[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
BRINGING HOME AMERICANS
DETAINED IN CHINA
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
__________
Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available at www.cecc.gov or www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
56-796 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
House Senate
CHRISTOPHER SMITH, New Jersey, JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon, Co-chair
Chair STEVE DAINES, Montana
JAMES P. McGOVERN, Massachusetts MARCO RUBIO, Florida
BRIAN MAST, Florida TOM COTTON, Arkansas
JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia ANGUS KING, Maine
MICHELLE STEEL, California TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
ANDREA SALINAS, Oregon LAPHONZA R. BUTLER, California
ZACHARY NUNN, Iowa SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
RYAN ZINKE, Montana
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
DANIEL K. KRITENBRINK, Department of State
MARISA LAGO, Department of Commerce
THEA MEI LEE, Department of Labor
UZRA ZEYA, Department of State
Piero Tozzi, Staff Director
Todd Stein, Deputy Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Statements
Opening Statement of Hon. Chris Smith, a U.S. Representative from
New Jersey; Chair, Congressional-Executive Commission on China. 1
Statement of Hon. Jeff Merkley, a U.S. Senator from Oregon; Co-
chair,
Congressional-Executive Commission on China.................... 3
Statement of Nelson Wells, Sr., father of detained American
citizen Nelson Wells, Jr....................................... 4
Statement of Harrison Li, son of detained American citizen Kai Li 6
Statement of Tim Hunt, brother of detained American citizen Dawn
Michelle Hunt.................................................. 8
Statement of Peter Humphrey, journalist, due diligence
specialist, Sinologist, and former prisoner of China........... 10
Statement of Katherine Swidan, mother of detained American
citizen Mark Swidan............................................ 12
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements
Wells, Sr., Nelson............................................... 39
Li, Harrison..................................................... 41
Hunt, Tim........................................................ 42
Humphrey, Peter.................................................. 44
Swidan, Katherine................................................ 55
Smith, Hon. Chris................................................ 56
Merkley, Hon. Jeff............................................... 57
McGovern, Hon. James P........................................... 58
Submissions for the Record
Submission of Jason Ian Poblete, Counsel and President of the
Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign.............................. 59
Submission of Benedict Rogers, co-founder and trustee of Hong
Kong Watch..................................................... 61
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, ``Foreign Prisoners
in China: Abuse, Forced Labour and a Denial of Human Rights,''
a briefing, July 2023, submitted by Benedict Rogers............ 62
Submission of Cedric Witek, advocate for detained American
citizen David McMahon.......................................... 72
Submission of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, Inc.......... 74
Submission of Cynthia Sun, researcher, Falun Dafa Information
Center......................................................... 77
Submission of Sir William Browder KCMG, head of the Global
Magnitsky Justice Campaign..................................... 78
CECC Truth in Testimony Disclosure Form.......................... 81
Witness Biographies.............................................. 83
(iii)
BRINGING HOME AMERICANS
DETAINED IN CHINA
----------
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
Congressional-Executive
Commission on China,
Washington, DC.
The hearing was held from 10:14 a.m. to 12:29 p.m., in room
106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC,
Representative Chris Smith, Chair, Congressional-Executive
Commission on China, presiding.
Also present: Senator Jeff Merkley, Co-chair, and
Representatives Steel and Nunn.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHRIS SMITH, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
FROM NEW JERSEY; CHAIR, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON
CHINA
Chair Smith. The hearing will come to order, and good
morning to all of you.
We open today's hearing knowing that Pastor David Lin is
back in the United States after nearly two decades unjustly
detained. Pastor Lin's crime was that he worked to strengthen
the Protestant Chinese house church movement. For this, he
received a life sentence. We are overjoyed for the Lin family.
This Commission has pressured both the previous administration
as well as this one. And we're happy that the Biden
administration helped facilitate his return. So much--the agony
that all of you here are experiencing, not just today but every
single day and night--I don't know how you do it. You know,
it's got to be beyond words cruel what the Chinese Communist
Party has put you and your loved ones through.
Despite the release of David Lin, we now know, and we know
beyond--(off mic)--more than anywhere else in the world.
Wrongfully detained U.S. nationals are serving--(off mic)--Mark
Swidan, Kai Li, Nelson Wells, and Dawn Michelle Hunt know these
hard facts--you know these hard facts all too well. They have
all languished far too long in Chinese prisons. The Foley
Foundation identifies 11 wrongfully detained Americans in
China, including those subjected to exit bans. John Kamm,
however, the preeminent expert on political prisoners in China,
estimates that there are 200 or more American citizens
coercively detained (with 30 Americans being held under exit
bans, where U.S. citizens are stopped from leaving China) to
settle economic disputes or to coerce their relatives to return
to China to face alleged crimes.
This is absolutely unacceptable. If the Chinese government
wants to improve relations with the United States, they should
release Americans who are wrongfully imprisoned without
condition and unilaterally end the use of exit bans, a form of
de facto hostage taking that violates Article 12 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty
that the PRC has signed, though it has not yet ratified. And I
would note parenthetically that they went for years getting all
kinds of accolades here in Washington that they had signed that
covenant--(off mic)--that covenant and didn't ratify it. And
it's not enforceable anyway. But it is a good statement of
principles, and we wish that they would at least ratify it.
The release of American citizens should be the first thing
President Biden says to Communist Party Xi Jinping whenever
they talk. Their names should be mentioned so often that Xi
Jinping memorizes them. Their cases should be agenda item No. 1
at every meeting the Secretary of State has with Chinese
officials. And every U.S. official traveling to China--and that
includes Members of Congress, Senate and House, and of course
members of the administration at every level--they should be
constantly raising the names of those who are being held--
Americans being held in captivity.
Every channel of the U.S. Government must be focused on the
release of wrongfully detained Americans. It's that simple. All
Americans detained in China deserve robust diplomatic
assistance to gain their transfer out of prison or at the very
least, to have more frequent U.S. consular official visits,
more frequent and longer visits with their families, and better
access to legal representation and health care, which is almost
nonexistent. Given the legal system in China, and the poor
prison conditions, more Americans should be considered by the
State Department to be unjustly detained. That list needs to
grow based on the facts.
How many Americans currently in Chinese prisons receive a
transparent trial, with a genuine legal defense, in an
impartial Chinese court? In China's rule by law system, where
the Party can dictate sentences of guilt or innocence--and it's
so often guilt--there is none of that. It doesn't exist. (Off
mic)--of the poor conditions in PRC prisons where Chinese and
foreigners alike are forced to work long hours, where they are
often tortured or mistreated by guards and other prisoners,
where they suffer from insufficient medical care and nutrition.
Your testimony today about what you and your families have
endured while jailed should be--and we will submit it as--
evidence of torture to the U.N. Committee Against Torture for
its upcoming review of China. We need more people speaking out.
There's been far too few voices. And, of course, the U.N. has a
golden opportunity, particularly the U.N. Committee on Torture,
to speak out, and to do so robustly. I will ask our staff to
work with you to submit your testimony to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights and the U.S. Mission in
Geneva.
But that's just the start, given the number of Americans
detained and the Chinese Communist Party's willingness to
engage in this ongoing atrocity. To that end, I will introduce,
along with Tom Suozzi, a bill that will, among other things,
direct the U.S. Department of State to create a strategy for
gaining the release of your family members, gain insight into
the diplomatic tool the State Department is using for your
family members--Executive Order 14078, Bolstering Efforts to
Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals
Home, seek more transparent information from the State
Department about the cases of your loved ones, including
gaining access to the resources Congress allocated to assist
families with the financial burdens of advocacy.
I know this is a very tough and emotional day for our
witnesses, but every day and every night is tough and
emotional. Again, I don't know how you endure it. No amount of
words or empathy from us can replace your missing loved ones. I
hope you know that our purpose here today, in an absolute
bipartisan way--and Senator Merkley and I work like brothers on
these issues and we will work very hard. And I know here in the
Senate, and of course over in the House--(off mic)--not
personally done enough either, and so it's time we did more as
well. Thank you so much for being here. Your loved ones are in
my prayers.
[The prepared statement of Chair Smith appears in the
Appendix.]
I yield to my good friend and colleague, Co-chair Senator
Merkley.
STATEMENT OF HON. JEFF MERKLEY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM OREGON; CO-
CHAIR, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
Co-chair Merkley. Thank you so much, Chairman Smith, for
convening this hearing. And much appreciation to each of you
for coming.
For more than two decades, the Members of Congress and
executive--(off mic)--who have been unjustly jailed by Chinese
authorities for seeking to exercise basic human rights. Our
Commission maintains a Political Prisoner Database that
currently has 2,764 nationals of the People's Republic of China
known or believed to be detained. And as the Chairman pointed
out, the Foley Foundation has a list of about a dozen
individuals--American individuals wrongfully detained in China.
But estimates by human rights organizations go up to about 200.
Two hundred Americans detained. We don't know the exact number.
What we know is this--even one American detained as a
political prisoner in China is too many. If an American breaks
the law in China, that individual can be prosecuted just as a
Chinese national would be here in the United States. But here's
the problem--many laws of the PRC are not consistent with--(off
mic). And the rule of law is undermined by political
considerations. Now, our U.S. Government has been developing
some tools to counter this--the executive branch issued
directives--by President Obama in 2015--to implement an
interagency response to overseas hostage taking, including the
creation of a special Presidential envoy for hostage affairs at
the State Department.
In 2020, President Trump signed into law the Robert
Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability
Act. In 2022, President Biden issued an executive order to
authorize sanctions against foreign government officials and
others who are complicit in hostage taking. With these tools,
and under President Biden's leadership, we have seen a
decrease--a 42 percent decrease--in the number of detained
Americans overseas since the peak of 2002, according to the
Foley Foundation. Now, there have been some high-profile
returns, including some from Russia, including Paul Whelan,
Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and others. But not
every American detained overseas gets a spotlight.
Today we are putting a spotlight on three individuals, Kai
Li, Nelson Wells, Jr., and Dawn Hunt, who have been unjustly
detained in China for eight or more years. We want to hear
their story from their family members today, because in hearing
your story we're then able to tell the story. We can tell the
story to the administration, to the media. Most importantly, we
can carry that message and work toward their release with the
government of the People's Republic of China.
Our Americans in detention suffer from illness and mental
anguish. We want to make sure they get proper care and counsel.
But most of all, we want them united with their families. And
we're joyful that David Lin has been released, that he's now
reunited. I'm sure--what a celebration that is. But we want a
celebration for each of your families. 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
the three Americans that we're focused on today. Secretary of
State Antony Blinken raised their cases directly with President
Xi. But despite these efforts, despite the tools we have,
representations made, the Chinese government continues to turn
a blind eye to the suffering and the heartbreak. So here today
we'll not only hear your stories, but your stories represent
the stories of so many Americans with family members detained.
And they'll help inform us of the circumstances, but also help
us ponder what more we can do, as Chairman Smith has suggested.
We look forward to hearing from you.
[The prepared statement of Co-chair Merkley appears in the
Appendix.]
Chair Smith. Thank you, Chairman Merkley.
I'd like to introduce our distinguished witnesses--oh,
Michelle Steel, one of our commissioners, I understand, has
just come online. She's going to have a few opening comments.
Commissioner Steel.
STATEMENT OF MICHELLE STEEL,
A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA
Representative Steel. Yes. Americans detained in China. As
already mentioned, there are more Americans detained by the CCP
than anywhere else in the world. But this doesn't stop at
Americans. The CCP and other communist governments, such as
North Korea and Vietnam, are imprisoning journalists, human
rights defenders, religious figures, and dissidents.
One of my constituents had been wrongfully detained in a
Chinese prison for nearly two decades and just returned home
this week. And David Lin is a pastor from Garden Grove who was
in China helping--building a church. He can finally see his
family and meet his grandchildren he never met before for the
first time in 20 years. Mr. Lin isn't the first person to be
jailed for life for committing contract fraud. It is appalling
that the CCP requires Christian churches to pledge loyalty to
the Communist Party. I'm grateful that he's back in the United
States.
I have other constituents who live in fear of their loved
ones being apprehended by the CCP. One of my constituents had a
loved one tracked by text messages and arrested by CCP
authorities while we were in the process of helping them flee
the country. According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnamese
authorities have convicted at least 163 people since 2018 for
exercising their right to freedom of association or freedom of
expression against the Vietnam communist government.
And I have written many letters to President Biden with the
names and sentences of journalists and other prisoners of
conscience and urging him to take action to secure their
release. As we speak, I'm advocating for the release and
protection of Y Quynh Bdap with them and urging his
resettlement in the U.S. or Canada. He's a Vietnamese citizen
and U.N.-recognized refugee being held in Thailand on false
charges by the Vietnamese communist government.
I have urged the State Department to redesignate Vietnam as
a country of particular concern, due to their human rights
abuse. I especially requested that Secretary Blinken prioritize
addressing Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, who has faced continued
religious persecution by his government. And I'm hopeful that
shining more light on the communist authorities falsely
detaining innocent people will help bring justice to those
already in prison and prevent future detainments.
And I'm so happy that Chairman Smith is having this meeting
today and talking about the detainees--that we really have to
bring them to a free country. And, you know, our job is not
done yet, and we are still working. Thank you for having this
meeting today.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Commissioner Steel. And
thank you for joining us, and for your leadership, which has
been ongoing and very effective.
I'd now like to introduce our very distinguished panel of
people who are fighting so hard for their loved ones, beginning
with Nelson Wells, Sr. He's the father of Nelson Wells, Jr.,
and a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He and his wife,
Cynthia, who is here with us today as well, now live in
Haughton, Louisiana. Mr. Wells is a 20-year U.S. Army veteran
stationed all over the country and world, including a stint in
the Middle East during the Gulf War. His wife Cynthia worked as
an Army recruiter for the Department of Defense for 28 years.
Both are retired and are now advocating full-time for their
son's release.
Then we'll hear from Harrison Li, who is a doctoral student
studying statistics, who has begrudgingly had to become a
political advocate for his father, Kai Li. Never expected he
would have to do this. He is originally from Long Island, New
York, and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He
serves on the steering committee of the Bring Our Families Home
Campaign, an advocacy group of families of Americans wrongfully
detained around the world working together to try to cut
through the bureaucratic obstacles to getting assistance for
and information on their wrongfully detained family members.
His greatest wish is for his father to be home and in good
health, to see him graduate next spring, after missing his
college graduation in 2018.
We'll then hear from Tim Hunt, who is the brother of Dawn
Michelle Hunt, and a native of Chicago. He attended Whitney
Young Magnet School and DePaul University and served as a
Chicago police officer for 28 years. So thank you for that
service, as well as to you, Nelson Wells, for your service in
the military. But he worked everything--beat, car,
plainclothes, bicycle, mounted, and forensic unit roles.
Serving and protecting the public is a family business, as his
mother, father, and three uncles were all Chicago police
officers as well. Tim retired in 2017 and has been advocating
tirelessly for his sister's release from prison.
We'll then hear from Peter Humphrey, who is a British
sinologist who has spent half a century working and studying in
China and lived there for 25 years as a student, teacher,
journalist, philanthropist, corporate due diligence detective,
and then prisoner. In 2013, Peter and his American wife, Yu
Yingzeng, were wrongfully imprisoned on false charges of
illegal information gathering. Their only crime was to have
offended someone with connections in the Chinese Communist
Party. It was all about revenge.
Since his release in 2015, Peter created a support network
for the families of foreign prisoners to lobby for their
welfare and for their release. Through his work he has become a
specialist on justice and imprisonment in China and is
undoubtedly the leading authority on foreign prisoners in
China. In addition to his work with families and the wrongfully
detained, he is also an external research affiliate at Harvard
University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, an occasional
columnist and documentary advisor, and has been a guest speaker
at universities and think tanks about China's judicial and
penal system. I would like to thank you for that great work.
After suffering so much, you are just giving back so well to
try to help all the others who have been left behind.
I'd now like to yield such time as he would like to take to
Mr. Wells.
STATEMENT OF NELSON WELLS, SR., FATHER OF
DETAINED AMERICAN CITIZEN NELSON WELLS, JR.
Mr. Wells. Good morning, Chair Smith, Co-Chair Merkley, and
esteemed Members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on
China. Thank you for inviting me and our advisor, Peter
Humphrey, to testify at this hearing on Americans detained in
China. My name is Nelson Wells, Sr. I am a native of New
Orleans, Louisiana and live in Haughton, Louisiana. I am
appearing before you on behalf of my wife, Cynthia Wells, our
family, and asking for your assistance in bringing home our
son, Nelson Wells, Jr., who has been unjustly imprisoned in
China for 10 years.
I served in the United States Army for 20 years, and
Cynthia served at the Department of Defense for nearly 28
years. We have been stationed and traveled all over the United
States and the world, and most often brought our two children
with us. In the spring of 2014, we were awakened in the middle
of the night by a call that no parent ever wants to receive.
Paraphrasing, the male caller said: I am a companion of Nelson.
