On Wednesday, October 30th, according to The Politico, three informed sources stated that the Biden administration facilitated the release of American citizen David Lin by Beijing last month. Concurrently, the US also released an undisclosed Chinese citizen who was being held in the United States.
David Lin is a Chinese-American pastor who had been imprisoned in China for 18 years. He was released by the Chinese authorities on September 15th.
The US State Department has not publicly disclosed the exchange involving David Lin for the release of a Chinese citizen, and has refused to comment on negotiation-related questions such as how David Lin will regain his freedom and return to the US from China.
This prisoner exchange between the US and China may be the first time in recent years that the US has handed over a Chinese citizen to Beijing in exchange for an American citizen.
Both the US State Department and the White House declined to comment on the matter. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
On September 15th, the US State Department confirmed that David Lin had been released from a Chinese prison. A spokesperson stated that the US welcomes David Lin’s return. This marked the first time in nearly twenty years that David Lin had seen his family.
US political figures had long been urging the Chinese government to release David Lin. The Chinese-American pastor had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese authorities on charges of “contract fraud.”
According to Reuters on September 16th, the US State Department stated that efforts had been ongoing to rescue David Lin for some time. The State Department also mentioned that “some Americans” had been wrongly detained in China, and Washington was working towards securing their release.
In 2006, David Lin was detained by the police for assisting Chinese Christians in building churches and was prohibited from leaving the country.
In 2009, David Lin was arrested by a Chinese prosecutor for alleged “contract fraud” and subsequently sentenced to life in prison by the court on the same charge.
Initially, David Lin’s family in the US remained silent upon his conviction. However, in late 2018 to early 2019, David Lin explicitly requested help from his family during phone calls, urging for his release as soon as possible.
In November 2023, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged President Biden to use his meeting with Xi Jinping to push for the release of David Lin and two other detainees – Kai Li and Weidan Si, all of whom Washington claimed were wrongly detained by Beijing.
The Chinese government, on the other hand, denies the existence of any wrongful detention issues.