Bipartisan Committee Leaders Urge Biden to Bring Home Americans Wrongfully Detained in China

Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) speaks during a press conference discussing the implications of the Safeguarding National Security Bill (Article 23 legislation) at the House Triangle near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on March 22, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The bipartisan leaders of a China-focused congressional committee are asking President Joe Biden to use his remaining months in office to secure the release of Americans wrongfully detained in China.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), respectively, sent a letter to Biden on Oct. 3 saying that American detainees are being imprisoned in China for an average of 12 years.

“There are more Americans wrongfully detained in China than in any other country,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Most were sentenced with acute due process irregularities or on spurious charges. Many are severely mistreated in detention and have developed serious physical and mental health problems due to a lack of adequate nutrition or medical care in Chinese prisons. They deserve tenacious advocacy to gain their release.”

Just weeks prior to the letter, Beijing released David Lin, a U.S. citizen and pastor who had been detained for nearly 20 years in China. Lin was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 for what Washington says are wrongful charges of contract fraud.

The lawmakers told Biden that the release of Americans should be a “top priority item” in any future meetings with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. They named four detained Americans—Kai Li, Mark Swidan, Nelson Wells Jr., and Dawn Michelle Hunt—and urged Biden to secure their release.

Biden and Xi last met in person in Woodside, California, in November 2023, and they last spoke on the phone in April. On Sept. 27, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he expects a meeting between Biden and Xi to take place “in the weeks and months ahead.”

The lawmakers also asked Biden to meet with the families of detained Americans in China and urged U.S. consular officials to visit detained Americans more often to ensure they have proper access to legal representation and health care.

According to the letter, both Wells and Hunt face “life-threatening health conditions that Chinese authorities cannot or will not properly address.”

The commission heard from family members of Li, Wells, and Hunt at a hearing on Sept. 18. Li’s son, Harrison Li, told lawmakers that “the next few months before President Biden leaves office is a critical window” for getting his father and all other wrongfully detained Americans home.

Kai Li has been detained in China since September 2016. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 on espionage charges that his family says are “politically motivated.” According to his son’s testimony, Li has suffered a stroke and lost a tooth in prison.

Swidan, a Texas businessman who has been wrongfully detained in China since 2012, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 2019 after being charged with alleged drug-related crimes, according to the State Department.

Katherine Swidan said that her son’s health was deteriorating, according to her testimony.

“We need our leaders with moral and political courage to do right and use our power to bring Mark home,” she wrote.

In the letter, the lawmakers warned that the CCP continues to use “exit bans” to unjustly detain U.S. citizens “either to settle economic disputes or to coerce their relatives to return to China to face alleged crimes.”

“If the Chinese government wants to improve relations with the United States, it should release Americans who are wrongfully imprisoned without condition and unilaterally end the use of ‘exit bans,’ a form of de facto hostage-taking,” the lawmakers wrote.

In a statement welcoming Li’s release last month, San Francisco-based advocacy group Dui Hua Foundation said that more than 200 Americans are under “coercive measures” in China, and more than 30 are under exit bans.

Currently, the State Department has a level-three travel advisory for China, urging Americans to reconsider traveling to the Asian country. The advisory cites “arbitrary enforcement of local laws,” including those related to exit bans.

Since China has also detained citizens from U.S. allies on bogus charges, the lawmakers stated, the Biden administration should “work closely with our international partners to continue pressing for the release of all those who have been unjustly detained.”