He's in trouble. He's been arrested in China. They're going to
kill him. Naturally, I thought it was a prank, a scam. We
didn't even realize Nelson, at 40 years old, was in China. When
we called his wife in Japan, she learned that he had taken a
trip to China. And we knew we had a problem.
Over the next weeks and months, we reached out to the
United States embassy multiple times to find Nelson, or a
record of his arrest. But they could not locate him. It was not
until we contacted Mr. John Kamm at the Dui Hua Foundation that
we were able to confirm that Nelson had indeed been arrested.
For Nelson's part, he had been incarcerated all that time in
China, a country where he was only visiting, where he did not
read or speak the language, and where he did not know if we
were looking for him or even knew that he had been arrested.
Frightened and desperate, Nelson was willing to do anything
to improve his conditions, even plead partially guilty so that
he could enter the prison system to be allowed phone calls
home. Ultimately, we learned that Nelson had been arrested on
drug charges. As he was leaving the country, he naively agreed
to carry a bag of what he thought to be baked goods for a so-
called friend through the security at the airport. Those baked
goods were allegedly laced with illegal drugs. For that one
mistake, that one betrayal, none of our lives will ever be the
same.
Nelson originally received a life sentence, but that
sentence was ultimately reduced in 2019 to 22 years. We are
thankful to the Chinese government for that, but his sentence
did not include time served. This means that Nelson will not be
released until the year 2041. In the years since 2014, my wife
and I have become consumed with efforts to secure Nelson's
release, to ensure his safety and health while in prison. We
expended almost all of our savings in those early years via
trial-and-error efforts to help Nelson, without meaningful
guidance from our own government.
For years, we wrote letters to our Members of Congress, to
the White House, to State Department officials, to Democrats
and Republicans, to anyone who was in a position of influence.
But our calls for assistance went unanswered, until recently.
American Citizen Services in Beijing was helpful, but some case
officers were better than others, and they change frequently.
One of Nelson's former best case officers is working with your
committee now, and his current case officer is outstanding as
well. But no matter how good or how well meaning, with each
swap it feels like we--like Nelson--is starting all over.
This inconsistency takes a toll on him, as have the years
of incarceration. Over the years, Nelson has suffered from
debilitating chronic pain, seizures, malnutrition, internal
issues, dental pain, severe depression, and thoughts of self-
harm. We also know that, based on family history, Nelson needs
regular cancer and heart health screening. He also needs
regular contact with a mental health professional, regular
calls, ideally video calls, with us, and the ability to speak
English with another person on a regular basis.
We're thankful to those who have helped us, but we often
feel that meaningful change is blocked at every turn. For
example, Nelson is not considered a political prisoner or held
unjustly. We've been told that humanitarian release is not a
possibility. And although Nelson has also sought to utilize the
2018 law in China that allows for prisoners to be transferred
to an American facility without a bilateral treaty with the
home country, the United States still requires a treaty. And so
Nelson remains in Chongqing prison.
Whatever the path, we are asking, pleading with this
Commission, with Congress, with the administration, and with
the Chinese government to work together on behalf of our son to
create a pathway for outright release or prisoner transfer to a
home prison. I hope you will read my longer testimony and
attachments so that you understand our full story. I look
forward to answering your questions during and after the
hearing. Learn more about
Nelson, my son, whom I love, and follow our story at
www.nelsonwellsjr.com. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Nelson Wells, Sr. appears in the
Appendix.]
Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Mr. Wells.
Mr. Li.
STATEMENT OF HARRISON LI,
SON OF DETAINED AMERICAN CITIZEN KAI LI
Mr. Li. Thank you, Representative Smith and Senator
Merkley, for convening this important hearing. It's been a long
time coming. All of us here have suffered far too many years.
And it is about time--it's past time for more attention on our
loved ones' plight, to bring them home.
Today marks 2,932 days--that's more than 8 years--since my
dad, Kai Li, was arrested in Shanghai, China. He spent 2 months
under ``residential surveillance at a designated location,''
during which he was held at a secret location, interrogated day
and night with no access to legal counsel. Then almost a year
passed before he was subjected to a closed-door trial, and
another year went by before he was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for stealing so-called state secrets--even though these
alleged secrets can be freely found and searched on the
internet, even in China.
More than 3 years ago now, the United Nations Working Group
on Arbitrary Detention issued a landmark decision calling for
the release of my dad on the basis that his detention was, in
fact, arbitrary. And yet, despite all of this, in more than 8
years we have seen no visible positive movement on my dad's
case. Since 2022, I am fortunate to have gotten to know a
really large number of families of American hostages and
wrongful detainees around the world through the Bring Our
Families Home Campaign.
In that time, we've seen the campaign shrink dramatically
from 18 families now down to just 6. And that's because of
Americans who have come home from Afghanistan in September
2022, from Venezuela and Iran in October 2022, Russia in
December 2022, Niger and Rwanda in March 2023, then Iran again
in September 2023, Venezuela again in December 2023, Russia
again last month, and finally, of course, just this past Sunday
we were thrilled to see that David Lin was finally released and
reunited with his family after 18 years in China.
In fact, I got that news just as I was on the train coming
down here to D.C. And each time we get this news, it's a really
complex mix of emotions because, of course, you know, we're
just so thrilled for these families. We know, of course, what
it's like to have a loved one unjustly missing for so long, and
to know that the family is finally being made whole again, and
that they're on the road to recovery. You just can't help but
feel your heart swell with pride and happiness. But at the same
time, it raises the question for us, What about my dad? When
will it be his turn?
One thing that has become clear to us, in light of all
these recent developments, is that when the various parts of
our government--from the State Department to the National
Security Council all the way up to the President himself--when
they put their heads together to come up with creative
solutions, American hostages and wrongful detainees in fact do
come home. Frankly, it's incredibly impressive seeing how last
month's Russia prisoner swap materialized, just the sheer level
of effort and coordination it took really shows that these
cases can be solved. And now seeing an American finally come
home from China last week in a major diplomatic breakthrough,
to us there's really no reason now why my dad--who has now
spent more time behind bars than Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva,
and Evan Gershkovich combined, cannot come home too.
Unfortunately, time is not on our side. No matter who wins
November's Presidential election, we will have a change of
administration. And we know from experience, unfortunately,
that that means months or even years where absolutely no
progress on these cases will be made. And that's because
communication channels will need to be reestablished, reworked,
and carefully worked out. The good will that the Chinese
government has built up by releasing Pastor Lin will fade. And
so the next few months before President Biden leaves office is
a critical window for getting my dad home, and getting home all
of the Americans wrongfully detained in China.
Personally, I've now spent a third of my life missing my
dad. Every day, I wake up and shudder at the thought of him
crammed in that tiny cell with anywhere from 7 to 11 other
people, no climate control, unable to sleep in the summer due
to the heat, experiencing the mental and physical anguish that
Peter here, unfortunately, can tell you about firsthand, having
spent 2 years in the very same prison and the same brigade
where my dad is now being held. In his time in captivity, my
dad has suffered a stroke, he's lost a tooth, he's endured
draconian COVID-19 lockdowns that had him essentially locked in
a cell 24/7, for over 3 years. And so I ask President Biden,
how much longer does he need to suffer? Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Harrison Li appears in the
Appendix.]
Chair Smith. Mr. Li, thank you, too, so very much. And for
pointing out that there is a window of opportunity right now.
There needs to be a surge. I do hope that whoever wins the
Presidency will move quickly on this issue as well to bring
Americans home; but you're right, the chaos, the beginning of a
new administration can frustrate those efforts. The idea that
there needs to be a surge right now is well taken. Thank you
for that.
Mr. Hunt.
STATEMENT OF TIM HUNT, BROTHER OF
DETAINED AMERICAN CITIZEN DAWN MICHELLE HUNT
Mr. Hunt. Thank you. Chairman Smith, Senator Merkley, and
members of the Commission, thank you for inviting me today to
tell you the story of my sister, Dawn Michelle Hunt. Dawn is
incarcerated in Guangdong Women's Prison. She was arrested in
2014 and charged with smuggling, a charge she vehemently
denies.
Since her incarceration, I've written hundreds of letters
to officials, lawyers, and anyone else who would listen. Over
the years, things have changed. My sister and my family are
getting worn down. Dawn's health has been failing, and our
father's health is failing as well.
It all started when my sister was tricked into believing
she had won a contest. She received an email stating that she
had won an all-expenses-paid trip to Hong Kong. She didn't
believe it at first, but checked on the company and believed
they were legitimate.
She was in Hong Kong for 9 days and she told me that the
organizers treated her well. She went sightseeing, shopping,
and started to trust the organizers who put together her trip.
After exploring Hong Kong, she was asked if she wanted to visit
mainland China. After her positive experience in Hong Kong, she
agreed. She went to mainland China and traveled around for
another 9 days.
The organizers then asked if she wanted to visit Australia.
Once again, she agreed. Before she left for her Australia trip,
she was told that she also won some designer purses. Trusting
the organizers, she took the purses and packed them in luggage
given to her by the organizers. It was at the airport, waiting
to board her Australia flight, that she was called by airport
security. They escorted her to a room and her luggage was in
the room as well. She was asked if the luggage belonged to her,
to which she responded ``yes.'' She stated that she was asked
multiple times, and each time she stated ``yes,'' not knowing
drugs were in the lining of the purses.
I hope you can see that something like this could happen to
a lot of people. As a matter of fact, in May of this year, the
Secret Service issued a warning for law enforcement to educate
the public on similar schemes. Such a warning didn't exist in
2014.
After her trial she was found guilty and received the
``death penalty with 2-year reprieve.'' She was duped. She was
scammed! She trusted the wrong people! She doesn't deserve
this! My sister is trusting and believes that people are good.
This ordeal has hurt her and has taken years from her life.
While in prison she has developed physical ailments
(uterine fibroids and possibly ovarian cancer) according to the
doctors who examined her in prison. She has received numerous
blood transfusions due to heavy bleeding and has been advised
that she needs a hysterectomy, which she has refused out of
distrust. How can she trust the same people who have
incarcerated her after she cooperated with the Chinese
authorities?
When I visited her recently in prison, I could see the
depth of her depression. She has lost weight, her eyes are
bulging. She has an abdominal bulge on her right side, and her
complexion is very pale. She told me that she still has to work
in the prison despite her illness but that she can't lift heavy
objects because her fibroids might rupture and she would start
bleeding. After my visit to her, I updated my father on her
condition. I had to leave out some details of her physical
appearance because my dad is 91 and has recently been diagnosed
with cancer. I wanted to avoid giving him an additional shock.
I'd like to share a bit about my father. He's an Army
veteran and a retired Chicago Police Sergeant of 32 years.
Policing is a family business; I followed in my dad's footsteps
and served on the Chicago PD for 28 years until my recent
retirement.
Dawn Michelle is my dad's only daughter and he is
devastated by her predicament. In a strange way, my dad is
locked up as well. He is worried that with all this, he's not
going to live long enough to see his daughter free and safe.
He's getting worn down, just like my sister. We've gotten our
hopes up over the years, only to be disappointed again and
again. This hearing today offers us some new hope that Dawn
will not be forgotten. I've come to learn that Chinese law
allows for transfer of prisoners out of China and it doesn't
require a bilateral prisoner extradition treaty. It is our hope
that this mechanism can be used by the State Department to get
Dawn Michelle out of a Chinese prison, get her the medical care
she desperately needs, and get her back home to her family.
And I'd also like to add that my sister sent me a
handwritten letter. And in this handwritten letter, she refused
the surgery. And she said, and I'm going to quote this to bring
some of her own words to this hearing: ``I, Dawn Michelle,
refuse to take the surgery and will hold China liable for all
the consequences from August 11, 2021, in regard to my tumor
and safety of my life.''
I say this because China knows, in addition to the U.S.
Embassy, that Dawn Hunt is innocent and has been since June
2016. There is written documentation of the status in the
courts and computers of Guangdong No. 1 Detention Center. She
also goes on to say, and I'm going to quote this--she says,
``The American government has sided with China and knows of my
innocent status from Judge Zhang Hui Ting in May 2016, but did
nothing for their own citizen and did not prevent me from
coming to the Chinese prison but left me out to dry.''
Gentlemen, this isn't political for me and my family. I'm
just asking you, as a brother, just bring my sister home. Do
whatever it takes; just bring her home. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Tim Hunt appears in the
Appendix.]
Chair Smith. Thank you, Mr. Hunt.
Mr. Humphrey.
STATEMENT OF PETER HUMPHREY, JOURNALIST, DUE DILIGENCE
SPECIALIST, SINOLOGIST, AND FORMER PRISONER OF CHINA
Mr. Humphrey. Good morning to you all. I have submitted
detailed written testimony and will keep my oral remarks brief.
I've spent almost 50 years involved with China in various
roles. And two of those years were in Xi Jinping's prisons--
also my American wife, Yingzeng Yu, both of us falsely accused
of illegal information gathering for my due diligence company.
And I have described this experience in great detail in the FT
magazine in a long article a few years ago, and in the written
testimony that I've submitted to you at this hearing.
After my release, in between battles with cancer, PTSD, and
a former client who got us into trouble, I decided to work to
help other families suffering from similar ordeals. I have
about 25 cases around the world in different countries, and I'm
mentoring and supporting such families with a loved one locked
up in China. I've accumulated many case studies and carried out
a great amount of related research.
The most important lesson from all of it is that not a
single American prisoner held in China has had a fair and
transparent trial, and prisoners there from any other country
as well, for that matter. China's judicial system is a
political system of oppression. It is not a system of justice.
All of its organs--the police, the prosecution, the judiciary,
the prisons and the Chinese lawyers--form a single organic
whole, all controlled by the Communist Party. No judge is
independent or impartial. He is just a messenger of the Party.
The system is exploited by connected individuals to harm
their perceived opponents and rivals. Cases are built upon
forced confessions, often televised, and upon forced witness
statements. Inside China's prisons, the prisoners, including
Americans, are subjected to horrendous daily living conditions.
In addition, there is forced labor for the prison's commercial
profit. There is the withholding of proper medical treatment,
even for cancer. And there is the writing of mandatory thought
reports, in other words brainwashing, to mention just a few
things.
And speaking of labor, these are Christmas cards that were
packaged for a Western supermarket chain called Tesco by
foreign prisoners in Shanghai's Qingpu Prison, including
American prisoners.
The U.S. Government withholds the total number of Americans
held in Xi Jinping's jails. Based on my inquiries and research
over the years, I estimate up to around 300 Americans may be in
some form of incarceration in China or under exit bans, mostly
just because they are Americans. It is possible that not all of
them are registered with American consulates.
Now, just remember, none of them have had a fair and
transparent trial. Some are in dire health. Some are over 50,
aging rapidly. Some of them have been in Xi's jails for over 10
years and are there for life. I don't think any of them deserve
to be there. It doesn't matter what they're accused of. It
doesn't even matter whether they are guilty or not, when they
have never had a fair and transparent trial in an independent
court with an impartial judge. And in Xi's China, they never
will.
Today, we see some new examples of American prisoners
coming into the public view--Nelson Wells, Dawn Michelle Hunt,
and David McMahon. They are horrific cases. They are the tip of
an iceberg. And let me say something about David's case. David
McMahon is the most egregious case, the most toxic case, the
most disgusting example of China's injustice. He is one of my
mentees. I shared a cell with him for 1 month in Shanghai in
2014, while he was trying to appeal. I interviewed him for a
whole month. I call it an interview because throughout my life
I have been a professional interviewer. I've conducted
thousands of interviews as a journalist, and then as a
corporate investigator. And I know that David is innocent.
This American primary school teacher was falsely accused
and framed of molesting a 6-year-old child, a girl, in the
Shanghai French School. How toxic can you get? I hope you will
read the written testimony that I have submitted on David's
behalf in his absence today, plus the testimony from
investigator Cedric Witek and ex-prisoner Marius Balo. And I
hope that you will read the protest letter that David McMahon
wrote this year personally, on his 43rd birthday, in the 11th
year of a 12-year sentence on a false conviction--an American
robbed of his prime by the Xi Jinping system. Or I can read it
for you, if you want me to. I have it here. I can read a
snatch, yes? Let me get through this, Congressman, and then if
you think I've got time I'll read a snatch or two from it,
okay?
Today, only three Americans held in China have been on the
list of the U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs. One has
just been released, to our joy, probably because of this
imminent hearing on the calendar, which China was very well
aware of. The timing seems to be not a coincidence at all. But
I believe that all Americans held in China qualify to be on
that list, first of all, because there is no independent
judicial system and none of them have had a fair and
transparent trial. And that is the key criterion for qualifying
them to be on that list based on the Levinson Act.
It's good that we have this act, but I believe the U.S.
Government should treat all American prisoners in China
equally. I believe the U.S. Government must abandon its policy
of nonintervention in these judicial cases in China and should
intervene in them all. It has a duty of care to protect its
citizens against abusive dictatorships and their so-called
judicial systems. It can lead the world in this pushback like
no other country can. I imagine that these families wonder
which candidate in the upcoming election will bring their loved
one home.
