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The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), like other
American authorities, have stepped up their pressure on US companies to
more resolutely comply with US based sanctions regimes directed. among
other places, to China. To that end they have been engaging in what I
have called a two thrust policy: putting pressure on private market players to evidence fidelity to national (and perhaps international)
human rights values in accordance with a specific application and simultaneously using legality pro-actively to develop an authoritative narrative embedded in law. It6 is to the second part of this two thrust policy strategy that CECC has organized a hearing focusing in U.S. citizens imprisoned in China.
Bringing Home Americans Detained in China
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
10:00 am (EDT)
106 Dirksen Senate Office Building
There are more Americans detained in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) than anywhere else in the world. Following the high-profile release of Americans unjustly jailed in Russia, attention to the cases of Americans imprisoned in China, many jailed for over or nearly a decade, remains a pressing diplomatic concern.
U.S. citizens Kai Li and Mark Swidan are serving long prison sentences in China. Both are considered by the U.S. State Department to be “unjustly detained,” affording them the diplomatic attention of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs. Yet, each remains imprisoned with no clear diplomatic progress made in gaining their release, and they both face ongoing health concerns while in prison. The CECC Chairs urged President Biden to raise these cases and others with Xi Jinping by name during the November 2023 APEC Summit in San Francisco. Gaining their freedom should be a priority of the Administration in the upcoming months. Still, there are other Americans currently serving long prison sentences in China who are not well known and who also did not receive a fair and transparent trial, with a genuine defense, in front of an independent judge, in an impartial court. These prisoners also face serious health challenges because of the poor conditions in PRC prisons, often experience torture or mistreatment by guards and other prisoners and suffer from insufficient medical care and nutrition.
Representatives of American prisoners currently held in Chinese jails, former prisoners in China, and experts in the PRC’s prison system will testify at the hearing examining how to focus greater diplomatic attention on the cases of Americans detained in China and what more can be done to secure their release.
The hearing will be live-streamed via the CECC’s YouTube channel.
Witnesses:
Nelson Wells, Sr.: Father of detained American citizen Nelson Wells, Jr.
Harrison Li: Son of detained American citizen Kai Li
Tim Hunt: Brother of detained American citizen Dawn Michelle Hunt
Peter Humphrey: Journalist, due diligence specialist, sinologist, and former prisoner of China
The hearing can be viewed on the CECC’s YouTube Channel.
The links to the opening Statements and testimony follows along with a summary of testimony prepared by CECC..
Nelson Wells, Sr.: Father of detained American citizen Nelson Wells, Jr.
Harrison Li: Son of detained American citizen Kai Li
Tim Hunt: Brother of detained American citizen Dawn Michelle Hunt
Peter Humphrey: Journalist, due diligence specialist, sinologist, and former prisoner of China
Submitted Testimony
Kathrine Swidan, Mother of detained American citizen Mark Swidan
Cedric Witek, Advocate for detained American citizen David McMahon
Jason Ian Poblete, Counsel and President of the Global Liberty Alliance
Hearing Explores the Issue of Wrongfully Detained Americans in China
September 19, 2024
(Washington)—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), held a hearing to explore the cases of wrongfully detained Americans in China. The hearing, entitled “Bringing Home Americans Detained in China,” highlighted the fact that more Americans are detained in China than in any other country, and explored the diplomatic options available to gain the release of American prisoners such Kai Li, Nelson Wells, Jr., and Dawn Michelle Hunt, among many others.
In addition to the Chairs, Representatives Zach Nunn (R-IA) and Michelle Steel (R-CA) also participated in the hearing.
In his opening statement,CECC Chair Smith said that “the release of American citizens should be the first thing President Biden mentions to Communist Party leader Xi Jinping whenever they talk. Their names should be said so often that Xi Jinping memorizes them. Their cases should be agenda item #1 at every meeting the Secretary of State takes with Chinese officials. And every U.S. official traveling to China should be repeatedly saying the names of Kai Li, Mark Swidan, Nelson Wells, Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt. Every channel of the U.S. Government must be focused on the release of wrongfully detained Americans.”
