President Joe Biden granted clemency to three Chinese nationals last month as a part of an agreement to secure the release of three Americans wrongfully held by Beijing, according to a National Security Council spokesperson.
The United States announced on Nov. 27 that it had secured the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung from Beijing, but officials did not specify at the time what the U.S. gave up in exchange for them. Swidan had been behind bars in China since 2012 on drug trafficking allegations he vehemently rejects. Li had been held since September 2016 and Leung was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison for espionage.
“We are pleased to announce the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung from detention in the People’s Republic of China,” an NSC spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that day. “Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years. Thanks to this administration’s efforts and diplomacy with the PRC, all of the wrongfully detained Americans in the PRC are home.”
To secure their release, Biden granted clemency to Yanjun Xu, Ji Chaoqun, and Jin Shanlin, disclosures that can be seen on the Department of Justice’s website.
Xu was convicted of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, attempted economic espionage, and attempted trade secret theft, and he was sentenced in November 2022 to serve 20 years in prison. He was the first Chinese government officer to be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial.
Xu was Ji’s handler, and Ji was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2023 after getting convicted of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, acting as an agent for a foreign government, and making a material false statement to the U.S. Army. Ji enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves and incorrectly stated that he had no contact with a foreign government within the last seven years, according to the Justice Department.
Jin was a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University when he was sentenced in 2021 to eight years in prison on child pornography charges. He had more than 47,000 images and videos on his computer, according to the Dallas Morning News. His family has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, according to the outlet.
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News that Biden granted clemency to Chinese nationals garnered more attention on Thursday in light of the announcement from the White House that he granted pardons to nearly 1,500 people. The pardons announced on Thursday were unrelated to the November hostage deal.
The Biden administration has made several hostage deals over the last four years, including agreements with Russia, Venezuela, and Afghanistan to secure the release of Americans.