In the final points and recommendations of my written
testimony I've called for legislation that would increase the
onus on the U.S. Government to take real action for its
citizens imprisoned in China. As Alex Karp, the founder of
software firm Palantir, said a few days ago: If you touch an
American, we're going to make you and your friends' life hell.
And that's the way it should be. Americans are suffering in Mr.
Xi's dungeons. The United States must hold China to account.
Just imagine a new kind of Magnitsky Act to target this
problem.
So thank you very much. Those are my remarks. If you would
like me to read from David McMahon's letter, I'll do that.
``My name is David McMahon. And I've been imprisoned for
the past 11 years for a crime that never happened. Maybe you've
heard of me. I've sent letters to Ambassador Burns and to Roger
Carstens, but neither has responded to me. I'm hoping you will.
[``you'' is referring to the Consul General Scott Walker in
Shanghai.]
``I get released, as far as I know, in 1 year. [Actually,
it's next May.] I think it's probably too late for anyone in
the State Department to try to help me get released. I'm not
asking for that anymore. What I'm asking now is this: Why
didn't you help me when you had the chance? I've read the
entire Levinson Act. My case qualifies. I've read, copied from
the SPEHA website, what they consider to determine wrongful
detention. But when my case was rejected [by SPEHA] they
refused to tell me why. I don't think you, anyone at the State
Department, anyone at the FBI, any French law enforcement
agency, or any of the Chinese investigators can justify what's
been done to me. I'm not going to try my case in this letter,
but I will simply state I am completely innocent.
``There are approximately 13 U.S. citizens in this prison.
[By the way, one of them is Kai Li. They're in the same place.]
The State Department currently is only helping to recognize the
release of one. [He means Kai]. One out of thirteen. From a
country where all men are created equal, you only help one
person?
``I remember when Brittney Griner's story was in the news.
I don't believe for a moment that she was a drug trafficker,
but let's be clear, she brought a small amount of illegal drugs
into Russia. Her arrest was not in any way arbitrary. She was
not arrested because of her race, sexuality, nationality,
religion. She was arrested because she had drugs on her. And
while the sentence handed to her was absurd, make no mistake
about it--she was kind of guilty. Now I look at the Levinson
Act, and I look at the SPEHA website, and I ask myself: How the
hell does her case qualify for help?
``I'm wrongfully imprisoned. I'm not telling you how to
feel, but if I worked for the State Department, I'd be ashamed.
Innocent Americans left to suffer while celebrities are home in
time for Christmas. I used to think America was better than
that--but I digress. If you know why my case was rejected for
help, or if you can find out, I feel that I deserve to know.
The SPEHA's secret process of deciding who to help and who to
abandon totally lacks transparency. The decision not to help me
not only hurt me very deeply, but my entire family. We deserve
an explanation.''--David
McMahon, Qingpu Prison.
[The prepared statement of Peter Humphrey appears in the
Appendix.]
Chair Smith. Peter, thank you.
We have a short video from Kathrine Swidan, the mother of
Mark Swidan. She could not be here, but she asked that we play
it right now.
STATEMENT OF KATHERINE SWIDAN,
MOTHER OF DETAINED AMERICAN CITIZEN MARK SWIDAN
Ms. Swidan. My name is Katherine Swidan. I'm the mother of
Mark Swidan. He's been wrongfully detained in China, Jiangmen,
China, for 3,641 days, nearly 10 years. In a few days, it'll be
a 10-year anniversary.
The way I would describe Mark is, he's a good man, he's
funny, he's very smart, he's also gracious. Loves his mama.
While I was on the phone with him at his hotel, I heard a lot
of commotion. And he said, Hold on, Mom. And Chinese police got
into his apartment. They said, we need to take you in for
questioning. And the phone hung up. We figured, Okay, he's
going to be questioned, they'll find out the truth. There's
nothing there. And they'll let him go. Didn't happen.
I just can't fathom what Mark is going through. I know he's
suffering. I received about 300 pieces of artwork, countless
letters. He said, ``I'm in a lot of pain, physically and
mentally. I'm in a dark place.'' He's made out on this picture
to be his own superhero, that nobody's going to help him so he
has to do it himself. It took 8 years before anyone paid
attention to me. I feel like I'm one little woman against all
China.
When Mark comes home--I say when, not if--but when Mark
comes home I have to be greeting him coming off of that plane.
And he said, Mama, I will come home in a box of ashes or
walking off the plane, but I will come home.
[Video presentation ends.]
Chair Smith. Katherine, thank you for producing and
submitting to this Commission that very moving video about your
son. I know you're watching and know that, like our very
distinguished people here who are advocating for their loved
ones, we will work on that case as well, as a Commission, and
do everything we can. And Peter, thank you for the way you have
taken the cruelty you suffered, and your wife, and now have
turned it into advocacy, and with the precision of a journalist
asking all the right questions and doing everything you can to
assist and to get us, in government, to do our part. Because
again, there are some well-meaning people, but we don't do
enough. And I think we have to triple our efforts.
This hearing, to me, is a pivot point for us to take that
next series of steps. And again, Mr. Li, your thoughts that
this is a time for the Biden administration to really triple
its efforts before it leaves--I agree with that. If that does
not happen, know that we will try, with whomever wins the White
House, to make this a very high priority. These are Americans.
These are your loved ones. And we can't sit by and say, Well,
there's only a few that are on the list. I mean, that is
absolutely--you know, I love the statement that you gave from
David McMahon, ``who to help and who to abandon.'' I mean, that
says it all. All have to be helped! All have to be helped! And,
you know, I read The New York Times piece, Tim, by Mara
Hvistendahl, who, parenthetically, has testified before my
committee in the past. She is an absolute truth teller. And she
writes for The New York Times. And it was a very moving piece
that she did. She did quote that your father, I believe it is,
had said that he believes that she [Dawn Michelle Hunt] has
been raped by the guards and of all things, a family of police
officers who have protected innocent people your whole life,
you know your father, you, your relatives--to have that kind of
indignity, that cruelty imposed upon her. That, again,
motivates all of us, I think, to triple our efforts as well.
And we will, I guarantee it.
I know, and Mr. Wells, you are concerned about this as
well--that African Americans have been mistreated, perhaps even
more so, because of racism. I remember reading extensively
about how African students in China were mistreated so very
often. So, you know, there they are studying in China and not
being well treated. So there is a significant racist issue with
an undertow of hatred toward Africans and African Americans
that has to be taken into consideration. All people are equal
and need to be protected. We need to be aware of that. And that
needs to come into the equation as well.
You know, the whole idea of not having a treaty or a way of
transferring a trickle of people that are on the list--that is
un-
acceptable. As you said, Peter Humphrey, all these trials are
sham trials. All these processes that are undergone--if you're
accused, you're guilty, that's it. And it's just how long
you're going to serve, and on trumped-up charges to boot. So
there is no judicial independence. The judges are all part of
the Chinese Communist Party apparatus. And we need to realize
that and not put our head in the sand like ostriches, you know,
and say, Well, we can't deal with that.
Trumped-up charges--it's the worst game in the book. If I
go to China tomorrow, they could trump up--I'm barred right now
from going because of my advocacy. But, frankly, if I go, I am
always aware that something can be put into my suitcase--
because they come in and they check your suitcases anyway. They
rifle through them when you're in a hotel. You know, it might
be harder to do that to somebody that's an elected official,
but not beyond. Your families are totally at risk.
So--window of opportunity. We need to surge. But the surge
has to go right into the next administration. This has to
become the priority. These Americans have been left behind, and
Xi Jinping has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that in the
annals of history he will go down as one of the worst
dictators. But that doesn't mean everybody around him has to be
complicit in that. You know, there are people who hopefully
will say, wait a minute. Time out. The maltreatment needs to
stop. You know, it brings dishonor to the Chinese Communist
Party to treat people in this horrendous way, and not honor.
Yes, they're feared. Big deal. But it brings dishonor and loss
of face to so mistreat people and trump up charges.
And I get your point about David Lin. You know, what about
your families? You were so happy for him to be released,
joyous. But I understand the sense of disappointment that you
feel anew. Hope rises, but--and, again, this idea of
celebrities always getting the additional focus, whatever they
are. You know, I'm glad that reporters and basketball players--
very glad that they get out. But you're all celebrities,
especially in the eyes of God. We're all equal in the eyes of
God. And, you know, all people are equal and need to be treated
so. So I would ask that all of us focus on that, too.
The media doesn't cover the hardworking American man or
woman, or like your sister, Tim, who got tricked. How easy it
is for them to trick your sister, as they did. So I would just
ask if you'd want to respond to that--the idea that there
should be no differentiation between a celebrity and somebody
who's a good, honest, hardworking person like yourselves. And,
again, not only the U.S., but the world, has to stop its
complicity by its indifference. And I know--and maybe you could
speak to how the State Department has handled your cases.
I know, because I just chaired a hearing on child parental
abduction--I wrote a law on it 10 years ago--and they feel that
they get short shrift from the U.S. Department of State. There
are great people at the Department of State. But very often the
individual cases get crowded out by big geopolitical concerns,
and to me it should be the other way around, because the canary
in the coal mine is how well or poorly they're treating that
individual, that vulnerable person. And I think we need to make
the biggest statement and push for your families. They're
Americans. They need to be rescued.
So if any of you would like to speak about how well or
poorly you think the State Department--and without any fear of
retaliation. You know, we're all here to work for you. And that
goes for the U.S. Department of State. It goes for the
President. Goes for Members of Congress, House and Senate. So,
I mean, you pay our salaries, you elect us. We have an
obligation, a duty, to respond as aggressively and as
effectively as we can. And again, Tim, reading that New York
Times piece, just, again, the mistreatment, and Mr. Wells as
well, because they're African American, that's a further
abomination in this process. So if any of you would like to
speak to that.
Mr. Hunt.
Mr. Hunt. Yes. Thank you, Senator. The State Department,
American Citizen Services, they have been helpful in some ways.
When my father went to visit my sister, he actually missed his
flight home. And when I went to pick him up, he wasn't on the
flight, and I thought he was detained as well. And I did a
quick phone call, and the person at ACS, she located him, told
me, made me feel comfortable. And said, hey, he missed this
flight. He should be--he's on this flight. He should be on his
way home. However, as Mr. Wells stated, these officers change
quite frequently. So it's--I'm not trying to downplay it--it's
almost as if when you call someone or when you write an email,
it would be the same as if you have a problem, you call
customer service, and they say, Oh yes, well, I'm going to
transfer you to another department, and then you have to
explain it all over again.
And unfortunately--I won't make light of it--that's sort of
how it is. And if it's that way with us, imagine how it is
trying to get information from the prison about our loved ones,
if the officers who are taking care of our loved ones continue
to change. They don't know our loved one's story. They don't
know if they need medical attention. They don't know if
they're--what they're going through, because they're new. And
try as they might, they have to get caught up with each
individual case. And, just to bring up quickly, it took me
between six and eight months to visit my sister because the
Chinese prison didn't submit the paperwork to give to ACS, so I
could have permission to see her. However, ACS was helpful in
facilitating my visit. But it took that long for me to have
that visit arranged.
Chair Smith. Mr. Li.
Mr. Li. Yes. Thank you, Chair Smith, for asking the
question. I will say--yes, I echo Tim's statements about ACS.
You know, they, for the most part, try their best to help. They
have been able to push for monthly consular visits for my dad.
But of course, at the same time, it has varied. We've seen so
many officers come and go very quickly. So, you know, it's hard
to maintain that long connection.
I also wanted to speak to another aspect, which Peter
touched on, reading from David's letter, about designation of
cases by the State Department. Now, of course, my father is
fortunate to be one of the cases that has been designated, but
obviously that's not the case for the others on the stage. And
I fully agree that there's no transparency in that process. You
know, for the first 4 years my dad also was not designated by
SPEHA. We asked for it and we just got the response--no. You
know, it's not going to happen.
I've worked with a lot of other families who are trying to
go through this process in other countries. And it's really--
it's really the same. You know, the Levinson Act is great, but
there's no timeline for a response. There's no transparency.
And it really does seem like families are owed that at a
minimum. They should be provided the opportunity to be told, if
no, then why not? And what additional information is needed?
But to my understanding, that's never been offered to any of
the families. It's unfortunate that it's creating this kind of
division. You know, it really should not be the case. And I
think this process of designation needs to be reviewed
thoroughly for that reason.
Mr. Wells. Thank you, Chairman Smith. I would like to say
that what Tim and Harrison said, I agree 100 percent on some of
the things. And I share their same pain. But one of the things
that appalled me the worst is when we called the embassy--and
they couldn't find my child. It took an outside source to find
him. And then after they did find him, we didn't know how to
navigate through this at all, period. So we wondered, how could
they--you all--support us in trying to get Nelson home? My
response to what they said was an angry one. And I have spoken
with an outburst many times on Zoom calls. I guess they
probably feel they don't want to deal with Mr. Wells.
And the reason is because I think the policies should be
improved. I think they should have more power to be able to
visit, to be able to get the medical records that we are
demanding for the prisoners. When we asked them if there was
any way they could advise us on legal representation, they
said, No, this is not something we can do. So if you're a
family with no political background or power, you're out there
all alone. And I believe that the embassy, being that they are
supposed to support American citizens, should be more
accountable for helping us in getting the support we need. If
it hadn't been for Cynthia, as strong as she is, and staying up
all night, and corresponding with Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Kamm, we
would probably have never found Nelson. And to me, I think we
need to do a better job. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Recently, I put together a meeting with
families--left-behind parents through parental child abduction.
Like I said, I wrote a law on that. And we had Rena Bitter,
who's the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, sit in on
that meeting, as well as other administration people. And the
beauty of it was she sat across from people who had very
serious criticisms that needed to be taken into account and
then rectified. And she walked away after a 2-hour meeting--it
was just recently we did this--saying, we need to change this,
we need to work on that.
I would love if you can come back, whenever you can. We can
put it together as quickly as you can come. She's a very
responsive person. She runs it all. There's always a problem
with crossing into the political side with the assistant
secretaries who manage--human rights becomes a sub-issue. And
that's been on every human rights issue, from religious freedom
to you-name-it. But, again, these are American human rights
that are being violated with impunity. But I would invite you,
if we could put together that meeting--we'll do it. And if you
can come and share this with her and her staff, I think that
will lead to serious reform. Because she has been responding
extremely well on the parental abduction issue. And she's done
that before with some of the issues that we've brought to her
attention.
So I would invite you. We'll put it together, a week, 2
weeks, whatever works for you and her. Roundtable, no press,
just talk and get it right. Because I think that feedback, they
don't get it necessarily. It does not percolate up to the top.
Mr. Humphrey.
Mr. Humphrey. I'll just pick up on the comments the other
three witnesses made about service on the ground, as it were--
ACS, etc. I mean, everything Mr. Li said I can certainly
confirm, because I've been involved in many cases, not just
some of these here. Their experiences are very, very, similar
to my wife's as well, because my wife was in prison at the same
time--an American citizen. And one of the questions that people
often ask me about our experience is, How well did your
government perform? How much did they help you? And I always
answer this in a two-tiered way.
I say, well, you know, there's the nanny and messenger
service, first of all. And that's the service provided by
consular officers who visit people in the prisons. And they're
allowed to bring messages and letters and sometimes reading
material, and so forth, and to carry messages from you back to
your family. I call that the nanny and the messenger service.
And I say, well, that service is provided very well by the U.K.
consulate, in my case, and by the U.S. consulate in my wife's
case. But there's this other level of service--which I think is
necessary, and that is at the higher political level--which is
completely lacking.
So it comes down to, when people visit us, you ask them for
this or that, you ask them to do this or that. And they say,
I'm sorry, we can't--we can't intervene in your case. That was
the phrase I heard many times during consular visits. And my
wife also heard this phrase many times. And that's wrong. You
know, where there is no real justice--you can't treat China as
a country under the rule of law in the way we understand the
rule of law to be for our own citizens. You have to intervene.
And finally, in connection with the same issue, after my
release and when I started investigating my own case, and what
had happened to me and all the things I didn't know when I was
behind those walls, I tracked down a former ACS officer--in
other words a State Department officer--who had been
coincidentally both the visitor to my wife and the visitor to
David McMahon at the same time in the Shanghai detention
center. That's the pretrial detention center. I tracked him
down and I interviewed him twice for a couple of hours as part
of my investigation, and he told me how he would come away from
visits to David McMahon feeling very, very troubled because--
and then he said, there's a film I want you to watch. It's
called ``The Hunt.'' ``The Hunt'' is a Danish film about a
schoolteacher who is falsely accused of molesting a young boy,
and the whole thing balloons into a witch hunt and this poor
man is almost harassed into suicide. And so he was basically
telling me that he did not believe David was guilty. He visits
him--visited him many times in his capacity and he was coming
away from this thinking, This man is innocent--but I'm not
allowed to say that.
And when his superiors found out that I'd been talking to
him about this--he was silenced. I find this very unacceptable
and I think it's an illustration of this problem of ``we cannot
intervene.'' We must. We absolutely must intervene in these
cases.
Chair Smith. Senator Merkley.
