China Releases Huntington Hostage "Spy" in Prisoner Swap
By Rupert Deedes
After eight years of Hell - falsely accused, convicted in a kangaroo trial, and locked in a filthy Communist Chinese prison cell - a Huntington man has been released from China in a negotiated prisoner swap - and is coming home.
Free - is Kai Li, age 62, an American businessman from Huntington. He was arrested in 2016 in Shanghai on charges of "stealing state secrets," and was the only US citizen being held in China on "state security" charges.
Li visited China in 2016 to commemorate the first-year anniversary of the death of his mother who lived in Shanghai. His family denied the espionage charges, and called his 10-year sentence "politically motivated."
Li was arrested immediately upon arrival at the airport, held in secret detention for months without access to legal counsel, and then - in a one-hour secret trial - was convicted of espionage and stealing state secrets.
He suffered a stroke, high blood pressure, chronic gastritis, and shingles while in prison, according to his family.
Both US Congressmen Nick LaLota (R-NY1) and Thomas Suozzi (D-NY3) who both represent parts of Huntington, came to Li's defense, and called for his release.
Suozzi sent a letter to the White House last year, stating that Li’s health has deteriorated since his imprisonment, and urged the President and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to secure Li's immediate release.
"I am grateful that Huntington’s own Kai Li is finally free this Thanksgiving weekend," stated Congressman LaLota. "After enduring more than eight long years of unjust imprisonment in China, Kai is finally on his way home to be reunited with his family where he belongs.. Kai—our community stands with you."
Last week’s prisoner swap between the United States and China saw both countries claim "victory," and accuse the other of wrongfully detaining its citizens.
Each country released three prisoners. In addition to Li, two other Americans were released:
Mark Swidan, a Texas businessman, was arrested in 2012 in Dongguan for "drug trafficking" although there was no direct evidence — no drugs or incriminating records - ever found or produced.
Swidan was sentenced to death, but granted a reprieve in 2019. His mother, Katherine Swidan, led a tireless campaign for his release. “I feared I would never see my son again,” she said, recounting his years in a Guangdong prison marked by overcrowding, intense heat and deteriorating health.
Also released was John Leung, age 79, a Hong Kong-based American citizen, who was falsely arrested in 2021 on "espionage" charges.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council hailed the release of the three Americans as a significant diplomatic achievement, emphasizing that all Americans classified as “wrongfully detained Americans” in China have now been brought home.
Critics of the prisoners’ swap have criticized what they describe as the growing trend of “hostage diplomacy.”
"No Americans held in China should be considered normal prisoners," stated Peter Humphrey, a former detainee in China and an associate at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. "China’s legal processes are fundamentally flawed, as prisoners do not have fair and transparent trials."
This week’s prisoner swap was a “capitulation to hostage diplomacy,” charged Humphrey, and warned that it could incentivize Beijing to falsely detain even more Americans.
Interestingly, the US last Wednesday reduced its "travel advisory warnings" on China from Level 3 (“Reconsider Travel”) to Level 2 (“Exercise Increased Caution”), raising questions about whether the Advisory's revision was part of the US-China negotiations.
“China did not suddenly become safer for Americans, or any other foreigners actually, to travel to China,” Humphrey added to Voice of America. "It has not become safer.”