White House trades Chinese detainees for three 'wrongfully' detained Americans

According to a U.S. official, the Biden administration has brought up its issues with China in a number of meetings over the past few years, including when President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month

The White House announced an unusual diplomatic accord with Beijing in the last months of the Biden administration on Wednesday, announcing the release of three American citizens who had been detained by China for years and their return to the US, according to Politico.

The three are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, all of whom had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained. Swidan had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while Li and Leung were imprisoned on espionage charges. “Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” the White House said in a statement.

A U.S. official said the Biden administration had raised their cases with China in multiple meetings over the last several years, including earlier this month when President Joe Biden spoke to Chinese president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru.

It comes after U.S. citizen David Lin was released in September as part of a similar swap agreement for an unnamed Chinese national who was imprisoned in the US.

For President Joe Biden and negotiations in the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, the release of Swidan, Li, and Leung represents a diplomatic triumph for the late administration. Additionally, it eliminates a long-standing issue in U.S.-China relations that has long drawn criticism on Capitol Hill.

In a letter to Biden last month, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) encouraged the administration to make sure that Li and Swidan’s release continues to be a diplomatic priority.

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Under the State Department’s Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, the administration has repatriated over 70 Americans from nations such as Iran, Venezuela, and Russia in the last four years.

According to the senior administration official, the three men should return to the US “in a few hours.” They will probably be taken to the Brooke Army Medical Center, which is located south of San Antonio, Texas, upon arrival. This facility has the capacity to assess former captives psychologically and get them ready for reintegration into American society.

According to the source, the publication is the culmination of “years of work.” “Jake Sullivan brought this up when he was in Beijing [in September], and President Biden brought it up when he met with President Xi in Peru two weeks ago. Secretary Blinken also pushed for this really hard in September at the UNGA with [Chinese Foreign Minister] Wang Yi,” the official continued.