Co-chair Merkley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Wells, in your testimony you note that American Citizen
Services in Beijing was very helpful in arranging visits or
helpful in visiting, calling, communicating, reporting back.
Were any of those visits by you or your family or were those
visits they were conducting and then reporting back to you?
Mr. Wells. Mr. Merkley, all those visits were from ACS. We
never had any visits at all, period. All information that we
get is from them and every communication--we may have phone
calls that we will engage or some Zoom calls that we set up--
basically they will give us a personal comment as we speak. But
it's always been emails and done by them.
Co-chair Merkley. And I assume you've all sought to visit
but always been turned down?
Mr. Wells. Yes.
Co-chair Merkley. And Mr. Li, have you been able to visit
your father?
Mr. Li. Senator Merkley, I have never visited my father in
prison. I believe--you know, he spent 3 years in a pretrial
detention center where no outside visits were allowed. Now that
he's in the prison I believe he is allowed visits from family
but I've personally chosen not to visit my father as much as I
would like to due to the inherent risk to myself and my family
for doing so.
Co-chair Merkley. This is something I'm going to follow up
on in terms of trying to understand what the norms are and the
protections are for Americans to be able to visit their family
members.
And Mr. Hunt, you noted that your sister had a series of
things and I think that was your observation. You were able to
visit her?
Mr. Hunt. Yes, Senator. In June of this year I went to
visit my sister. If you'd like to know I can tell you how it
was. ACS did arrange that visit. However, there was a letter
that ACS was supposed to tender to me and that letter was the
letter that allowed me to visit my sister. It was basically the
permission slip to visit her and they didn't give it to me
until the day of my visit. There was nothing that I had before
that except the communication from ACS but not the
communication from the Chinese government--that had their seal
and their stamp that allowed me to visit.
So I still visited her without that letter, and I just want
to highlight the point that I didn't access my emails once I
was in China so the permission slip that ACS gave me--I should
have gotten that earlier so I had it. I just went there with an
ACS communication from our government, not a permission slip
from their government. So that was one risk that I inherited.
In visiting her, just so you know, there are armed guards--
military-type guards that are outside of the prison that escort
you with long guns, weapons, everything. They took my passport.
They held my passport, so I understand why Mr. Li would not
want to visit because there's no guarantee you're going to get
your passport back. After this hearing I don't believe it would
be advisable for me to go and visit my sister again.
Co-chair Merkley. And you mentioned ATS. ATS stands for----
Mr. Hunt. ACS. American Citizen Services.
Co-chair Merkley. Oh, American--oh, ACS. Okay. Just to
clarify.
And that is a group that's formally liaised with our State
Department?
Mr. Hunt. Yes, it's part of the State Department.
Co-chair Merkley. Part of the State Department. Okay.
I look forward to learning more about that because I know
visits can be pretty meaningful to those of our families that
are detained, but the risks, the uncertainty about what else
might happen, one injustice implies another injustice may
occur.
Several of you mentioned a law--a Chinese law--and you
expand on it in detail, Mr. Humphrey--a 2018 PRC law on
international judicial assistance and criminal matters, and you
say that--if I understand the testimony right--this law allows
for the opportunity for foreign prisoners to be transferred to
a facility near their home which I assume is back, in this
case, in the United States.
But then you note, ``To the best of my knowledge the U.S.
Government has never explored this mechanism on behalf of any
individual.'' Are there other governments that have been able
to utilize this? Has Canada been able to utilize this? Have
European countries utilized----
Mr. Humphrey. I know of two successful cases by France
bringing citizens home that way. The other cases are not so
prominent countries, not so obvious democracies, such as
Turkey, for example. But France has been very diligent in
helping its citizens get out of these situations in China.
Co-chair Merkley. So at least one Western nation has been
able to utilize this----
Mr. Humphrey. Yes.
Co-chair Merkley. And I think that in your testimony you
note that a response from our government as to why they have
not explored this mechanism is that we do not have a transfer
treaty with China--and you note that a transfer treaty is not
required.
Mr. Humphrey. Yes. I mean, between governments it is
possible to establish what's called a PTA, which is a prisoner
transfer agreement. That is a treaty and it provides a
framework for prisoner transfers. I know a lot have been done
with some of the Middle Eastern countries but America doesn't
have one. Some European countries do and they have used the
treaty mechanism to manage transfers.
But the point about the law, Senator--the Chinese law--is
that it provides a nontreaty pathway to do something similar on
a case by case, individually negotiated basis, and the onus is
on the foreign government to open the discussion by saying, We
would like to speak to you about such and such a person, and
this should be directed toward the Chinese ministry of justice
and the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs.
And there is no requirement on China's part that a PTA must
exist bilaterally with that particular country in order to use
this law. The American government, however, has taken the
position that we can't do it without a treaty with China
because somehow our law doesn't allow it. But I have actually
not seen any law which disallows this.
Co-chair Merkley. Are you aware of whether our State
Department has pursued the possibility of such a treaty?
Mr. Humphrey. The possibility of what, sir?
Co-chair Merkley. Such a treaty, a treaty on----
Mr. Humphrey. I don't think so. I'm not aware that they
have.
Co-chair Merkley. Well, certainly, this is something that
we can follow up on as well, both the treaty strategy and the
use of the 2018 law in the fashion that France has used it.
Just as we've noted in all your testimony, China is not a
rule-of-law nation and so I'm well aware that no matter what
they have in their law, when it comes to their strategy--and we
see their strategy of transnational repression all the time--of
what they're doing to their own citizens as well as detaining
our citizens, my heart really does go out to each of you on
your family members detained under these various premises. I
think about my own children and if my own child had been told
they won a contest, and then developed a relationship over
time, going to Hong Kong and then to China and then invited to
go to Australia and then told that they won some purses--they
get to take those, too--how easy and seductive that scam is. Or
to carry baked goods laced with drugs or to have something
invented to detain somebody. Or to send a message to everyone
else, in the case of your father, Mr. Li.
And our relationship with China, I think, has really taken
a terrible turn under President Xi. My impression is that these
circumstances became much more difficult and common following
Xi coming to power. I'm not sure if that's accurate but, Mr.
Humphrey, could you comment on that?
Mr. Humphrey. I think that's accurate to say. As an
overview of this whole thing over the last 10 or 12 years--
we've seen the situation growing steadily worse in China's
prisons and in particular for foreign prisoners whom he is
trying to drag down to the same treatment as Chinese prisoners,
whereas 12 years ago foreign prisoners were treated much
better.
Senator, there was another point in connection with your
original question to me and that is that there's a very able
American lawyer based in Beijing. His name is James Zimmerman,
known as Jim Zimmerman, and we have a memo from him on the
subject of this Chinese law where he sets out the case along
the lines I just described to you, and we would be happy to
share that memo with you.
Co-chair Merkley. Great. That would be----
Mr. Humphrey. And I can also assure you that John Kamm
holds a similar view as well on this topic.
Co-chair Merkley. Great. And, Mr. Wells, you mentioned in
the beginning it was very hard to find anyone in the U.S.
Government to help. As you see others go through this--is the
place that you direct them to now, this American Citizen
Services branch of the State Department, is this the key group
to help facilitate contact with the Chinese government in
regard to detained individuals?
Mr. Wells. Yes. I think that's something that they
definitely need to improve on, and one of the things that was
brought to my attention--Mr. John Kamm, he's a great advocate--
there was always a list whenever an American was detained
overseas that would come on his radar and the shocking thing
was when we spoke to him he said, I'm surprised that Nelson
didn't come on our radar.
So when we contacted the embassy he was able to find them
before the embassy was and I was confused because it took his
information--for him to give it to us and for us to give it to
them and that was when they were able to find him.
Co-chair Merkley. Right. No, that does raise real questions
about why--what network existed that our government didn't
succeed in accessing when you were in need.
You've given us--you've shared your stories which, as I
mentioned in my initial statement, by you speaking to us you're
really speaking to our Nation, and this process publicizes not
just your individual cases but the overall challenge that we
face with citizens being detained in China. And so you've given
us some ideas of how we might pursue improvements. So thank you
very much for taking the time and effort to be here. I hope
that there is a celebration in each of your futures. You're not
only helping your own family members, you're helping many other
families as well.
Thank you.
Chair Smith. Thank you, Senator.
Just to conclude, have any of you had any contact with our
Ambassador, Nicholas Burns? Has he been in contact with you?
Mr. Li. Yes. I will comment that in our case Ambassador
Burns has been in touch with our family. He has, fortunately,
visited my father three times in prison. We're grateful for the
work that he's doing for my father and I know he's also visited
Mark Swidan. But ultimately, he's not going to be able to bring
them home; we need a more coordinated, larger government
effort.
Chair Smith. Okay. Mr. Wells.
Mr. Wells. For our family we've had no contact at all, and
to my knowledge I'm not sure he's even aware of my son.
Chair Smith. Well, he will be after today. So thank you for
that.
Mr. Wells. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Mr. Hunt.
Mr. Hunt. No. My family has had no contact with him.
Chair Smith. Again, if you're not on the right list you
don't have contact and that's contemptible. As Peter Humphrey
pointed out, this is not a rule-of-law country. So we will do
our level best to engage him.
You know, interestingly enough, Daniel Kritenbrink, who is
the assistant secretary for Near East and Pacific Affairs--he's
on this Commission. So it would be very helpful, with you as
the family members, to have that kind of meeting with a member
of the Commission who is also a point person for the
administration with regard to policy.
And I would also add that Uzra Zeya is also--she's the
undersecretary. She's been at some of our hearings and I know
her staff is following this today. We'll put together a meeting
to just convey all of this and your points.
I have to say this. I understand how frustrating it is when
they change case officers and somebody is reading a chart
somewhere, maybe, about your case. One time I was so frustrated
with this transfer of the case to someone else who has no idea
what your case is all about. That's if they even open up a case
for you.
It reminded me of a--I'm a big ``Seinfeld'' fan and there
was one famous episode where George Costanza had the Penske
file and he kept holding the file saying, I've got it--and
nothing was happening with it. It was just information that was
going nowhere, nothing actionable. So, you know, by being here
today my hope is it'll help make your cases actionable.
Mr. Li, I know that yours already is but, Mr. Wells and Mr.
Hunt, yours are not, at least the way they should be. So we'll
work on that and we'll try to get Daniel and others to come and
meet, as well as the head of Consular Affairs.
I have found that Consular Affairs is very often empathetic
but it stops there, as you pointed out, Peter, when it gets to
the political side. And this is something that causes
consternation at the political level so, therefore, we drop it
and don't do all that we can do. Your point is well taken.
Michelle Steel, by the way, is still with us. Commissioner
Steel, do you have a question or any comment you want to make?
Representative Steel. Yes.
Chair Smith. Oh, good.
Representative Steel. I just have questions because I've
been engaging with the State Department. I have another
constituent that's been detained in China. So we try to work
with them and we tried to ask the State Department how they
negotiated the release of Pastor Lin this time.
So to all the witnesses, how can we improve policy tools
and resources to deter foreign governments from engaging in the
wrongful detention of U.S. nationals and citizens of other
countries such as China, Vietnam, North Korea, and others? Are
there policy options? Could Congress consider disincentivizing
foreign governments for engaging in the wrongful detention of
U.S. nationals? Anybody can answer this if you have any idea.
Mr. Humphrey. It sounds to me really like a question for
Senators and Congressmen to address. I don't think any of us
really are qualified to make such suggestions at a really high
level.
Representative Steel. So you don't have----
Mr. Humphrey. What deterrence we could introduce to deter
that awful government in Beijing from arresting so many
Americans--it's hardball, you know.
Representative Steel. Yes it is. It is.
Mr. Humphrey. You have to play hardball back. What else can
I say? I mean, obviously, I'm not suggesting that you go around
arresting lots of Chinese citizens who are innocent in America,
but you are the leaders and you have to fight back for your
citizens.
Representative Steel. Thank you, Mr. Humphrey. The thing is
that, while we've been working with the State Department, a lot
of times we get very frustrated and, you know, open up the
conversation. That's the State Department issue that was the
one I asked.
What's going to be so helpful--what role do other leaders
and those global platforms have in raising awareness on this
issue, especially corporate America or people with major
platforms? Should they criticize abuses and raise awareness?
I'm saying this because I actually sent a letter out before the
Beijing Olympics. We had 17 corporate sponsors for the
Olympics. They spent billions of dollars, and I asked them can
you use a little bit of that platform to find out--to let the
whole world know what China is doing, how China is abusing the
system, and they're the one detaining our--and not just our,
citizens but at the same time the human rights violations that
they've been practicing. It's just awful that, you know, we
hear those stories.
So do you think it is good that these corporations--by the
way, after we sent a letter out to those 17 Olympic sponsor
corporations, none of them answered. So do you think that they
should use major platforms and then, you know what? We have to
let the whole world know what China is doing.
Mr. Humphrey. I think that this problem, the types of
prisoners who we've been discussing today--and we're not
talking about Chinese political prisoners or religious
prisoners in general but the type of prisoners we're talking
about today are people who are accused of common crimes--I
would call them common crimes, whether it's theft or fraud or
rape or whatever, whether they're guilty or not, and this is a
systemic problem that so many people are getting prosecuted and
convicted on totally murky bases, with no fairness, no
transparency, no proper defense.
So it is systemic. It's the Chinese system and one thing
you can do is talk more to other governments of similar mind
and spirit about this to try to exert more international
influence, put more pressure on China to behave. I don't see
that happening very much when it comes to the prisoners who are
accused of common crimes. I think they're very often forgotten
about. But you can do that, I think. You only need to get four
or five or six governments together on the same page on the
same platform.
I will point out that later this month the Australian
Senate is holding a hearing similar to this one. They have an
inquiry ongoing and they will report in November. I will be
speaking at this Senate hearing there.
And I think that's another example of how you can connect.
In the U.K. we've had a lower key thing last year which I
participated in and I'm working at the moment to try and get
something like this convened in the EU parliament as well. So I
would suggest that one way of strengthening your muscle
internationally is to combine with other countries to provide a
united front against China to behave.
Representative Steel. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. I yield back.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much.
Commissioner Nunn.
Representative Nunn. Well, thank you, Chairman, very much
for bringing us all together here to talk about just a--
historically challenged Beijing.
As we look at bringing Americans home--I think you have
highlighted specifically the intent of the Communist Party
within China to use Americans as a pawn in a larger political
game, so let me be clear from the git-go, Mr. Chairman, that
any nation that holds Americans hostage to exert their
political will against the United States is, first and
foremost, responsible for those Americans' safety and their
safe return to the United States, and second, that the full
weight of the American people is looking on those countries to
be responsible actors in making sure those hostages are brought
home.
We expect our citizens to be treated well and we expect
them to be released. As an Air Force officer for more than two
decades serving on our Nation's front line, I know that no
mission is complete until every American makes their way back
to U.S. soil.
It is completely unacceptable, even though China is our
number-one trading partner, that there are more Americans
detained in China than anywhere else on Earth. Due to the lies
and deceptions of the Chinese Communist Party we are unsure
exactly how many Americans are even being held today on the
mainland in China.
But what we do know is that our fellow Americans, including
this incredible panel before us today, are on the front line of
exposing how many Americans are being held in captivity
including Kai Li, Nelson Wells, Jr., and Dawn Michelle Hunt.
Each faces unknown health concerns, potential threats of
torture, mistreatment at the hands of the CCP, and I want to
begin by thanking each of you for taking time to come here
today to share your stories and be the face for so many stories
that remain unspoken at this time.
The threats from the CCP range. We know that its false
imprisonment for trumped-up charges of espionage simply for
preaching Christianity in China--to family members who were
detained and used as political pawns against the United States.
These Americans have unjustly and unfairly found their freedom
stolen by the Chinese Communist Party.
It's our duty today to bring attention to these very
important cases and work hard to ensure that we bring all of
our brothers and sisters back home. So thank you each and, Mr.
Humphrey, I'd like to begin with you. You are a China expert.
You're a former CCP detainee yourself.
In June of this year four citizens from my state, teachers
from Iowa teaching at Cornell, were viciously attacked in rural
China simply for being Westerners. But, certainly, it appears
that the attack may have been propagated by an anti-West
feeling stoked by local officials.
According to ABC News these four instructors from Cornell
were brutally attacked simply by bumping into a 55-year-old
Chinese national. There seemed to be an overall hostility
toward Westerners throughout the region. So I want to begin.
Does the CCP look for opportunities to target, attack, and
arrest ordinary citizens while operating in China?
Mr. Humphrey. What we can say, I think, is that the CCP
under Xi Jinping's leadership--in other words, him--has
fostered an atmosphere of xenophobia in China during his reign
and we've seen it expressed initially in policies toward the
outside world and we've seen it expressed in constraints and
harassment of foreigners in China.
But there's an element in the Chinese population which
takes these kind of signals as signals to get rough with people
and--there was a prisoner--American prisoner--held in the same
cell as Nelson Wells some years ago. He's out now. He's a
footballer and his name's Wendell Brown, from Detroit, and he
was certainly a victim of that type of arrest where he was
working, coaching in China, and he started to get bullied in a
bar because he was with a Chinese woman and some local people
started a fight with him and he got arrested and jailed for
brawling.
