3 Americans, including FBI informant, are said to be freed in China swap

Washington: The Biden administration has negotiated a prisoner swap with China for the release of three American men, including one who had been an FBI informant, according to senior US officials.

The three Americans -- John Leung, Kai Li and Mark Swidan -- were on planes heading to the United States on Wednesday morning.

"Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years," said Sean Savett, a National Security Council spokesperson.

Leung was outwardly pro-Beijing. He backed the country's claim to Taiwan, organized groups that promoted American ties with China and frequently appeared with Chinese consular officials in Houston. He had also provided information to the FBI for years, according to two of the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the matter.

His FBI contacts discouraged him from traveling to China in 2021, one of the officials said. Chinese authorities arrested him and took him to an undisclosed detention center. For over two years, his friends and family heard nothing. In 2023, a court in the city of Suzhou sentenced him to life in prison, a first for an American charged with espionage in China.

The swap has been in the works for months. It involves the release of at least one Chinese prisoner in the United States, two of the officials said. A State Department official in Washington confirmed the names of the Americans being released but would not give further details.

During the negotiations, multiple US officials said they were in discussions about releasing Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence officer serving prison time in the United States. The terms of the swap were unclear Wednesday morning, but Xu was listed in the Bureau of Prisons system as "Not in BOP custody."

Xu was the first Chinese spy officer indicted and arrested overseas and brought to trial in the United States, according to the Justice Department.

China does not typically do prisoner swaps, said John Kamm, founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights group in San Francisco. "It suggests to me that they not only want to give a parting gift to Joe Biden, but they are signaling to Donald Trump the possibility of making important concessions," he said.

Both Li and Swidan have been ill, Kamm said.