3 Americans detained in China are released

Li, 70, who is from Long Island, New York, was detained in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in 2018 on espionage charges his family says are baseless. Swidan, a Texas businessman in his 40s, had been detained since 2012 and was sentenced to death with a reprieve in 2019 after being convicted on drug-related charges that a United Nations working group said had no evidential basis.

John Leung, an American in his 70s who also has permanent residency in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, was sentenced to life in prison last year after being found guilty of espionage by a court in eastern China. Leung, who was detained in 2021, had been a member of a pro-Beijing group in the United States and had been pictured with senior Chinese officials, according to Hong Kong and Chinese news outlets.

"Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years," the State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

According to a senior U.S. official, the three Americans released from China are safely in U.S. custody and on planes heading back to the U.S.

The White House has not said who, if anyone, was being freed in exchange for the U.S. citizens.

The senior official as well as another U.S. official said the release had been in the works for months.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he had worked closely over the years with Li's son, Harrison Li, "to speak directly to the highest levels of the Chinese and U.S. governments to advocate for Mr. Li's release and safe return to his family in Huntington, New York."

"Even when it felt like there was no hope, we never stopped believing that one day Mr. Li would return home," he said in a statement Wednesday. "I look forward to welcoming Mr. Li back home