CECC Cochair Merkley said in his opening statement, “Reportedly, China wrongly holds more Americans than any other country. We want to know why the Chinese government refuses to allow them to come home. Our U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, has met with three Americans wrongfully detained. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised their cases directly with President Xi. But despite these efforts, despite the tools we have and the representations made, the Chinese government continues to turn a blind eye to the suffering and the heartbreak. So today we not only hear your stories; your stories represent the stories of so many American families of those detained. And they help inform the details of the circumstances and help us ponder what more we can do.”
Nelson Wells Sr., the father of detained American Nelson Wells, Jr., said in his testimony that “in the beginning, we heeded warnings not to shine a public light on Nelson’s story out of fear of retaliation against him, but his declining health has forced us to escalate our efforts to share his story and gain attention for him in the hopes of mounting political and public pressure and ultimately diplomatic intervention for his release. He has suffered from debilitating chronic pain, seizures, malnutrition, internal issues, dental pain, severe depression and thoughts of self-harm…we fear that he will die in prison from physical or mental illness and without our ever seeing him again.”
Harrison Li said in his testimony that “time is running out” for his father, detained American Kai Li, imprisoned now for eight years. “No matter who wins November’s presidential election, we will experience a change of administration. We know (from experience, unfortunately) that that means months or years where no progress will be made as bilateral relationships and communication channels are re-formed. The next few months will be critical before President Biden leaves office to…negotiate a fair deal that will finally bring my dad home. Simply mentioning my dad’s name in bilateral engagements won’t be enough. And so we need all of you to raise your voices these next few weeks and call on President Biden to stop ignoring us and lead a wholehearted effort to bring my dad home before he leaves office.”
Tim Hunt, the brother of Dawn Michelle Hunt, detained in China since 2014, said about his family’s ordeal, “We are getting worn down. We’ve gotten our hopes up, only to be disappointed again and again. The hearing that you’re having regarding the cases of unjustly detained Americans in China offers new hope. Chapter 8, ‘‘Transfer of Sentenced Persons,’’ in the Law of the People’s Republic of China on International Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters, offers a path for Americans incarcerated in China to come home and it doesn’t require a bilateral prisoner transfer treaty. This hearing gives my family a bit more hope that not only will my sister, who was unjustly detained, have a path to come home but also other unjustly detained Americans as well. We need the CECC’s help, and we need its advocacy to bring our loved ones home.”
Peter Humphrey, former prisoner and expert on foreign prisoners in China, said that “the most important lesson from all this is that not a single American prisoner held in China—or any other prisoner, for that matter—has had a fair and transparent trial and a proper defense. China’s judicial system is a political system of oppression, not a system of justice…No judge is independent or impartial. The system is exploited by connected individuals to harm their perceived opponents and rivals. Cases are built upon forced confessions, which have often been televised, and on forced witness statements. Inside China’s prisons, the prisoners, including Americans, are subjected to horrendous daily living conditions, in addition to forced labor for the prison’s commercial profit; the withholding of proper medical treatment, even for cancer; and writing mandatory thought reports, i.e. brainwashing, to mention just a few things.”
In closing, Representative Smith announced plans to introduce bipartisan legislation that will, among other measures,
- Direct the State Department to create a strategy for gaining the release of unjustly detained Americans in China;
- Review the diplomatic tools the State Department is using to gain their release, including the use of designations and sanctions authorized in Executive Order No. 14078, “Bolstering Efforts to Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home”; and
- Seek more transparent information from the State Department about the cases of wrongfully detained Americans, including gaining access to the resources Congress allocated to assist families with the financial burden of advocacy.
Submitted testimony from Katherine Swidan, the mother of unjustly detained American Mark Swidan, and the Foley Foundation are available on the CECC's hearing webpage along with opening statements by the Chairs, witness testimony, and a video archive of the hearing.
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