound.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChina always firmly opposes U.S. suppression and persecution of Chinese nationals out of political purposes, and we will continue taking necessary measures to defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She added that a fourth person, \u201ca fugitive who escaped to the U.S. many years ago, has also been repatriated to China.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fourth person\u2019s nationality was not identified. Mao said \u201cthis shows that there will be no safe haven forever for criminals. The Chinese government will continue our efforts to repatriate the fugitives and recover criminals and illegal possessions until every fugitive is held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senators from both U.S. political parties praised the release of the Americans. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said he was \u201coverjoyed\u201d \u2014 Swidan\u2019s mother lives in Texas \u2014 and credited senior Biden administration officials with having \u201cworked tirelessly to secure this achievement.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Li, a Chinese immigrant who started an export business in the U.S. and lived in New York, was detained in September 2016 after flying into Shanghai. He was placed under surveillance, interrogated without a lawyer and accused of providing state secrets to the FBI. A U.N. working group called his 10-year prison sentence arbitrary and his family has said the charges were politically motivated.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said he had worked for years to try to secure Li\u2019s release, welcomed the news.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven when it felt like there was no hope, we never stopped believing that one day Mr. Li would return home,\u201d Schumer said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/american-charged-spying-china-prison-2de86767bbc828ec4362af23fb271afd\">Leung was sentenced last year<\/a><\/span> to life in prison on spying charges. He was detained in 2021, by the local bureau of China\u2019s counterintelligence agency in the southeastern city of Suzhou after China had closed its borders and imposed tight domestic travel restrictions and social controls to fight the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>After Leung\u2019s sentencing, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-china-travel-advisory-8ee10ab5ed3b269ad3cdf4dfe715a22a\">the U.S. recommended<\/a><\/span> \u2014 though without citing specific cases \u2014 that Americans reconsider traveling to China because of arbitrary law enforcement and exit bans and the risk of wrongful detentions.<\/p>\n<p>Swidan had been jailed for the last 12 years on a drug charge and, along with Li and Leung, was considered by the State Department to be wrongfully detained.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n              appId : '870613919693099',\n          xfbml : true,\n          version : 'v2.9'\n      });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-china-americans-detained-released-365258f044ec5a650aaeccf33d817d64\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China have been released and are returning to the United States, the White House said Wednesday, announcing a rare diplomatic &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=131137\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}