I think he was held for a few years--two and a half years,
something like that--and a skillful Chinese lawyer got him out
in the end with a reduced sentence. That's an example of the
atmosphere that you're talking about, Commissioner Nunn.
Xi Jinping has engendered an atmosphere of hatred of the
outside world in China today. Not everyone buys it but the kind
of people who beat up, you know, your four guys from Iowa--they
were victims of precisely this atmosphere which he has created.
He came to power saying, you know, we need to clean up all
this foreign trash we've got in China. That was precisely the
time when we saw this wave of people getting arrested and
imprisoned in the category of Dawn Hunt, Nelson Wells, and Mark
Swidan. They were all taken in that period as that atmosphere
was being whipped up by the new Xi Jinping regime.
I hope that answers your question.
Representative Nunn. Mr. Humphrey, thank you very much. And
let me first say as somebody who has worked as a counter-
intelligence officer in Guangzhou, a large swath of Chinese
people truly believe in a greater humanity and it's a salute to
those who are trying to push back against this type of
brutality coming out of it.
Mr. Humphrey. Yes.
Representative Nunn. But this is clearly a dictate coming
from the CCP trying to identify leverage, in my opinion,
against the United States. And their tactic now has become this
incarceration of U.S. citizens to use as leverage. And this
goes for Hamas or anyone else.
Mr. Humphrey. I agree with you entirely.
Representative Nunn. Let me ask this. When the CCP arrests
and detains American citizens, what do you believe is the
ultimate goal when they take these individuals, as you know,
for brawling--for years in a Chinese detention facility?
Mr. Humphrey. I mean, I think in a way they see it, like,
as a warehouse, and they're building up inventory in that
warehouse to trade off when they need to. In fact, one of my--
one of my detention center guards, a senior one, once said to
me, we're just a warehouse. We move people in and at some point
in time we move people out. So that metaphor is very
applicable, I think. They're building stock to trade on.
Representative Nunn. That is frightening and I think
absolutely, something we would say in the military, building a
stock of blood chits that they get to cash in--that happen to
be U.S. citizens that they're housing. In your words, and I
think it's correct, warehousing American citizens for a time
that they want to gain leverage over the United States.
Mr. Humphrey. Yes.
Representative Nunn. Can I just briefly--what are the
tactics they're using--you noted instigating a brawl to be able
to identify--are these intended targets? Are they looking
across the board? Is it happenstance? How do they go after what
you call these common crimes to be able to draw a noose around
an American?
Mr. Humphrey. I do think it's partly happenstance and
opportunism when an opportunity arises and it involves those
kinds of people--those kinds of Chinese people, those elements.
They take the opportunity. I mean, I know many cases where
foreigners including Americans have been subjected to this
treatment over the last 10, 12, 15 years. It's been quite
common.
Representative Nunn. Mr. Humphrey, you brought up a very
good point here. This is not unique to just the United States.
They are targeting other nations as well. Could you share with
us who else is being targeted in these wholesale roundups of
foreigners?
Mr. Humphrey. I think the Japanese are a particularly
favorite target because even though there's not such a large
number of Japanese in prison in China, they're harassed a lot
because there's a lot of hatred toward the Japanese nation in
China.
But we see it also with Australia. Australia has a
substantial number of prisoners in China, and we see it in
general toward the laowai, the dabizi, or the foreigners around
in China. There are less of them now because in recent years
they've been leaving in an exodus, you know. There are far
fewer foreigners in China now because of this atmosphere which
has been created.
Representative Nunn. I'd like to talk to the families,
particularly those who have loved ones currently in detention
there. It's an open question, but, Mr. Li, I'll start with you.
Your father was arrested on unspecified so-called espionage
charges. How are Americans treated when they go through these
Chinese courts? You had a front row seat to it. Is it
transparent? Is there an appeal process? Does the accused get
any kind of defense?
Mr. Li. Thank you for the question, Mr. Nunn.
Yes. Look, it's certainly not a transparent process. I
think that goes without saying. Like I said, my father did not
have access to legal representation in the first six months
when he was being interrogated. The trial was behind closed
doors.
Members from the consulate tried to attend but were not
able to get in and, you know, it's because allegedly the trial
is about ``state secrets''--so that's a convenient way for them
to bar access to the trial.
So it's certainly not a transparent process. It's a long
process. You know, for my father it was two years from initial
detention to sentencing. For a lot of others it's been,
unfortunately, much, much longer.
In terms of an appeal process, such a process exists. My
father did appeal his sentence. Ultimately, it got denied. I am
not aware of a single case in which an appeal has been
successful.
Representative Nunn. Mr. Wells, first of all, thank you for
your military service and long-rendered sacrifice for our
country. You are now fighting another battle, to bring your son
home. When he was detained by the Chinese, can you speak about
or are you aware of the type of environment he was placed in
once in the Chinese detention facility, how he was treated, and
what updates you have on his well-being?
Mr. Wells. Thank you, Mr. Nunn.
As I stated before, it took us a while to find Nelson. He
was in a detention center quite a long time and while he was
there he wasn't able to reach out to us. So when we did find
out where he was and we contacted numerous lawyers and that
didn't work out well, but there was one lawyer that picked up
the case and he said, I will try to assist Nelson.
But by the time he got there Nelson had already gone to
trial and, as Harrison said, it was closed. He didn't have
anybody to speak for him so it had to be through
interpretation. But it was already stamped that Nelson was
going to be guilty regardless.
But one of the things that the lawyer did tell us, he said,
while I was there I was able to do two things. The first thing
is that I listened to what the case was about, and he said that
it was inconclusive. He said, As far as I'm concerned Nelson
should be free.
The second thing that he was able to do is to tell Nelson
that your parents are aware that you are in this situation and
that they are doing everything they can so that you will not
feel like you are all alone and by yourself.
Those were the only two things that he was able to do. But
when Nelson finally talked to us--and you've got to remember
that all his phone calls are monitored. They are censored. So
when he had the opportunity to talk to us he started telling us
the duress that he was under, how he was being treated, how the
guards were handling him and doing things that--to me, it's
inhumane.
So he was crying out, Pops, get me out of here! Get me out
of here! I can't take it! So I told him--as we started
discussing--they hung up the phone. He was able to give us
another call--six months later. He asked us were we making any
progress, and he was still in this detention. So he said, I've
got to get out of here, so I set up an appeal and the appeal
should help me get out. Is there any legal assistance that you
could help me with?
And I told him that we were--it's hard to tell your child
that your hands are tied. So I told him I was not capable but I
will do everything I could. So that's when he decided--under
coercion and having been through what he was going through--he
decided to do a plea. And at that point, that's when they
accepted his appeal, and then they agreed to put him in a
regular prison system to get him out of detention.
And then he was able to give us code on telling us how he
was being treated. He would reminisce about a movie or anything
of that nature and say, Pops, remember this movie? It went like
this, and that's how we understood what he was going through.
Nelson has been attacked because in the situation that he's
in--he's the only American and only black American in the
prison where he's at. So he has no communication with anyone to
speak English. Everything he does has to be within himself,
internal. All the guards are Chinese, all the inmates are
Chinese, and so he has been attacked just for who he is, being
American--a black American. He has been put in the hospital
several times as well as the fact he's been attacked by guards,
which was just recently.
So the situation that he's going through when he
communicates this to us, we tell ACS and we ask them to do more
frequent visits because from Beijing to where Nelson is I
understand it's quite a distance so they will only go see him
every 3 months.
Well, we were requesting that they would go see him at
least once a month because of the fact he's out there on his
own. And the correspondence that we get to him when we send it
through--like Mr. Humphrey said, it's a nanny service. When we
give him--our family members write letters to him and books
that we try to send to him, and it is being screened by the
guards and they won't allow him to have it. So that means it'll
be at the prison but he can't receive it because of the fact
they feel it's not appropriate. So it takes away from his
communication with his family and loved ones.
So to answer your question, while he was in the detention
center he tried to explain that he was sleeping on the floor
and, as Mr. Li said, because of the weather he said, Send me
some clothes so I can weather the winter because the windows
are open. There's no way to close the windows.
So his plea to us has always put an emotional strain on us
as well, because we know our child is suffering. And that
detention center, for those that go there and stay there for
long periods of time, that's a stressful situation.
Representative Nunn. Mr. Wells, you are doing so much for
your son even just by being here today to raise awareness to
the American people. As a father I compliment you. As a warrior
I thank you, and for your son Nelson not only do our hearts go
out, there must be action taken on our side to hold the Chinese
accountable and you have our commitment for that. I'm grateful
for you being here.
Mr. Hunt, thank you for your service, first and foremost,
as a Chicago police officer. You are one of these great heroes
from the heartland. You have been on the front line here in the
United States protecting our country and, certainly, there is a
need for public safety. But it is different when a foreign
country seeks out Americans to use as political tools.
Your sister Dawn, a woman detained inside China--speak to
us about what the Chinese have put her through while in the
detention facility and what information you've been able to get
out because we hear reports here of health concerns, of
potential threats of torture, of mistreatment at the hands of
guards, particularly of women. I can't imagine how difficult
this is for you.
Mr. Hunt. Thank you, Mr. Nunn.
Yes. My sister conveyed to my father that she was sexually
assaulted in the detention facility. I understand what Mr.
Wells was saying because his story is the same story that I
have. Denial of access to reading materials. Only being able to
have anything in Chinese and she doesn't understand it. The
cold, laying on the floor, wanting--requesting blankets. The
food. Everything--Mr. Wells, everything that you've--every
story that you've heard is correct.
Our citizens are being mistreated, abused, and it's
coordinated. It's not something that is a ``one off.'' It's
not, Oh, it happens to this prisoner--it doesn't happen to
others. It happens to every prisoner.
I understand that we are convened here today so we can give
you information. I hope you take this information to heart and
I say this because during the visit with my sister there was a
person who was standing right next to her with the headphone
and listening to everything we said, taking notes.
I asked my sister about the sexual assault. She briefly
looked up, looked down, and there was a tension there I could
see in her eyes, I could feel, and she said no. But I knew she
was under duress. I knew that her freedom to tell me the truth
had been taken away.
Now imagine, not only is your freedom of movement taken but
your freedom to tell the truth, your freedom to speak up, your
freedom to cry out, your freedom to ask for help is taken as
well. That's what I need this panel to understand. That's what
all of our family members are going through right here, right
now.
Representative Nunn. Mr. Hunt, that is powerful. It is
real.
Mr. Chairman, I am so grateful for you doing this fact-
finding hearing that is bicameral, that is bipartisan, that has
the White House's ear, and it is clear that not only does more
need to be done but we have to recognize the strategic threat
here as well as the tactical human suffering that's going on.
We've heard, Mr. Humphrey, that this is a coordinated
effort by the Chinese Communist Party to build a warehouse of
U.S. citizens in detention facilities that these families and
so many, many more are going through right now--that there is
intentional coercion of American citizens while in Chinese
detention facilities to either plead guilty so they can speak
to their family and have at least some hope of an appeal--or
remain in solitary confinement year after year and, as you've
each highlighted. In any country in the world we would consider
this to be barbaric.
But in a country that presents itself as an equal to the
United States--to strip another citizen of not only their
freedom but their humanity--this must be called into question,
they must be held accountable, and we need to recognize that
China not only is playing the long game here but they continue
to build an arsenal of Americans to be held in detention at a
time and place of their choosing to be able to negotiate
against the United States. We should never allow this to
happen.
I thank the panel for being here. Our hearts are with each
of your families. We will maintain the fight. Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Chair Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Nunn, and I would ask
you--I'll give the last word to each of our witnesses.
But before that, as you probably know there are four levels
of travel advisory. The first is ``exercise normal
precaution,'' No. 2 is ``exercise increased caution,'' No. 3,
the State Department calls it ``reconsider travel,'' and No. 4
is ``don't travel.'' Right now the PRC is ``reconsider travel''
because of the arbitrary enforcement of laws and people being
incarcerated simply because they happen to be Americans.
In your view should the State Department now go to ``don't
travel'' since we have a situation where your family members
traveled and have now been unjustly detained and harassed and
imprisoned? It seems to me that would get the attention of the
Chinese Communist Party as well. Because it's an open risk.
People are traveling there not even knowing that there is a
travel advisory, that it's number 3 on the 4 scale. But perhaps
it's time for No. 4 to be imposed.
Peter, do you want to respond to that?
Mr. Humphrey. I'll be very quick. There's one phrase I've
been using for quite some years now and it's starting to dawn,
and that is ``nobody is safe in China.'' Nobody.
Chair Smith. Thank you.
Mr. Hunt. Don't travel to China. That needs the security
level. Whatever you do it needs to be raised to the highest it
could be raised to. Don't travel.
Chair Smith. So that's your word to the administration?
Mr. Hunt. That is my word right here right now. Don't
travel. None of us here want to have another story.
Chair Smith. Thank you.
Mr. Li. I will say this. It's been reported in the media
that the Chinese government has requested the United States to
reduce its travel advisory from level three down to level two
or level one and, you know, I think it is laughable that that
they are even willing to consider that, while they keep our
loved ones arbitrarily detained.
And so I think that the Chinese government clearly wants
more Americans to travel to China. But as long as our loved
ones are being held, as long as there are so many people at
risk, then that travel warning must be escalated.
Chair Smith. Thank you.
Mr. Wells.
Mr. Wells. If this would put pressure on the Chinese regime
I say don't travel. No one should even go there.
Chair Smith. I appreciate that. You know, I now give you
the last word. I do by unanimous consent ask that the
statements of Bill Browder be included; Ben Rogers, who we've
worked with--both of those men--for years; Cedric Witek,
Cynthia Sun, Jason Poblete, Katherine Swidan, who was on
earlier with her son, and the Foley Foundation. Without
objection, so ordered.
But I'd like to give the four of you the last word, if you
would, and I can't thank you enough. This, to me, is a pivotal
hearing. You know, motivation is everything but information
that motivates--you have motivated us to do even more and we
will. I guarantee it.
Mr. Wells.
Mr. Wells. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am grateful that we and all of these people who are in
the same situation as us are here today in front of you all to
raise awareness of our situation as well as the other Americans
that are there.
My last comment is that there were always three, and Mr. Li
knows that these were on the radar of our administration and we
tried to get Nelson's name included, and today you all have
done that for us, as I know Tim agrees.
But there's one thing that you will notice--the picture
that all of you put out there. If you notice, everybody else is
in civilian clothes--but my son is in his prison uniform. And I
was apprehensive and afraid but I knew I needed to do this
because everything that we do is going to help get him home.
But that uniform prison picture that's out there--Nelson
has received death threats. He has received harassment and been
attacked because of that picture; they tried to force him to
say how that picture got to us, and because we could not tell
how it was done, Nelson has suffered at their hands.
So I am proud and happy to be here. This picture has now
shown the American people about my son but I'm also afraid of
what might happen to him from this. So I know you all are going
to be diligently trying to help us but there's one other thing
that I wish, that you all can at least get the American
citizens, consulars, to make more frequent visits to Nelson, to
make sure they don't harm my child because if the illness
doesn't take him out, I'm afraid they will. Thank you.
Mr. Li. I would just like to end with this statement, you
know, building off what Mr. Nunn just mentioned of China
wanting to present itself as a country that is equal to the
United States, yet at the same time engaging in these horrific
practices, ripping apart our families, ripping apart our loved
ones, torturing them physically, mentally, it needs to stop,
and whatever other bilateral issues that need to be worked out
irrespective of that, these cases have a tangible solution.
The Chinese government has our loved ones. They can do the
right thing and release them, and it's incumbent on our elected
leaders to call for that, to make that the number-one priority
in their diplomacy because it is something tangible, something
doable, something with a clear-cut solution. So it should be
one of the easiest things to get in diplomatic discussions. I
think by bringing awareness to this issue that it is easy to
get swept under the rug because we are individual families,
ordinary Americans who have a difficult time getting attention.
We need to be heard. We need to be made a priority. And so
I thank you, of course, Chairman Smith, Senator Merkley, but
also all the commissioners on the CECC for convening and
organizing this hearing and this forum to listen to our voices
and take to heart and understand just what we have been going
through and why it needs to be rectified immediately. Thank
you.
Mr. Hunt. First of all, I'd like to--I thank you, Mr.
Chairman and Mr. Humphrey and everyone who's here on this
panel. Thank you for allowing us to speak. I will state this
just to repeat what you said about how to keep up the pressure.
You asked whether we should raise the threat level. Of
course. The other Senator asked, Is there something we could do
socially by holding these companies responsible and yes, of
course. I say this because my sister was making lithium
batteries. That was her job, her duty, while she's
incarcerated.
I'm not sure what products these lithium batteries go to
but I'm sure that some of these are imported here in America.
I'm sure the citizens here need to understand and they need to
know that the Chinese motto was ``rehabilitation through
labor'' and a lot of this labor, as Mr. Humphrey says, goes
into making greeting cards that we purchase.
