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The move followed much pleading by American officials

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David Lin had been trying to help an underground Christian group build a church in Beijing when he was detained by the Chinese government in 2006. The ruling Communist Party does not look kindly on spiritual activities it does not control. So Mr Lin, an American pastor, was charged with contract fraud, a common pretext for jailing religious leaders. As expected, he was convicted and condemned to life in prison. Though his sentence was later reduced, he was not due to be released until 2029.

Yet on September 15th the American State Department announced that Mr Lin, 68, had been freed and was heading home. The move came after much diplomacy. President Joe Biden raised the issue of detained Americans in China during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in November. So did Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, in talks with China’s chief diplomat, Wang Yi, in July. When Jake Sullivan, America’s national security adviser, visited Beijing last month, he is thought to have pressed Mr Lin’s case.

The pastor was “wrongfully detained” by China, says the State Department, using a designation that may imply he was being held in order to influence American policy. Two other American prisoners still fit that bill, according to the department. A businessman from Texas called Mark Swidan has been held since 2012 on drug-related charges. Kai Li, another businessman, from New York, was detained in 2016 and later convicted of espionage. Both men deny the charges against them.

In total there are more than 200 Americans under various forms of “coercive measures” in China, according to estimates from the Dui Hua Foundation, an American NGO that lobbies on their behalf. Some of these people are in prison. Others have been hit with “exit bans”, meaning they are allowed to travel within China, but cannot leave. The most unfortunate among this group only discover they have been banned from exiting China upon trying to check in at the airport.

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China denies engaging in hostage diplomacy. But it likes to have an “inventory” of foreign prisoners it can use when negotiating with other countries, says Peter Humphrey, a China analyst. These detainees come in handy when China wants to get back its own citizens who are locked up abroad, or when it tries to retrieve people who have fled for various reasons, such as officials hoping to avoid corruption probes. China has signed prisoner-transfer agreements with several countries.

Mr Humphrey, who is British, spent 23 months in a Chinese prison between 2013 and 2015 for allegedly violating laws protecting personal data (he denies this). But it was a more high-profile case, in 2018, that put China’s detention policies in the spotlight. In December of that year two Canadians—Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman—were taken into custody and later charged with spying. This seemed to be in retaliation for the detention in Canada of a Chinese businesswoman, Meng Wanzhou, on suspicion of violating sanctions against Iran. The Justice Department in Washington had sought her arrest so that she could be extradited to America.

The “two Michaels”, as the Canadians became known, spent more than 1,000 days in prison. Both men were released in 2021, at the same time as Ms Meng. “So hostage diplomacy ended with a cold-war-style prisoner exchange, with the skies between China and Canada serving as the frontier bridge,” we wrote back then. On the next two episodes of our “Drum Tower” podcast, Mr Kovrig shares the story of his detention for the first time.

The release of Mr Lin has been celebrated by American officials. But the State Department continues to warn Americans to reconsider travel to China because of the “risk of wrongful detentions” and the “arbitrary enforcement of local laws”. China calls this unreasonable. It is desperate to attract tourists and foreign investors to boost its sluggish economy, so it wants the travel warning to go away.

There have been hints recently that America might tone down its language. Perhaps the homecoming of Mr Lin will lead to action. His release is a rare bit of good news from the world of Sino-American diplomacy. ■

Subscribers can sign up to Drum Tower, our new weekly newsletter, to understand what the world makes of China—and what China makes of the world.

.css-1h7zq19{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-items:flex-start;-webkit-box-align:flex-start;-ms-flex-align:flex-start;align-items:flex-start;margin:1.3125rem 0 2.1875rem 0;gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-1h7zq19{-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);}}.css-1h7zq19 nav{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:wrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-rb5rp6{font-family:var(–mb-typeface-sans);font-size:var(–mb-typestyle-title-1-size);font-style:normal;font-weight:var(–mb-font-weight-regular);line-height:var(–mb-typestyle-title-1-leading);font-variant:var(–mb-typestyle-title-1-figures);white-space:nowrap;-webkit-align-self:start;-ms-flex-item-align:start;align-self:start;}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-rb5rp6{padding-top:var(–mb-spacing-2xs);}}

