The prisoner swap negotiated by the Biden administration has been in the works for months, officials said.
Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

3 Americans Are Said to Be Freed From China in Prisoner Swap

The three men, John Leung, Kai Li and Mark Swidan, are on planes heading to the United States, officials said.

by · NY Times

The Biden administration has negotiated a prisoner swap with China for the release of three American men, including one who had been an F.B.I. informant, according to senior U.S. officials.

The three Americans — John Leung, Kai Li and Mark Swidan — were on planes heading to the United States on Wednesday morning.

“Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” said Sean Savett, a National Security Council spokesman.

Mr. Leung was outwardly pro-Beijing. He backed the country’s claim to Taiwan, organized groups that promoted American ties with China and frequently appeared with Chinese consular officials in Houston. He had also provided information to the F.B.I. for years, according to two of the American officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the matter.

His F.B.I. contacts discouraged him from traveling to China in 2021, one of the officials said. The Chinese authorities arrested him and took him to an undisclosed detention center. For over two years, his friends and family heard nothing. In 2023, a court in the city of Suzhou sentenced him to life in prison, a first for an American charged with espionage in China.

The swap has been in the works for months. It involves the release of at least one Chinese prisoner in the United States, two of the officials said. A State Department official in Washington confirmed the names of the Americans being released but would not give further details.

During the negotiations, multiple American officials said they were in discussions about releasing Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence officer serving prison time in the United States. The terms of the swap were unclear on Wednesday morning, but Mr. Xu was listed in the Bureau of Prisons system as “Not in B.O.P. custody.”

Mr. Xu was the first Chinese spy officer indicted and arrested overseas and brought to trial in the United States, according to the Justice Department.

China does not typically do prisoner swaps, said John Kamm, the founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights group in San Francisco. “It suggests to me that they not only want to give a parting gift to Joe Biden, but they are signaling to Donald Trump the possibility of making important concessions,” he said.

Both Mr. Li and Mr. Swidan have been ill, Mr. Kamm said.

Edward Wong and Joy Dong contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.

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