China welcomes US release of citizen convicted of child pornography

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China has welcomed the United States' release of three Chinese citizens, including an alleged politically recognized former student, convicted of possessing child pornography.

Jin Shanlin was released in a rare prisoner swap negotiated with the Biden administration that China's Foreign Ministry said was the result of tireless government efforts.

While the other two Chinese citizens were imprisoned in the United States on espionage-related charges, Jin pleaded guilty in 2021 to possession of child pornography. At his trial in Texas, an FBI special agent testified that his family was linked to influential members of the Chinese Communist Party, according to court records.

China's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that its three citizens were wrongly detained by the United States and were repatriated safely thanks to the Chinese government's tireless efforts.

This once again demonstrates that China will never abandon its compatriots under any circumstances, and the motherland will always be their firm support, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.

Jin, 26, admitted to possessing and distributing more than 600 images and videos of child pornography while studying for a doctorate at Southern Methodist University in Texas.

Local police investigators said an Internet protocol address linked to Jin's residence used a peer-to-peer network to share a video of the sexual assault of an infant by an adult man as well as other child pornography.

Police said they found child pornography open on Jin's computer when they entered his home, which included videos involving infants and young children.

When an interviewer asked him the age of the youngest person he had seen in pornography, Jin replied: Um… I'm not sure, but maybe 16, 17 or 14? , according to a transcript released in court.

Bill Bishop, author of the China newsletter Sinocism, said it was surprising that Beijing would choose Jin over two citizens involved in national security cases.

There must be other Chinese citizens in U.S. prisons, Bishop said.

Jin was scheduled to be released in December 2027, according to federal prison records. On November 22, Biden also commuted the sentences of Chinese citizens Ji Chaoqun and Xu Yanjun, saying in clemency statements that the release of the three men was in the national interest.

Ji was sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to gather information on defense technology on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security. Xu was his so-called master.

Xu, a Chinese intelligence officer, was arrested in a sting operation in Belgium in 2018 and convicted in 2021 of stealing trade secrets from GE Aviation.

Beijing in exchange released three Americans considered by Washington to be wrongly detained: Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung. Swidan had been detained in the country since 2012 and received a suspended death sentence after being convicted of drug trafficking, charges he denied. The United States and the United Nations cited a lack of evidence against him to conclude that Swidan had been arbitrarily detained.

Li and Leung have each been detained for several years in China on espionage-related charges, which the United States and their families have disputed.

Thanks to the efforts and diplomacy of this administration with the [Peoples Republic of China]All Americans unjustly detained in the PRC are home, the US National Security Council said in a statement.

After the deal, the United States on Wednesday lowered the level of its travel advisory for mainland China to exercise greater caution and not reconsider travel.

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