Beijing yesterday said that three of its nationals “wrongfully imprisoned” in the US had returned to China, after US officials said they had negotiated the return of three Americans incarcerated there.
Washington on Wednesday said that it had secured the return of the last prisoners in China classified by the US Department of State as wrongfully detained.
A source close to the matter said the arrangement was part of a swap deal with Beijing for three Chinese nationals in US custody who were not identified.
Photo: AP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had spoken to the three Americans — Mark Swidan, Li Kai (李凱) and John Leung (梁成運) — “as they traveled home to the United States just in time for Thanksgiving,” an American holiday associated with family reunions.
“I told them how glad I was that they were in good health and that they’ll soon be reunited with their loved ones,” Blinken wrote on X.
Swidan was detained on drug charges in late 2012 during a business trip to China.
Photo: Reuters
His family and supporters say there was never any evidence he had drugs, and that his driver and translator had blamed him.
Li, a naturalized American born in Shanghai who ran a business exporting aircraft technology, was detained in 2016 and convicted of espionage for allegedly sending state secrets to US authorities.
He said he was sharing information as part of routine compliance with US export rules.
Leung, a US citizen in his late 70s with permanent residency in Hong Kong, was also convicted of espionage.
China said little about his case when he was first detained in 2021, but later accused him of spying on Chinese officials on behalf of the US.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the return of three nationals from the US, without giving further details.
“Following unremitting efforts by the Chinese government, three Chinese nationals wrongfully imprisoned by the American side have now safely returned to the motherland,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) told a regular news conference in Beijing. “This shows once again that China will never abandon its compatriots at any time, and that the motherland is always there as a strong backup force for them.”
Beijing “consistently opposes the American side carrying out the suppression and persecution of Chinese nationals out of political aims, and will continue as ever to take necessary measures” to uphold their legal interests, she said.
The swap had also included the extradition back to China of a “fugitive who had absconded from justice for several years,” Mao said.
“This shows that nobody can escape from the long arm of the law, and that no place can become a permanent haven for criminals on the run,” she said.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS