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3 Americans freed in US prisoner exchange with China
The Straits Times
|November 29, 2024
FBI informant among those released, in swap for Chinese intelligence officer
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WASHINGTON - Three Americans who were detained in China have been released in a prisoner swap with Beijing, the Biden administration said on Nov 27. One of the men had been an FBI informant, according to senior US officials.
Mr John Leung, Mr Kai Li and Mr Mark Swidan headed to the US on Nov 27 after months of diplomatic maneuvering to free them. Mr Leung and Mr Li had been held for three years and eight years, respectively. Mr Swidan was held for more than a decade.
In return, Washington released Mr Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence officer serving a 20-year sentence after he was arrested in Brussels in 2018 and extradited to the United States in a dramatic FBI operation, according to two American officials.
The exchange has been in the works, under intense secrecy, for months. During a global summit in Peru earlier in November, President Joe Biden discussed a potential prisoner swap with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at Mr Xi's hotel.
Hostage diplomacy has risen in recent years, as tensions between the US and both China and Russia have grown.
This story is from the November 29, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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