Prisoner exchange between China and the United States
“Veer Zara” was a movie you may have seen. In this film, an Indian citizen is imprisoned in the neighboring country of Pakistan and then after years, he is released from jail. Something similar happened between China and the United States. China and the United States exchanged prisoners. In this prisoner exchange, China released three American prisoners who had been imprisoned for years and were due to be sentenced to death.
The White House announced a diplomatic agreement with Beijing in the final months of the Biden administration. The United States said three American citizens who had been imprisoned by China for years have been freed in a prisoner swap.
Which three citizens were released?
These three citizens are Mark Sweden, Kai Lee and John Leung. When China imprisoned them all, the US government declared their arrest an unjust detention. Mark Sweden was sentenced to death on drug charges, while Lee and Leung were jailed on espionage charges.
The White House said in a statement Wednesday that the three will soon return to the United States and be reunited with their families after many years. According to foreign media, China has released these three American prisoners in exchange for its three Chinese prisoners, who were detained by the United States, but no information has been revealed about who these three Chinese prisoners are.
How was prisoner Lee arrested?
Lee had started an export business in the United States. Li was detained in Shanghai in September 2016. He was placed under surveillance, interrogated without a lawyer and accused of providing state secrets to the FBI. A UN working group described his 10-year prison sentence as arbitrary.
How was prisoner Leung arrested?
Leung was sentenced to life in prison on espionage charges last year and arrested in 2021. The Swede was arrested on drug charges in 2012. His family and supporters say there was never any evidence he had drugs and that his driver and translator They framed him. American officials later admitted that the release of these American citizens was in exchange for the release of Chinese citizens.
Prisoner exchanges between China and the United States are rarely observed. Earlier this month, Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Peru. According to the American reading of the conversation, Biden said that our priority is to resolve the problem of American citizens who are unjustly detained in China or prohibited from leaving.