There needs to be a sort of transparency on what products
are being made by prison labor and if that--if those things are
transparent then that puts pressure on them as well as what you
said, raising the threat level because, from what Mr. Humphrey
said, if there's going to be a warehouse of Americans that
they're going to use to gain political favor or use to do
something to, I guess you could say, move the needle on their
side by releasing a citizen from America--that needs to stop--
and we need to put all types of pressure on them through
political, economic, judicial means.
Whatever we can do to bring everyone home, we need to do
it. No one should be in this situation and this panel should
not grow. There should be fewer of us, not more of us. Thank
you.
Mr. Humphrey. I prefer to leave most of these final words
to these three very courageous families that you've got here
today.
But I'll just say one thing very, very briefly, and that is
that I think it is incumbent upon Congress to legislate to deal
with this problem of the prisoners in the categories that we've
discussed today.
You mentioned you received a statement from Bill Browder,
who we could say was the creator of the Magnitsky Act concept--
you know, a great campaigner who brought that about here. It
was aimed heavily at the time against other countries,
especially Russia, for human rights abuses and wrongful arrests
and mistreatment of prisoners and so forth and we need
something like that here to confront this problem with China.
So I think it is incumbent upon Congress here to push some
legislation forward which will be punitive in nature and also
will be holding the U.S. Government to greater account to
actually act and punish China for these kinds of wrongful
detentions and arrests.
I hope to see that in the next year or two. I realize that
you're going to go through some changes over the coming year
which may slow some progress down. But this is a bipartisan
issue and I don't really think it matters who's running the
administration. I think it is incumbent upon every Congressman
and every Senator to get behind something like this. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Thank you. We do have a duty to act and we
must, so thank you. Who do we help and who do we abandon? To
paraphrase again, we help all and abandon no one and I can't
thank you enough for the powerful testimony and for the love
that you have shown for your loved ones. It's incredible.
The hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:29 p.m., the hearing was concluded.]
?
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A P P E N D I X
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Prepared Statements
----------
Prepared Statement of Nelson Wells, Sr.
Good morning, Chair Smith, Co-chair Merkley, and the esteemed
members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Thank you
for inviting me and our advisor, Peter Humphrey, to testify at this
hearing on Americans detained in China.
Background
My name is Nelson Wells, Sr. and I am appearing before you on
behalf of my wife, Cynthia Wells, and our family, asking for your
assistance in bringing home our son, Nelson Wells, Jr., who has been
unjustly imprisoned in China for 10 years. We are natives of New
Orleans, Louisiana, but relocated to Haughton, Louisiana in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We lost many of our worldly possessions
to that storm, but nothing prepared us for the loss we would experience
in 2014.
In the spring of that year, we were awakened in the middle of the
night by a call that no parent ever wants to receive. Paraphrasing, the
male caller said, ``I'm a companion of Nelson's. He's in trouble. He's
been arrested in China. Do you have money? Hurry up! They're going to
kill him!'' Naturally, I said, ``Hang that phone up.'' I thought it was
a prank, a scam. We didn't even realize Nelson, then a 40-year-old man,
was in China. We thought he was at home in Japan, where we had recently
spoken to him by phone, and he had been living with his wife and
children--two daughters and a son--from two different marriages.
I served in the United States Army for more than 20 years, and
Cynthia served at the Department of Defense for nearly 28 years. We
have been stationed and traveled all over the United States--from the
South to the South Pacific--and the world. At each opportunity, we
brought our children, Nelson and his sister, Kendria Wells, with us.
Thus Nelson always had a love for travel, and it was not unusual to us
that he settled in Japan, where his wife is from. But due to a medical
condition he suffered from a traffic accident, we were discussing the
possibility of the family re-
locating to the United States permanently, so that he could get better
treatment and expand his professional opportunities. Unfortunately, it
was not to be.
When we called his wife, our daughter-in-law, we learned that he
had taken a trip to China. He is a dedicated husband and father, and we
are a close family, so after he did not return immediately and we did
not hear from him, we knew we had a problem.
Over the next several weeks and months, we reached out to the
United States Embassy multiple times to find Nelson or a record of his
arrest, but they could not locate him. It was not until we took matters
into our own hands and contacted Mr. John Kamm at the Dui Hua
Foundation, which tracks and assists American detainees oversees, that
we were able to confirm that Nelson had indeed been arrested. We think
that somehow he had not been considered an American citizen--even
though he, his wife, and his children all are citizens--and had fallen
through the cracks. Only then did the U.S. Government begin working on
behalf of our son. By then, precious months had passed.
For Nelson's part, he had been incarcerated all that time in China,
a country where he was only visiting, where he did not read or speak
the language, and where he did not know if we were looking for him or
even knew he had been arrested. It must have been torture for him. It
was not until a Chinese lawyer we hired appeared at one of his court
proceedings and passed him a note that he learned we were aware of his
predicament. The lawyer could not represent Nelson, but he was able to
provide him with a lifeline. Frightened and desperate to reach out to
us and unfamiliar with the documents he was being presented, Nelson was
willing to do anything to improve his conditions, even plead partially
guilty so that he could enter the prison system and be allowed phone
calls home, more regular contact with American Citizen Services, and
other benefits. It was at that time that we were able to speak with our
son, albeit on short calls that were heavily monitored and would
disconnect abruptly when he attempted to share sensitive details about
his treatment or condition or when we would express our own
frustration.
We learned that Nelson had been arrested on a drug charge. As he
was leaving the country, he naively agreed to carry a bag of what he
thought to be baked goods for a so-called friend through security at
the airport. Those baked goods were allegedly laced with illegal drugs.
That so-called friend made it through, but Nelson did not. For that one
mistake--that one betrayal--his life, his wife's life, his children's
lives, and our lives will never be the same.
Priority Concerns
Though Nelson admitted partial guilt, he did not speak the
language, never received proper due process, and did not have adequate
legal representation to be able to offer a defense to the allegations
or fully understand the terms and consequences of his pleadings. There
were some bright spots: Nelson originally received a death sentence,
but that sentence was ultimately reduced in 2019 to 22 years. We are
thankful to the Chinese government for that, but his sentence did not
include time served. This means that Nelson will not be released until
the year 2041 when he is in his late 60s, if by some miracle he
survives.
In the years since 2014, my wife and I have become consumed with
efforts to secure Nelson's release and to ensure his safety and health
while imprisoned. At first, we did not have access to trusted lawyers
or advisors that we could count on to advocate for Nelson and not take
advantage of us. We expended almost all our savings in those early
years via trial-and-error efforts to help Nelson and without meaningful
guidance from our own government. With the exception of some former
prisoners who were able to get messages to us and third-party
advocates, we were virtually alone and operating in the blind. For
years, we wrote letters to our Members of Congress, to the White House,
to State Department officials, to Democrats and Republicans, to anyone
who was in a position of influence, but our calls for assistance went
unanswered.
American Citizen Services in Beijing was helpful in visiting,
calling, communicating with, and reporting back on Nelson, but some
case officers were better than others and they changed frequently. One
of Nelson's best officers is working with your Committee now, and his
current case officer is outstanding as well. For that, we are forever
grateful. But no matter how good or how well meaning, with each swap of
a case officer, it feels like we, like Nelson is starting all over--
having to re-tell his story, re-teach his spoken and unspoken language,
and recount his mental and physical health challenges. The
inconsistency takes its toll on him, as have the years of
incarceration.
While in the beginning we heeded warnings not to shine a public
light on Nelson's story out of fear of retaliation against him, 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. While it
shouldn't be this way, we have seen with other released prisoners that
public pressure--and perhaps nothing else--works; it encourages the
government to prioritize your loved one and to advocate more
aggressively for their release.
Over the years, Nelson has been a target for being one of the few
Americans and Black Americans in the prison, which has exposed him to
harsher treatment and sometimes physical attack. He has suffered from
debilitating chronic pain, seizures (a Chinese MRI report shows he has
an atrophying of the brain), malnutrition, internal issues, dental
pain, severe depression and thoughts of self-harm. We also know that
based on family history, Nelson needs regular cancer and heart health
screenings, which it is not always clear he has received. He also needs
regular contact with mental health professionals, regular calls and
ideally video calls with us, and the ability to speak English with
another person on a regular basis. Without these things, we fear that
he will die in prison from physical or mental illness and without our
ever seeing him again.
Thus, my wife and I built a multidisciplinary team of China
legislative and communications experts, including Peter Humphrey, who
is also testifying today, and also with the help of Marc Morial,
President of the National Urban League, who is a childhood friend. We
decided to share Nelson's story loudly, beginning in Louisiana with
KSLA's Domonique Benn. After her 2023 story on our fight for Nelson's
release, we began garnering attention from Louisiana to Washington and
beyond. We are especially thankful to Senator Bill Cassidy and his
team, who are working on our behalf, and the many journalists in the
United States and China who have reported on our story. We are also
thankful to the Commission for inviting us here today to share our
story--the story of everyday Americans who found themselves in the
midst of an international diplomatic nightmare.
Still, a meaningful change in Nelson's circumstances has remained
out of reach and only underscores the difficulty, and sometimes
hopelessness, of our situation, where we feel thwarted at every turn.
For example:
1. Nelson is not considered a political prisoner or as being held
unjustly, even though he received an impossibly harsh sentence for a
first-time offender and did not receive proper due process, which means
his case has not received the same diplomatic attention as others
within the State Department.
2. Nelson's declining health, length of time served, and record of
good behavior certainly should make him eligible for some sort of
humanitarian release, but we have been told that this is not a
possibility. It should be noted that over the past decade, Nelson has
been a cooperative prisoner. Indeed, he promised me personally that he
would not fight, even if he is provoked or attacked. He doesn't want to
do anything to make his situation worse.
3. Nelson has also sought to utilize a 2018 law in China that
allows for a prisoner transfer to an American facility, absent a
bilateral treaty with the home country (Law of the People's Republic of
China on International Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters).
Unfortunately, the United States still requires a treaty to engage in
those negotiations and so Nelson remains in Chongqing Yudu Prison.
We are at a loss as to what to do next, but whatever the pathway,
we are asking, pleading with this Commission, with Congress, with the
Administration--including the State Department and the Justice
Department, and with the Chinese government, to work together on behalf
of our son to find a solution that brings him home to us.
When our country asked us to serve, my wife and I did so
unreservedly and without hesitation. I even served in hardship posts,
including during the Gulf War. I am asking now for your help on behalf
of my child. He is a man, but as every parent here knows, he is still
my child, and I cannot leave him behind. I am asking you also not to
leave him--an American citizen--behind. We leave no man behind, right?
We are people of faith, but he is losing faith. He feels alone. He
feels helpless. We all do. I do not know how long I will be able to
implore him to hang on.
Please help our family by creating a pathway for outright release
or prisoner transfer to a home prison. Please make improvements to the
process for meaningfully working with detained citizens and their
families so that they have help in navigating these crises and are not
targets for abuse. The State Department should be focused not only on
care for detainees, which is important, but also on offering resources
and pathways for release, which is critical.
Finally, we must improve diplomatic relations with China so that
our citizens can travel abroad safely and that when an arrest happens,
we can ensure their fair treatment. We were once told by a State
Department official that Nelson should have never been in China in the
first place and that citizens are warned about traveling there. In
addition to this being a callous statement, it is also an unfair one,
as those types of warnings were less clear in 2014 than they are now.
More importantly, what good does that do Nelson or our family now. We
still must bring him home. I am sure the official meant no harm, but no
family should ever ask for help from the government only to be
ridiculed.
In addition to Nelson, we ask that you collectively help the
hundreds of other Americans who are languishing in Chinese prisons and
prisons elsewhere, who are perhaps worse off than us--Americans who are
not before you today, who have not received media attention, who do not
have Members of Congress working on their behalf, and who are known
only to their loved ones. They need to have their stories told. They
need someone to fight diplomatically for their release and at the very
least for their fair treatment, their health, and their safety.
On behalf of my son and all the sons and daughters who are still
incarcerated on foreign soil, thank you for the opportunity to testify
today, and I look forward to answering your questions during and after
the hearing for the record.
______
Prepared Statement of Harrison Li
Today marks 2,932 days--more than 8 years--since my dad, Kai Li,
was taken by the Chinese government as a bargaining chip. He spent 2
months under ``residential surveillance at a designated location''
during which he was held at a secret location and interrogated harshly
day and night without any access to legal counsel. Then almost a year
passed before he was subjected to a closed-door sham trial, and then
another year went by before he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for
stealing so-called ``state secrets''--even though said ``secrets'' are
freely searchable even on the firewalled Chinese Internet. More than 3
years ago now, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
demanded his release in a landmark decision. Yet despite all this, we
have seen no positive movement in his case or those of the other
Americans wrongfully detained in China.
Officials at all levels of the U.S. Government constantly reassure
us that securing my dad's freedom is their ``highest priority.'' Yet
their actions, or rather the lack thereof, show otherwise. Since the
day President Biden took office, our family has made countless requests
through the State Department, Congress, and White House National
Security Council to meet with him. In that time, the President has met
with the families of many Americans detained in places like Gaza,
Syria, Russia, and Iran, while every single one of our requests has
gone unanswered.
In my last two trips to D.C., I sat outside the White House with
the families of several other wrongful detainees in the Bring Our
Families Home Campaign. Both times, we watched the President and/or his
National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, meet with the families of
other detainees, leaving us out in the cold. Why are we ignored like
this? The administration is always quick to note that not all hostage
families who've met with the President have seen their loved ones come
home, and conversely many Americans have come home without meeting with
him. But the numbers are clearly in the favor of those who have met
with the President. That's not surprising, because as the reporting
around last month's prisoner deal with Russia illustrates, when Jake
Sullivan and the President put their heads together with hostage
families, they can collectively come up with creative solutions to
bring Americans home. Unfortunately, we do not see this happening with
the China cases, even as my dad alone has now spent more time behind
bars than Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsu Kurmasheva combined.
Time is running out. 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 before President Biden
leaves office thus form a crucial period for the administration to
leverage the work they've put in to stabilize the broader bilateral
relationship against the prospect of another spy balloon incident and
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.
I have now spent a third of my life missing my dad. Every day, I
wake up and shudder at the thought of him crammed into a tiny cell with
as many as 11 other people, in deplorable conditions that Peter
[Humphrey] here can unfortunately tell you about firsthand, as someone
who spent two years in the same prison. In the last eight years, my
dad's suffered a stroke, lost a tooth, and endured draconian COVID-19
lockdowns for more than three years without climate control. President
Biden, how much more does he need to suffer before you stop ignoring
us?
______
Prepared Statement of Tim Hunt
My sister Dawn Michelle Hunt is incarcerated in Guangdong Women's
Prison. She was arrested in 2014 and charged with smuggling, a charge
she vehemently denies. Dawn was born on 12 June 1971, so she is now 53.
She was a receptionist at the time she was arrested. As I write this, I
think of the numerous times I've written to officials, lawyers, and
anyone else who would listen. I think I've written this type of letter
hundreds of times since her incarceration, but over the years, things
have changed. My sister and my family are getting worn down. Dawn's
health has been failing, and our father's health is failing as well.
It all started when my sister was tricked into believing she had
won a contest. She received an email stating that she had won a cash
prize. When she contacted the contest organizers, she didn't believe it
at first, so she checked them out online and was surprised that the
info they gave her checked out. With that, she sent them her passport
information and they sent a ticket for her to travel to Hong Kong. She
was there for nine days and she told me that the organizers treated her
well. She went sightseeing, shopping and started to trust the
organizers who put together her trip. After exploring Hong Kong, she
was asked if she wanted to visit mainland China. After her positive
experience in Hong Kong, she agreed. She acquired a visa for mainland
China while she was in Hong Kong with the help of the organizers who
put together her initial trip. She then flew to mainland China and
traveled around, sightseeing and shopping for nine days. She was then
asked if she wanted to visit Australia as part of her prize. Once
again, she agreed.
Before leaving for her Australia trip, she was told she also won
some designer purses. Excited about her upcoming trip, and trusting the
organizers, she took the purses before her flight, not knowing drugs
were sewn inside the linings. She explained to me that the organizers
wanted her to pack the purses in her luggage. She told them that her
luggage was full so she and some people who organized her trips went to
the Baiyun leather market and the organizers purchased an additional
bag for her.
She told me that while she was in the airport in China, on her way
to Australia, she was called by airport security. They escorted her to
a room and the luggage she checked (she checked two pieces) was in the
room as well. She was asked if the luggage belonged to her, to which
she responded ``yes.'' She stated that she was asked multiple times and
each time she said ``yes,'' not knowing drugs were in the lining of the
purses she won from the organizers of the contest. She told me that she
even paid a small excess weight fee since the luggage was slightly over
the weight limit when she checked in for her flight.
I hope you can see that something like this could happen to a lot
of people. As a matter of fact, in May of this year, the Secret Service
issued a warning for law enforcement to educate the public on similar
schemes. Unfortunately, my sister was arrested in 2014 and never
received any such warning.
