In a rare event on Monday, the Chinese government has freed an American citizen who it had detained for nearly 20 years. The citizen, David Lin, was a pastor who was born in China and then lived in California, where he has now safely returned. He is one of three Americans that the U.S. government considers “wrongfully detained” in China. His release signals a potential improvement in the deteriorating bilateral relations between the two countries. Eric Tucker and Didi Tang from the Associated Press provided more background on Lin’s detention:
David Lin, 68, was detained after he entered China in 2006, later convicted of contract fraud and sentenced to life in prison.
[…] Lin frequently traveled to China in the 1990s to spread the gospel, according to China Aid, which says Lin sought a license from the Chinese government to carry out Christian ministry. It’s unlikely he was granted permission, and he was detained in 2006 when assisting a church not authorized by Chinese officials, the group said.
Lin was formally arrested in 2009 on suspicion of contract fraud and, after a court review, was sentenced to life in prison, China Aid said.
The charge is frequently used against leaders of churches that operate outside state-sponsored faith groups, and it is a crime that Lin denied, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a humanitarian group that advocates for prisoners in China. The commission on religious freedom says those leading and taking part in churches not sanctioned by the Chinese government “often face intimidation, harassment, arrest and harsh sentences.” [Source]
During their meetings in person and by phone over the past year, Joe Biden discussed with Xi Jinping the issue of American citizens who are “wrongfully detained or subject to exit bans” in China, according to readouts from the White House. California Governor Gavin Newsom also specifically advocated for Lin’s release during his visit to China last October. Phelim Kine from Politico reported on the timing of Lin’s release and the actors involved:
The release of Lin — who is one of three U.S. citizens that the State Department considered to be unjustly jailed in China — marks a breakthrough in a longstanding bilateral irritant that has defied resolution for years. “The Chinese first agreed to release him in a meeting between Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken and [Chinese Foreign Minister] Wang Yi in Laos” in July in a meeting on the sidelines of an ASEAN-related ministerial meeting, said a U.S. official familiar familiar with those discussions and granted anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak on record about sensitive diplomatic negotiations.
The timing of Lin’s release — just weeks after national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s meetings with Wang in Beijing — suggests that Sullivan also played a role in bringing Lin home.
“I know that Jake Sullivan did raise my dad’s case,” Lin’s daughter said. [Source]
Two other prominent Americans the U.S. government considers wrongfully detained in China are Mark Swidan and Kai Li. Swidan was arrested in 2012 for drug-related charges and last year a Chinese court upheld his death sentence. Li was detained in 2016 on espionage charges. In 2021, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention deemed both of their detentions arbitrary. The Dui Hua Foundation estimates that there are over 200 Americans under coercive measures in China, including Nelson Wells Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt, and over 30 Americans under exit bans. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China is scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday on the subject of Americans unjustly detained in China.
Republican U.S. House Representative Michael McCaul posted on X: “I am extremely glad to hear David Lin was freed from his 17 year-long wrongful imprisonment by the CCP. His capture, like so many others, marks a rising trend of hostage diplomacy by authoritarians around the world. However, Kai Li and Texan Mark Swidan still remain CCP prisoners—and must be freed now.” Vivian Wang from The New York Times described other reactions to Lin’s release and how it factors into fluctuating China-U.S. relations:
“China is looking for ways to be perceived as less confrontational in some ways. Prisoner releases would certainly align with these efforts,” said Kevin Slaten, a Taiwan-based researcher who leads China Dissent Monitor, a project that tracks protest in the country.
“China detains so many thousands of political prisoners that it is a small cost for the party-state to release a few people if it thinks it can gain some diplomatic good will,” Mr. Slaten added.
[…] Mr. Lin’s release will do little to change the overall tenor of the two countries’ relationship, said Drew Thompson, a former Defense Department official who is now a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“Releasing an individual who’s been in jail for almost 20 years is not exactly a concession that would get to the heart of United States concerns about China’s governance,” he said. [Source]
