The families of some of the Americans detained in China are not optimistic that President Joe Biden's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week could lead to the release of their loved ones.
Biden and Xi will not have a shortage of topics to discuss at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, though these families are desperate to be on that list.
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At least three Americans (Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and David Lin) are considered wrongfully detained in China, all of whom have been imprisoned for years with extended time left on their sentences. Their families have said all of them have serious health concerns.
Harrison Li, Kai Li's son, told the Washington Examiner this week that the cadre of families with loved ones detained in China was promised "substantive progress" by Secretary of State Antony Blinken this summer, but "we haven't seen any substantive progress or progress at all."
"We can't let our government or the administration just sort of get away with OK, we discussed the case, we raised the case, and, you know, they can pat themselves on the back for raising but like, you know, nothing gets done. ... We're constantly sort of given the runaround by the government," he said. "I think it's dangerous to have any optimism at any point until we get the call that my dad is on the plane with U.S. forces out of Chinese airspace."
Katherine Swidan, the mother of Mark Swidan, who has been held in China on disputed drug charges for more than 10 years, told the Washington Examiner that not only is she "not optimistic" but that she would "be very surprised" if her son was released as a result of the Biden-Xi meeting. Katherine Swidan said she spoke with U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns ahead of the leaders' meeting, but she said he didn't have many answers to provide about her son's well-being and whether they've made progress in securing his freedom.
He was "polite and upbeat and everything and I, on the other hand, was not in the mood for sympathy," Katherine Swidan said. In April, China's Jiangman Intermediate Court upheld Mark Swidan's death penalty with a two-year suspended death sentence.
“The safety and well-being of wrongfully detained Americans, like Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and David Lin, should be our utmost concern," Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Washington Examiner. "The administration’s lack of progress and inability to secure their releases is deeply troubling. Ahead of this meeting, I urge President Biden to prioritize efforts in safeguarding the release of American hostages in China and refuse to put more Americans in danger by increasing ‘people to people ties.’ The Biden administration must stop making any concessions based on false promises and hold the CCP accountable for its gross human rights violations.”
A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner it "has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. We continually raise the cases of U.S. nationals wrongfully detained in the People’s Republic of China during our engagements with senior PRC officials. Due to the sensitive nature of these conversations, we aren’t going to publicly discuss our efforts, but they remain ongoing."
The spokesperson added: "U.S. Mission China will continue to provide all appropriate consular assistance to every U.S. citizen detained in the PRC. Ambassador Burns has visited every wrongfully detained U.S. national in the past several months and will continue to advocate for their release."
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A number of Biden administration officials have met with their Chinese counterparts as the United States seeks to restart its military-to-military communications and reduce the tension between the two countries that has been exacerbated over the last couple of years.
Department of Defense officials warned last month that there had been a dramatic increase in the number of unsafe or reckless maneuvers near U.S. aircraft and naval vessels in the Pacific region, while a new congressionally mandated report released in October found that the Chinese military is "continuing to quite rapidly modernize and diversify and expand its nuclear forces," a senior defense official said at the time.