After her trial, she was found guilty and received the ``death
penalty with two years reprieve.'' She was duped. She was scammed! She
trusted the wrong people! She doesn't deserve it. Although she told me
it happened when she was taking a flight to Australia, a journalist
said a court record says she was on her way to Qingdao in China on an
internal flight. I don't know the reason for this discrepancy. The
death penalty for this?
In the years she was detained before her trial, she cooperated with
the authorities, answered all their questions, and produced the emails
she received from the organizers but unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
Since her incarceration, she has developed physical ailments
(uterine fibroids and possibly ovarian cancer) according to the doctors
who examined her in prison. She has received numerous blood
transfusions due to heavy bleeding and has been advised that she needs
a hysterectomy, which she has refused out of distrust. How can she
trust the same people who have incarcerated her after she cooperated
with the Chinese authorities? How can she trust the same people she
tried to help apprehend the organizers who had duped her?
My sister has never been street-smart. She's trusting and believes
that people are good. Being her older brother, I've seen her
disappointed and upset when people in her life turn out to be something
different from what they displayed. This has hurt her and has taken
years from her life. When I visited her recently in prison, I could see
the depth of her depression. She has lost weight; her eyes are bulging.
She has an abdominal bulge on her right side, and her complexion is
very pale. She told me that she still has to work in the prison despite
her illness but that she can't lift heavy objects because her fibroids
might rupture and she would start bleeding.
After I visited her, I updated my father on her condition. I had to
leave out some details of her physical appearance because my dad has
recently been diagnosed with cancer and I wanted to avoid giving him an
additional shock. I'd also like to share a bit about my father with
you. He's an Army veteran and a retired Chicago Police Sergeant of 32
years. I once witnessed him save our next-door neighbors when their
house caught fire. Witnessing that event made such an impression on me
as a kid that I followed in his footsteps and became a Chicago Police
Officer and retired after 28 years.
Dawn Michelle is my dad's only daughter, and he is devastated by
her predicament. In a strange way, my dad's locked up as well. He's
almost 91, freshly diagnosed with prostate cancer, has other health
issues and is worried that with all this, he's not going to live long
enough to see his daughter free, safe, and at home. He's getting worn
down, just like my sister.
As I stated at the beginning of this statement, my family is
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.
Prepared Statement of Peter Humphrey
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Introduction
I am a British citizen. Half my family is American. My wife and son
are American citizens. For much of my life I have interacted with
American institutions. I have spent 49 years involved with China as an
academic, teacher, journalist, corporate investigator, and
philanthropist. I hold a degree in sinology from Durham University in
England. I am currently an external affiliate of Harvard University's
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, a member of the UK think tanks
RUSI and Henry Jackson Society, and a pro bono mentor to families of
foreign prisoners in China. I and my American wife Yingzeng Yu were
wrongfully imprisoned in China in 2013-2015 on false charges of illegal
information gathering for our due diligence firm, ChinaWhys, in an
extensively publicized case. Since our release in June 2015 I have
created an information and support network among families of foreign
prisoners to lobby for their welfare and their release, as well as
interviewing newly released prisoners in order to track changes in the
prisons. Before testifying to this commission, I have testified to the
UK Parliament and the Australian Senate and I have provided evidence to
support China-related legislation in the EU Parliament on China due
diligence and the import of prison labor products.
I am testifying to the CECC both as a specialist on justice and
imprisonment in China and as a foreign victim of unjust imprisonment. I
have a wealth of personal experience and insight after being a fly on
the wall inside the Chinese prison system for 2 years, and one of the
first victims of dictator Xi Jinping's crusade against foreigners, and
for the past 9 years an activist who is exposing judicial and penal
abuses that all foreign prisoners and detainees in China face.
In my statement I will include some high-level observations in
addition to some examples of abuse in China's prison system, and I will
touch upon the cases of some American prisoners that I have followed
and supported. Finally, I will also make some observations and
suggestions for improving policy in areas that need review and change.
First, let me also state that although we can see a number of
American families presenting their cases of unjust imprisonment in
China to this CECC hearing, there are a massive number who cannot or
will not do so, largely due to fear of retribution against their loved
ones locked up in one of Xi Jinping's jails. In addition, the
communication of Americans languishing in China's prisons is
deliberately obstructed by Chinese authorities, making it impossible
for them to issue their own statements and pleas for help directly to
such a hearing. We must keep all those Americans in our minds and
hearts as we digest the testimony of the few who are able to testify.
Regardless of class background, level of wealth, skin color, religious
creed, or the crimes they are alleged by Chinese institutions to have
committed, and whether ``guilty'' or not, they deserve equal support,
as Americans. Some of them have been in Xi's jails for more than 10
years and are in dire health.
The Humphrey and Yu Wrongful Imprisonment Case
The story of what happened to me and my family in the clutches of
China's judicial and prison system has been extensively documented and
written about in the media and in the American litigation records of my
lawsuit against a former client of mine.
In short, after decades of benign involvement in China, one morning
in July 2013, I and my American wife Yingzeng Yu were suddenly
detained, our Shanghai offices and apartment were raided at dawn and
our 10-year-old due diligence consultancy company was shut down without
any legal grounds. I was 57 at the time, and my wife was approaching
her 60th birthday. Our son, an American citizen, was 18 at the time and
had just completed high school--our arrest orphaned him for the next 2
years and seriously damaged his educational path and career ambitions.
Our only crime really was to have offended somebody who we had
investigated and profiled for a multinational client who suspected her
of defaming the company. She turned out to have powerful connections in
the Communist Party and arranged for us to be arrested in revenge.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ I cannot name this client here, for legal reasons, in order to
comply with a legal settlement between the Humphrey family and the
client, the terms of which are confidential. I can only refer to the
public dockets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We never received a fair and transparent trial and we were treated
inhumanely during 2 years of wrongful captivity. We spent over a year
in a Shanghai detention center and the remainder of the period in
prisons--me in Shanghai's Qingpu Prison and my wife in Shanghai Women's
Prison.
The detention center was like a penal facility from day one and not
a pre-trial detention facility. My cell was unfurnished and it
incarcerated 12 men in a floor space of 17.5 square yards. The off
white paint and plaster in the cells was rotting and peeling off the
walls and ceiling. The other cellmates were mostly Chinese.
Occasionally there would be another foreigner, from Africa or Asia. The
ceiling lights were kept on 24/7. There was no furniture, no bed to
sleep on. We slept on a bare, rough wooden floor, which was our bed,
our breakfast and dinner table, and where we had to squat or sit cross-
legged for most of the day. We never received outdoor exercise,
sunshine or fresh air. The toilet was a hole in the corner of the cell
open to the view of every cellmate and the surveillance cameras. There
was never a moment of privacy. The only privacy was inside your own
head. We ate three times a day from doggy bowls containing food that
was pushed through the bars of the cell by convict laborers. The food
comprised gritty rice, scraps of vegetable, and the occasional sliver
of meat. The food lacked vital vitamins and minerals and we all
suffered from malnutrition and diarrhea, and quickly lost weight and
grew weak. I lost 22 pounds. The cell provided no hot water but only
cold water running from a tap in a crumbling stone sink. Medical
attention was grossly inadequate. One cellmate was dying from heart
disease and another, a Chinese-born American citizen, was suffering
from a failing liver transplant that he had undergone just weeks before
he was arrested on murky fraud charges in the middle of his own wedding
party. The detention center authorities refused to acknowledge my
prostate cancer situation and withheld medical treatment for it for the
whole duration of my arbitrary detention there.
I and my wife were subjected separately to daily interrogations by
the police (PSB) and initially also by State Security (MSS) who tried
to pin an espionage charge on us. In the end they charged us with
illegal information gathering under a law which at the time of our
business activities did not make our business activities illegal.
(Since our release China has introduced new laws which make all
information gathering potentially illegal, regardless of the means used
to gather it.) During this detention and interrogation period, I and my
wife were allowed no contact with each other. After 6 months we were
allowed to write letters to each other but these took weeks or months
to travel 300 meters through the concrete walls of the detention center
due to three layers of censorship. They were censored and sometimes
confiscated without us being told. We were not allowed to discuss our
case in these letters. Correspondence with family was highly
restricted. No family visits were allowed. This severely hampered our
efforts to help our 18-year-old son who was suddenly cut adrift by our
disappearance and had no access to our family funds. But we received
occasional welfare visits from our respective U.S. and UK consulates
bringing messages, letters and reading material.
In short, the conditions in the detention center in their totality
added up to torture designed to crush the human spirit and force out a
confession, and failed to meet the standards required by international
conventions or treaties that China has signed.
In April 2014, my wife's brother, Bernard Yu, an American citizen
born in Ohio, died in Maryland from a fast-moving cancer accelerated by
the stress that he was experiencing in handling his younger sister's
incarceration. His situation was withheld from my wife until our trial
and she never had a chance to say goodbye to him. He was her only other
close relative from her original nuclear family. She was only informed
of his death on the morning of our sham trial in August that year,
which seriously destabilized her in court, no doubt intentionally.
During our detention we were allowed only minimalist meetings with
defense lawyers, whose hands were tied by a rule that requires all
Chinese lawyers to obey the Communist Party or lose their license.
These meetings never enjoyed any privacy. The meetings were held in a
cell with bars between me and the visiting lawyer and were held under
surveillance. No documents were supposed to be exchanged.
Needless to say, our defense was thus rendered useless. On 8 August
2014, we were taken to a court for a show trial that lasted 1 day and
we were sentenced immediately--me to two and a half years and my wife
to 2 years. We decided not to appeal because we were falsely led to
believe that life would be easier in a prison, especially for my wife
who was ill with swollen kidneys, and because the time required for an
appeal process might exceed the length of our sentence.
For 1 month between the trial and my transfer to prison, I was in a
transit cell for men who had been sentenced and were either awaiting
transfer to a prison or were in the process of appeal. It was in this
cell that I met the American prisoner named David McMahon, whose
travesty I am separately presenting to this hearing, David having
authorized me to take his case public over 5 years ago. I was so
shocked by the sheer injustice of his case that I spent that month in
interview mode, getting to know him as well as possible and assessing
his case. We shared reading materials including books, magazines, and
judicial documents and became good friends. David McMahon was a primary
school teacher who worked at the French International School and had
been falsely accused of molesting a 6-year-old girl in school. He
showed me his indictment and judgment documents, family photos and love
letters and I concluded that he was a normal heterosexual man in a
normal loving heterosexual relationship with a female American school
teacher, who would never be a pedophile and who had been wrongly
accused. He was the victim of a witch hunt by a French mother whose
daughter had been molested the previous year by another American
teacher who was indeed a fugitive pedophile, Hector Oruela, and who was
extradited to America and is now serving a long jail term for crimes he
had committed in the U.S. Oruela was never tried in China and the
French family resented this. They seized upon a proxy fantasy that
their daughter had been molested by David.
Life in Qingpu Prison \2\ was certainly not easier than in the
detention center even though I was placed in a cell block designated
exclusively for around 150 foreign citizens. Again I was in a 17.5
square yard cell shared among 12 cellmates, a standard cell size in
Shanghai. The cell had two-tier bunk beds on each side with a very
narrow floor space in the middle. Lights were kept on 24/7, although
dimmed at night. Food was similar to the detention center, although
warmer, cleaner and with a bit more protein, eaten in a separate
``activity room,'' at tables, served by fellow prisoners. We received
one boiled egg per week every Sunday. There were restrictions on
receiving or sending our letters--all are censored by language officers
known as ``letter captains.'' And restrictions applied to receiving
reading material--subjective censorship decisions are made by officers
who confiscate anything that they deem to have a political nature.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Qingpu Prison is the very same prison where Kai Li and David
McMahon are held today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was placed in a ``training cell'' where a ``chief prisoner'' was
assigned to bully me, and a particular officer known to be sadistic was
placed in charge of my cell with the specific mission to bully me into
signing a confession. Other prisoners were ordered not to speak to me
because I was a British ``spy.''
Most of the prisoners were participating in mandatory manufacturing
labor and some were employed as corridor cleaners or food servers. I
boycotted the labor system and got away with it, perhaps because my
sentence was short and I had no interest in earning points for a
sentence reduction. Only through labor and through writing mandatory
thought reports and confessions of guilt can you earn merit points and
apply for sentence reductions. I had no intention of confessing to a
crime that I had never committed. Most prisoners with longer sentences
(including life terms) crumbled and many innocent people falsely
confessed to uncommitted crimes in order to obtain sentence reductions.
In connection with forced prison labor among foreign inmates, I
published a series of articles in the Sunday Times in December 2019
about Qingpu inmates packaging Christmas cards for the British
supermarket chain Tesco, and Quaker Oatmeal sachets for PepsicCo. (See
reading list at the end of this statement.)
During my time in Qingpu, I witnessed frequent rough handling and
beating of foreign prisoners and instances of brutal solitary
confinement for the most minor of offenses such as refusing to get out
of the bunk bed. Solitary included food deprivation, sleep deprivation,
and water boarding sessions that were performed by trusted Chinese
convicts, according to prisoners who suffered this treatment.
Overall, the conditions in Qingpu Prison added up to torture as
defined in the international treaty on torture and the international
convention on minimum standards of treatment for prisoners which China
has signed.
In Qingpu, again, medical attention for my prostate cancer was
deliberately withheld, this time on blatant illegal grounds: Whenever I
asked for treatment, I was told, ``You have not confessed.'' It was
only in the 21st month of my captivity in April 2015 that I finally
obtained an MRI scan confirming my tumor. I managed to get this
information out to my son and to my consular representative. I made
clear I would use this news to overcast an impending visit later in
2015 to the UK by President Xi Jinping. Soon afterwards, I felt that
certain wheels were moving to try to get rid of me.
The most senior officer of the foreign cell block, and the governor
of the prison, tried to negotiate with me to formulate some kind of
statement--they wanted an acknowledgement of guilt but they were not
going to get it and never did. In the end they settled for a fudged
statement full of conditional clauses, ifs and buts. And even this I
signed only under duress. In June 2015 they finally released me with my
wife, after fabricating paperwork that claimed we had acknowledged our
crimes, behaved well in prison and reformed. All of this was a sheer
box-ticking fabrication, a show. A big lie.
We arrived in the UK on 17 June 2015. I underwent 5 years of
prostate cancer treatments which failed. The 2 years in captivity
without medical treatment for it had allowed it to advance to a
dangerous point. In the end, in 2020, I had to undergo the removal of
my prostate in its entirety to save my life. Although life-saving, this
has brought life-changing consequences and daily management issues. I
also underwent 5 years in and out of PTSD counseling, which has been
unsuccessful. I still suffer from painful flashbacks and panic attacks.
Although I have obtained some triumphs and exonerations outside China,
delving into the fine details of my ordeal remains a huge mental and
emotional struggle and I remain fragile as a result of my mistreatment,
sometimes unable to marshal my thoughts as clearly as I could before
this ordeal. A man leaves a prison, but a prison never leaves a man.
Prison Population
There are no reliable official statistics for the number of
prisoners in the People's Republic of China because China intentionally
obfuscates the situation. Based on piecemeal data available from
various sources, and on my own experience inside the system, on
anecdotal information from prisoners and on my research, I estimate the
prison population to be approaching ten million in various forms of
regular and irregular incarceration.
Based on my most recent research, I estimate the number of
foreigner prisoners in China to be approaching 10,000, having doubled
under the rule of Xi Jinping. Two very large segments are Africans and
China-born foreign citizens. Very few foreign governments have
disclosed how many of their citizens are held in China. Australia has
disclosed that 55 Australians are being held. Canada has admitted to
there being 92 Canadian prisoners in China. Japan has admitted to 17
Japanese.
America and the UK and many other countries have withheld such
data, citing ``privacy concerns'' as an excuse. But these total numbers
are not a matter of privacy at all. The public needs to know. My own
research estimates that there are close to 300 Americans, including
many China-born American citizens, held in various forms of
incarceration and detention in China or subject to exit bans.
The American prisoner segment in Chinese prisons has ballooned
since the 2000s as a result of a cooperation agreement on transnational
crime between China and the United States during the Obama-Biden
administration in areas such as drugs, pedophiles, trafficking and
money laundering. The PRC seems to have taken this as a green light to
arrest Americans. Then, in 2012/2013 when Xi Jinping took power in
China, Chinese newspapers suddenly started talking about cleaning up
all the ``foreign trash'' on China's streets and the arrest of
Americans gathered pace. It was in this period that egregious false
imprisonment drug cases such as those of Mark Swidan, Nelson Wells,
Jr., and Dawn Michelle Hunt occurred.
By all accounts and standards, China's prison system is indeed a
veritable ``gulag.'' Its inmates are victims of injustice, as I will
demonstrate here, and they are forced to work against their will to the
profit of the prison system and its officers.
Judicial and Prison System
Publicly available research and firsthand testimony make it clear
that China's legal system, judicial system and prison system act as an
organic whole to exercise repression, resulting in systemic abuse on a
massive scale, including wrongful imprisonment.
