Two American siblings prevented from leaving China since 2018 returned to the US over the weekend, said a US official, their release by Beijing coming shortly after the US ended a legal case against a top Huawei executive.
Cynthia and Victor Liu returned to the US after more than three years during which they were not allowed to leave China under an “exit ban” despite not facing criminal allegations. Their father, former bank official and fugitive Liu Changming (劉昌明), is wanted in China to face fraud charges.
The exit of the two Americans followed an agreement that allowed Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) to return to China from Canada after US prosecutors dropped a fraud case against her.
Within hours of the news of the deal, two Canadians who were arrested shortly after Meng was taken into custody were released from Chinese detention and sent back to Canada.
Beijing had denied that those arrests were linked.
The White House on Monday said the Canadians’ release was not a prisoner swap, but that their cases came up in a call between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in a Sept. 9 call.
The US Department of Justice has said that its decision on Meng’s case was decided independently.
“We welcome Cynthia and Victor Liu’s return to the United States on Sunday,” a US Department of State spokesperson said, adding that US consular staff in Shanghai helped facilitate the siblings’ exit.
“We will continue to advocate on behalf of all American citizens in the PRC [People’s Republic of China] subject to arbitrary detention and coercive exit bans,” the spokesperson said.
The White House declined to comment.
Cynthia and Victor Liu’s mother, Sandra Han, continues to be detained on criminal charges in China.
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