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ChinaUnited States.css-2x8c4j{margin:0.875rem 0;}.css-2x8c4j .e12sz0jx0+*{margin-top:0.875rem;}.el1rg701+.css-2x8c4j{margin-top:0;}.css-1aogxph{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-20);font-family:var(–mb-typeface-sans);font-size:var(–mb-typestyle-label-2-size);font-variant:var(–mb-typestyle-label-2-figures);line-height:var(–mb-typestyle-label-2-leading);}.css-1aogxph s,.css-1aogxph del{-webkit-text-decoration:line-through;text-decoration:line-through;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;}.css-1aogxph b{font-weight:var(–mb-font-weight-semibold);}.css-1aogxph i{font-style:italic;}.css-1aogxph sup{font-feature-settings:’sups’ 1;}.css-1aogxph sub{font-feature-settings:’subs’ 1;}.css-1aogxph u{text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;}.css-1aogxph a{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-20);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-underline-offset:0.1875rem;}.css-1aogxph a:hover,.css-1aogxph a:focus,.css-1aogxph a:active{text-decoration-thickness:var(–mb-spacing-3xs);}.css-1aogxph a:hover{color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);}.css-1aogxph a:hover span{text-decoration-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);}.css-1aogxph a:focus{background-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-90);color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);text-decoration-color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);outline:none;}.css-1aogxph a:active{background-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-90);color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);text-decoration-color:var(–mb-colour-base-chicago-30);}

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Prisoner or hostage?”

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China

September 21st 2024

• →Anger abounds as China raises its strikingly low retirement age
• →By raising the retirement age, has China created a care crisis?
• →China has freed an American pastor. Does it want anything in return?
• →A typhoon hits Shanghai and the Chinese economy groans

.css-ra48xw{font-family:var(–mb-typeface-serif);position:relative;}.css-duuyjs{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-box-pack:column;-ms-flex-pack:column;-webkit-justify-content:column;justify-content:column;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;text-align:center;-webkit-column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-lg);column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-lg);}.css-s61v3v{border-radius:0.125rem;box-shadow:-0.125rem 0.125rem 0.25rem 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.4);margin-bottom:0.75rem;min-width:10rem;max-width:12rem;}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-s61v3v{min-width:12rem;}}.css-s61v3v img{display:block;max-width:100%;}.css-std7t4{max-width:16rem;}.css-nba04v{color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-5);font-family:var(–mb-typeface-serif);font-size:var(–mb-typestyle-title-3-size);font-variant:var(–mb-typestyle-title-3-figures);font-weight:var(–mb-font-weight-medium);line-height:var(–mb-typestyle-title-3-leading);margin-bottom:0.25rem;}

From the September 21st 2024 edition

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Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

⇒Explore the edition.css-v7aorn{margin-top:0.875rem;}.css-v7aorn +.eq1asik0{margin-top:3rem;padding-bottom:0;}.el1rg701+.css-v7aorn{margin-top:0;}.css-9ejc71{position:relative;border-bottom:0;border-top:0.0625rem solid var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-85);color:var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-35);}.css-9ejc71 .ebxshaw0{margin-top:0;}.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0>*{padding:var(–mb-spacing-md) 0;}.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0>*:nth-of-type(2){border-top:0.0625rem solid var(–mb-colour-greyscale-london-85);}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0>*:nth-of-type(2){border-top:0;}}.css-9ejc71 >.e5z0ibw0 .e5z0ibw0{gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);}.css-yb4x8x{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-items:stretch;-webkit-box-align:stretch;-ms-flex-align:stretch;align-items:stretch;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:flex-start;justify-content:flex-start;}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-yb4x8x{-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;}}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-yb4x8x{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-yb4x8x{-webkit-box-pack:end;-ms-flex-pack:end;-webkit-justify-content:flex-end;justify-content:flex-end;}}.css-1j1j36d{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:wrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;row-gap:0.6rem;-webkit-column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);column-gap:var(–mb-spacing-sm);}ShareReuse this content.css-169lzn0{position:relative;-webkit-align-self:auto;-ms-flex-item-align:auto;align-self:auto;display:none;}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-start:9;}}@media (min-width: 89rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-start:13;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-end:13;}}@media (min-width: 89rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-column-end:17;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-row-start:1;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{grid-row-end:span 4;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-169lzn0{display:block;}}.css-169lzn0:last-child::after{height:0;}.css-1y1zooy{display:inline;}.css-1y1zooy >*+*{margin-top:2rem;}.css-1y1zooy >*:only-child{margin-top:1.25rem;}.css-1y1zooy >*:last-child{position:-webkit-sticky;position:sticky;top:1.5rem;}.css-mqgbir{margin-top:6rem;}.css-mqgbir .ds-section-headline{margin-bottom:1rem;}

More from China

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Chinese authorities try to stop parents gaming the exam system (again)

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They will go to great lengths to try

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China’s alarming sex imbalance

By 2027 one in six young Chinese men won’t be able to find a partner

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Behind DeepSeek lies a dazzling Chinese university

It models itself on Stanford, and is in the tech hotspot of Hangzhou

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Panama symbolises the Sino-American struggle for influence

The superpowers use soft and hard power

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Tensions with the West are fuelling China’s anxiety about food supplies

Grain pains are growing

Hail China’s new “ice-and-snow economy”

The country is betting on winter sports and tourism to boost growth in its rustbelt

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Источник: www.economist.com