In the waning days of the Biden administration, the United States and China once again confirmed news of a second prisoner exchange this year. Beijing released three Americans who had been wrongfully detained for years in exchange for two Chinese spies and a child pornography offender living in the U.S. Analysts believe that the Chinese Communist Party’s target for prisoner exchanges are spies or officials’ children.
On November 27, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council confirmed to the English edition of Epoch Times that the three American citizens who had been detained by the Chinese Communist Party, Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung, had been released.
On the 28th, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also acknowledged that the three Chinese citizens who were exchanged with the U.S. had returned to China, but did not disclose their identities. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning insisted during a press conference that the three Chinese citizens had been “wrongfully detained” by the U.S.
However, according to reports from Financial Times, South China Morning Post, and others, the three Chinese citizens released include Chinese intelligence officer Yanjun Xu, Chinese student Ji Chaoqun, and 26-year-old Ph.D. student Jin Shanlin in the U.S.
Xu Yanjun and Ji Chaoqun were accused of engaging in spy activities and were sentenced to 20 years and 8 years in prison, respectively. Jin Shanlin was sentenced to 8 years in prison in July 2022 for involvement in child pornography crimes. The Dallas Morning News reported that Jin Shanlin possessed and distributed up to 47,000 pieces of child pornography images and videos.
In response to this, former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and Executive Director of “Chinese Human Rights” Zhou Fengsuo told Radio Free Asia that both individuals exchanged by the Chinese Communist Party this time were Chinese spies. He questioned why the Chinese Communist Party would exchange someone like Jin Shanlin, who is involved in a criminal offence related to child pornography. Zhou Fengsuo pointed out that through the previous exchange of a suspected second-generation official, Wu Xiaolei, it is evident that the Chinese Communist Party often uses foreign hostages to exchange for individuals with official backgrounds or spies.
Court documents from Texas confirmed that an FBI agent testified that Jin Shanlin’s family is “connected with influential figures within the Chinese Communist Party.”
Former political consul at the Chinese Consulate General in Sydney Chen Yonglin told Radio Free Asia that it is not ruled out that the Chinese Communist Party may want to show a conciliatory gesture towards the incoming Trump administration through the prisoner exchange. “Because they are in a desperate situation now, Trump’s statements during the election and the officials he appointed are all hardliners. The Chinese side must be more nervous; they want to ease the situation through the prisoner exchange.”
He further stated that in the past, the Chinese Communist Party has often used its overseas arrested spies as cannon fodder. This time, exchanging back two spies may be an attempt to appease the overseas cross-border law enforcement personnel and teams who have been hit hard.
Biden’s term will end on January 20 next year. During his four years in office, the U.S. government rescued over seventy American citizens from countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran.
In September of this year, the U.S. released a Chinese national in exchange for the release of American Chinese pastor David Lin, who had been imprisoned in China for 18 years. At that time, the Chinese government exchanged Wu Xiaolei, a former Chinese student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, who was arrested on December 13, 2022, for threatening fellow students participating in the “Blank Paper Movement.”
After Wu Xiaolei’s arrest, some online users accused him of being an official’s child from Beijing, and disclosed personal information about Wu and his official father. This information has yet to be further verified.
Reference:
– Prisoner Exchange: Three Americans Detained by China Released
– Prisoner Exchange: Chinese Spies Ji Chaoqun and Yanjun Xu Repatriated