US eases China travel advisories after release of three detained Americans

HONG KONG The State Department has eased its travel advisories to China after the release of three American citizens detained in the country for years.

The travel advisory for China is now at level 2, exercise increased caution, at the same level as for France and Germany. The alert was at Level 3, the second highest level, advising Americans to reconsider travel to China in part because of the risk of unwarranted detentions, according to guidance released Wednesday.

Language regarding wrongful detentions has been removed in the updated notice.

The Biden administration earlier announced that it had secured the release of three Americans who had spent years in detention in China: Kai Li, Mark Swidan and John Leung.

A U.S. government official said Wednesday that Li, Swidan and Leung were released in exchange for Chinese nationals detained in the United States, including Xu Yanjun, a Chinese Ministry of State Security officer accused of attempting to steal technology to an American supplier of aircraft engines. and Ji Chaoqun, accused of spying for the Chinese government. Officials said the deal had been in the works for months.

The White House has not publicly confirmed details of the exchange. China's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that three Chinese citizens wrongly detained by the United States have returned to China safely.

Li, 62, from Long Island, New York, had been detained since 2016 and was serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted of espionage, while Swidan, a Texas businessman in his 40s , had been detained since 2012 and was detained. sentenced to suspended death in 2019 after being convicted of drug charges. Leung, aged 70 and arrested in 2021, was sentenced to life in prison last year after a court in eastern China found him guilty of espionage.

The State Department had officially designated Li and Swidan as wrongfully detained.

Their return follows the surprise release in September of American pastor David Lin, also considered wrongly detained. Lin spent nearly two decades in detention in China and was sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud.

A State Department spokesperson said Wednesday that all Americans unjustly detained in China are now home.

According to the Dui Hua Foundation, a prisoners' rights group, about 200 Americans are detained in China, more than in any other foreign country. These include imprisoned Americans as well as those who cannot leave the country while investigations are underway.

The updated China advisory also warns against arbitrary enforcement of local laws, particularly regarding exit bans.

Beijing, which had criticized Level 3 travel advisories as too harsh, says all cases are handled in accordance with the law.

The Foreign Ministry said Thursday that lowering travel advisories is conducive to normal people-to-people exchanges between the United States and China.

We have always opposed artificially creating a deterrent effect and hope that the United States will continue to create more conveniences to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, Spokesperson Mao Ning said at a briefing. regular press release in Beijing.

Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, defended the Level 3 advisory in an interview last month.

The Chinese government is protesting the travel advisory, but they have no reason to do so when we have such a major problem on the ground, he told NBC News in Beijing.

The warning to reconsider travel has raised concerns about the potential impact on U.S. business and tourism travel to China, as well as academic and other exchanges. Fewer than 1,000 Americans are estimated to be studying in China, down from a peak of about 15,000 a decade ago and about 300,000 Chinese students currently in the United States.

The Level 3 notice is really a big deal, Austin Strange, assistant professor of international relations at the University of Hong Kong, said this month at an event hosted by the University's Center on Contemporary China and the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said last year that China was ready to invite 50,000 young Americans to study there over the next five years.

Some steps have been taken to make this easier, Strange said, but it is extremely difficult to do so with the travel advisory because it creates enormous insurance and other risks for sponsoring U.S. universities. study abroad programs.

Some, like Peter Humphrey, a British advocate for foreigners detained in China and jailed for two years on what he says were trumped-up charges of gathering illegal information, said they opposed the downgrade. advice for travelers.

There's really no sign of improving security for Americans in China, he said.

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