Research and firsthand experience make it clear that police,
prosecutors, and judges all hail from the same stable--the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP). And lawyers are compelled to obey the Communist
Party, making them part of the same unfair and opaque system. Trial
judgments are not determined by the judge on a case but are handed to
the judge by a Communist Party committee who sits above him, known at
the local level as the Political and Legal Affairs Committee and at the
national level as the Political and Legal Affairs Commission. At every
stage, whenever an official signs off on a detention order, a charge,
an indictment, a judgment, they are taking a political step and
immediately they have a political stake in this decision not being
found to be mistaken and then reversed. In this sense, every convicted
prisoner is a political prisoner, a prisoner of the political system.
As a victim and as a fly on the wall inside the system for 2 years
and having conducted many investigations for the private sector over a
15-year period when I was in the due diligence business in China before
my arrest, I observed that Chinese police do not conduct investigations
with any real detective work or forensic procedures. They rely upon
extracting confessions from detainees who are interrogated day by day
under duress locked inside cages (as was I) with no lawyer present, and
by extracting so-called witness statements (which are also often
coerced) to frame the case the way they want it to be. Contradictory
evidence is not allowed. People like American citizens Nelson Wells,
Jr., Dawn Michelle Hunt, David McMahon, Kai Li, David Lin, Mark Swidan,
to mention but a few, never stood a chance. (Nor did I and my wife.)
The system during Xi Jinping's reign has also often used televised
forced and false confessions broadcast on the main party-owned outlets
CCTV and CGTN in violation of the country's own laws and constitutional
provisions on trials, to prejudice a trial and poison Chinese public
opinion. I and my American wife were the first foreign victims of this
illegal practice.\3\ Our false TV ``confessions'' were broadcast to the
world without our consent or awareness at the time.
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\3\ See photos at the top of this document. One photo shows me in a
steel cage for the fake TV confession.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
After my release, I waged a campaign and legal action in the UK
alongside an NGO against CGTN and CCTV. It resulted in the UK TV
regulator Ofcom fining CGTN and stripping its UK broadcast license over
the illegal forced confession broadcasts of me and my wife and over the
fact that CGTN was owned by a political party, which is illegal in the
UK. I also assisted other victims to file similar complaints. I would
encourage other countries such as America to follow the UK lead on such
action. (This would not be an assault on freedom of expression, it
would be an action to protect the human rights of Americans abroad.)
There is no fair and transparent judicial process. Defense lawyers
are prevented from conducting genuine and vigorous defense. No defense
witnesses are allowed to be called to court. (Multiple defense
witnesses wanted to testify in support of David McMahon but were not
allowed.) Defense evidence is not permitted to be presented. Defense
lawyers who try too hard are debarred or jailed. Prosecution witnesses
are not required to appear in person--only written testimonials are
presented and cannot be challenged. There is no cross-examination of
prosecution witnesses by the defense.
As many as 99.9 percent of prosecutions in China result in
convictions and sentences. And 99.9 percent of appeals are rejected. As
beneficiaries of an open and fair judicial system in, say, America and
the UK, we know that such glorious figures are simply not credible.
China's pre-trial detention centers do not function like pre-trial
custody regimes but as penal regimes from day one, even when a detainee
has not been indicted, tried and convicted of any crime. The harsh
conditions which I described in my long FT Weekend Magazine article
published in February 2018 (https://www.ft.com/
content/db8b9e36-1119-11e8-940e-08320fc2a277) have grown worse since my
own stay in the Chinese prisons. I have interviewed released foreign
prisoners, who have reported unspeakable woes in pre-trial detention.
The detention centers are designed to crush the human spirit with the
result that many prisoners falsely confess to a crime they never
committed. Grown men and women cry inside those walls every day.
In the post-trial prisons, the Xi dictatorship has steadily
toughened and harshened prison regimens for foreign prisoners, reducing
food rations, exercise, family phone calls, letter writing, the
receiving of comfort packages, reading materials and so forth, and
sentence reductions have become impossible to obtain without signing
false confessions and submitting to coerced manufacturing labor.
Keep in mind one very important thing: Among the millions of
prisoners in the system, not a single prisoner has ever had a fair and
transparent trial. Not a single one. Sentences tend to be reckless,
inconsistent, and disproportionate to any offense. The entire system is
arbitrary and subject to the whims of Communist Party officials and
their friends. The system works to favor anyone with ``guanxi''
(connections) to use the law to bash people they dislike. The tone of
this behavior has been set from the top down. This results in
substantial harm to masses of innocent people.
As a result we cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, treat
China as being a country under the rule of law and we should not accept
any charges or trial judgments against our citizens at face value. They
must all be challenged.
Forced Prison Labor System
China's entire prison system holding many millions of prisoners is
in fact at the same time a gigantic, self-perpetuating commercial
enterprise which brings profits to the state, and income to prison
officers, in other words a ``gulag.'' This funds prison operations
across the country. Foreign prisoners are not exempt from such labor.
Every Chinese prison imposes forced production labor on its
prisoners for the commercial gain of the prison system. I have observed
that prison officers are employed as labor supervisors, marketing and
sales managers, and they get bonuses and perks for winning orders and
for high production output. Designated officers go out to win orders
and contracts from commercial manufacturers. Every prison has
incorporated one or more companies to hold this business.
Those of us who have been guests of Xi's jails have witnessed this
system in practice. Those who refuse to participate in this labor get
no merit points for sentence reductions. All other privileges such as
spending on the prison shopping system, calls to family, family visits,
reading and letter writing, etc., can be withheld if you refuse this
work. Even food rations can be reduced. Recalcitrant prisoners get sent
to solitary. (I personally was threatened with solitary when I refused
to sign a confession.)
Prison campuses contain entire factories making a range of goods,
from sports shoes, apparel and daily hardware items, to electronics
such as keyboards and appliances. Chinese prisoners work up to 12 hours
a day 6 days per week. The seventh day is spent on writing thought
reports and on ideological study and on hand-
washing clothes.
Accidents are frequent in the factories. I met many Chinese
prisoners (and some other Asians) in the Shanghai Nanhui Prison
hospital with broken bones caused by factory accidents.
Foreign prisoners, including Americans, in most prisons, do not
usually perform heavy factory labor (except Pakistani prisoners who are
all held in Xinjiang) but perform manual tasks that require no
machinery. Most perform this labor in a work room in their own cell
block. In Qingpu Prison, where I was held, they worked five and a half
days a week, occasionally more. However, in some other prisons, African
prisoners have complained that they are working 12-hour days every
day--the same hours as Chinese prisoners--and consider themselves as
``slave labor.''
The typical work of foreign prisoners, including Americans,
includes making gift bags for retail chains (including China's biggest
duty-free shopping chain), making packaging materials, packaging items
such as Christmas cards, plastic tags for retail display racks,
keyboards, and breakfast oatmeal sachets, as witnessed among the
foreigners in Qingpu Prison.
I wrote extensively in the Sunday Times in December 2019 about the
packaging of Tesco Christmas cards and Quaker Oats as revealed by
foreign prisoners at Qingpu Prison in a message smuggled out inside a
Tesco Christmas card box and found by a little girl in London at
Christmas in 2019. [See page 54 for links to the articles.]
While a prisoner in Qingpu Prison, I personally witnessed items
being made or packaged for labels bearing the names 3M, H&M, C&A. Other
prisoners that I have interviewed after their release have listed
additional brands owned by companies in a number of countries appearing
on items being made or packaged in Qingpu Prison. These names have
included PepsiCo, Tesco, Zara, and Disney. These practices are repeated
in all Chinese prisons.
With this system, Chinese prisons make huge profits for the
authorities. There is no incentive to release prisoners early. There is
every incentive to keep prisoners in prison for as long as possible to
squeeze more labor out of them. And there is an incentive to grow the
prison population.
Thus millions of prisoners are engaged in this enterprise against
their will and without fair reward. For the Uighurs in Xinjiang labor
camps things are even worse.
Most of the almost ten million prisoners in China are performing
forced labor for the commercial gain of the prison system and hence for
the CCP dictatorship.
I advised on and participated in a documentary film premiered last
year which investigated forced prison labor in China, SOS from a
Chinese Prisoner, which can be viewed here. It contains some remarkable
details. https://vimeo.com/manage/
videos/894499408/952924accf.
Due Diligence
Before I was wrongfully imprisoned for 2 years in 2013, I had spent
almost 20 years as a Reuters journalist, and then 15 years as a private
sector due diligence and anti-fraud investigator running my own well-
regarded consultancy, named ChinaWhys with offices in Shanghai, Beijing
and Hong Kong.
I have extensive experience in performing due diligence in China
for multinational companies, including many large manufacturing
companies with deep and complex supply chains, and many American law
firms. For example I have conducted investigations for Dow Chemical,
Dell, Apple, PepsiCo, Terex, Baker Mackenzie, Jones Day, H&M, BMW,
Daimler, Unilever, and Rolls-Royce Engines, to mention only a few.
In general, many multinationals sub-contract work to Chinese
factories, which in turn may further sub-contract parts of their own
job to other small factories and so on. This creates a complex and
murky supply chain. So very often a multinational has no knowledge of
what is going on at the bottom, such as the use of a prison enterprise
or child labor. To illustrate this very simply, a fashion company may
commission a Chinese factory to make the trimmings for a pair of
trousers. But that Chinese factory contracts another factory to do the
zippers, and another one to do the buttons, and another to do
packaging, etc. Tesco had no idea that its Christmas cards were being
packaged by a prison. Much of the work done by foreign prisoners is
indeed such packaging and simple manual assembly.
The only way that companies become aware of this prison labor is
when a prisoner manages to smuggle out a whistle-blowing message and it
gets into the media. This happened with the Tesco Christmas cards in
December 2019. Since then I have seen several similar messages emerge
from various other Chinese prisons, related to completely different
products including pregnancy test kits made at a prison in Tianjin and
PPE products such as COVID masks made in a prison in Guangdong, all
sold in Europe.
It was always difficult for due diligence investigators to drill to
the bottom of the chain but Xi Jinping has recently erected barriers to
all information gathering by foreign companies and their agents, making
meaningful on-the-ground due diligence impossible today. First it
introduced privacy restrictions that limited due diligence activity.
And the latest example is the new anti-espionage law introduced last
year. Now, many activities that previously might have been treated
merely as privacy matters have been moved under the spying law and
could result in life sentences.
In these circumstances, multinationals cannot satisfactorily check
whether a Chinese company is using prison labor or other illegal
unsocial labor. The only way to avoid this risk today is not to do
business in China at all. Anybody who says you can avoid it is either
lying or fantasizing.
Life and Death Matters
The Chinese prison system weaponizes prisoners' health and medical
care as an instrument to extort written confessions to crime, refusing
to provide needed medical attention to prisoners who refuse to admit
guilt. This is what happened to me and many others. They refused to
treat my suspected prostate cancer and by the time of my release after
2 years I had developed advanced prostate cancer and then had to battle
it for 5 years after my return to the UK. Finally my treatment failed,
my cancer relapsed and my prostate had to be removed. I am lucky to
still be alive.
Imagine what this means for anybody held in such conditions with a
long sentence to serve, such as Americans Nelson Wells, Jr., Mark
Swidan, Dawn Michelle Hunt, David Lin and many others.
This practice is the norm in Chinese prisons. Medical treatment is
also withheld simply to avoid spending money on it. I learned of
several Chinese deaths inside my prison from untreated cancers. Since
my release I have learned that a number of foreign prisoners have died
soon after their own release, and at least two foreign prisoners in my
cell block have died from cancer inside the prison in the last few
years.
USG Should Treat All American Prisoners in China Equally
I have reviewed many cases of foreigners imprisoned in China
including Americans. I mentor the families and/or prisoners in around
25 cases on a pro bono basis, to varying degrees as needed. I and other
volunteers have analyzed the situations of prisoners including
available judicial documents, for prisoners such as Nelson Wells, Jr.,
David McMahon, Dawn Michelle Hunt, Mark Swidan, and Kai Li. I have
followed other cases closely without being directly engaged to assist.
In all cases I have concluded that material and forensic evidence
was absent in their prosecution, that these convictions are false, and
that these cases would be thrown out of court in a country under the
rule of law. I have concluded that not a single one of these prisoners
received a fair and transparent trial and a proper defense. I have
concluded through my wider research and experience that beyond these
few cases, not a single prisoner in China as a whole has received a
fair and transparent trial. The key values of justice that we espouse
in democratic countries under the rule of law, and enshrined in the
American Constitution, are absent.
America has a law known as the Levinson Act which sets criteria for
defining who is arbitrarily detained and a hostage. Those thus defined
are supposed to go onto the list of cases handed to the office of the
Special Envoy on Hostage Affairs (SPEHA). Only three from China have
made it onto the list. However, all American prisoners meet the
criteria by dint of not having received a fair and transparent trial in
front of an independent court. This needs to change. All Americans held
in China are arbitrarily detained persons by this classification alone,
not to mention the other criteria listed in the Levinson Act.
Nelson Wells, Jr.--the judicial documents show a lack of material,
forensic evidence and a lack of proper defense. His self-defense
arguments were ignored and he was never allowed to tell his story in
full in court. Mr. Wells is over 50 and critically ill after over 10
years of a life term in prison. He would receive medical parole if he
were not a foreigner. He qualifies for a prisoner transfer to America
under Chinese law. The USG has not explored this opportunity with the
Chinese side.
David McMahon--the judicial documents show a lack of material,
forensic evidence and a lack of proper defense. The only witness was a
6-year-old girl who was clearly primed and manipulated by her mother
and the prosecution to utter sheer fabrications and fantasies. He has
served 11 years from an uncommuted 12-year sentence. He has never
admitted any guilt--because he is innocent. When he returns to America
in May 2025 he plans to sue parties who have harmed him.
Dawn Michelle Hunt--the judicial documents show a lack of material,
forensic evidence and a lack of proper defense. She initially received
a death sentence, now commuted to life. She is over 50 and critically
ill in prison and qualifies for a prisoner transfer to America under
Chinese law. The USG has not explored this opportunity with the Chinese
side. In addition, she would receive medical parole if she were not a
foreigner. Throughout her captivity Chinese authorities have obstructed
her communication with the outside world and prevented her from telling
her story until the family managed to get it into the New York Times on
11 Sept 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/world/asia/china-us-
woman-imprisoned.html.
Mark Swidan--the judicial documents show a lack of material,
forensic evidence tying Mark Swidan directly to the crimes ascribed to
him and a lack of proper defense. They show he was an innocent
bystander who had somehow fallen socially into bad company without
knowing the people. His fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong
time with bad people, while his only reason for being in China was to
explore the flooring products sector. For this he was sentenced to
death now commuted to life. His story has been well told very loudly by
his brave and vociferous mother Katherine, who is elderly and ailing
and fears that she will never see her son again. Mark is critically
ill, as witnessed by his own ambassador (Nicholas Burns) and would
receive medical parole if he were not a foreigner. He should qualify
for a prisoner transfer to America under Chinese law. The USG has not
explored this opportunity with the Chinese side.
Kai Li--I have had no sight of his judicial documents proving the
charge of espionage against him. I understand that these have been
sealed by the Chinese authorities on grounds that it is an espionage
case. This is a very convenient way for an enemy with powerful
connections in the Shanghai establishment to cover up a deliberate act
of false imprisonment perpetrated by a business rival. (My own judicial
records are now also sealed.) Sources have pointed to a private
business dispute being illegally criminalized against Mr. Li. I have
seen other instances of this in Shanghai involving citizens of foreign
countries. Other prisoners released from Qingpu say Mr. Li has ailments
common to his age (62) but that he is coping reasonably well, working
in the mini library of the foreigners cell block, with 2 years of a 10-
year sentence still to serve.
Chinese Law on Prisoner Transfers
A Chinese law promulgated in 2018 commonly known as the PRC Law on
International Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters contains a
Chapter 8 that sets out a pathway and mechanism for a foreign prisoner
to be transferred to a facility in their home country. Separately, a
bilateral agreement known as a Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) exists
between China and many countries but not with the United States. The
2018 PRC law puts the onus on the United States to open a discussion
with China's Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs on any
individual case. It does not require the pre-existence of a bilateral
PTA.
To the best of my knowledge the USG has never explored this
mechanism with China on any individual case. I have even been told it
is impossible because ``we don't have a prisoner transfer treaty with
China.'' But that is not the way the Chinese law reads. And it is not
the way relevant NGO leaders and American lawyers in the U.S. and China
see it.
I also noticed on my last reading of the U.S. State Department's
guidance notes to its officers on the topic of American prisoners
abroad that it does not even seem to be aware of this Chinese law. This
has been a wasted opportunity to assist unjustly held American
prisoners in China, none of whom have had a fair and transparent trial.
Final Comments and Recommendations
In their aggregate, the harsh conditions in China's pre-
trial detention facilities and prisons are tantamount to torture per
international treaties and conventions.
China's judicial and prison system violates international
norms and treaties such as the U.N. conventions on torture and on
minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners.
The Chinese prison system is a political system of
oppression and slavery, not a justice system.
The Chinese system is not the rule of law and should not
be viewed by America as though it is. In America we all know what the
rule of law is.
Forced labor products from China's prison system are
entering our economies, including America's. We must legislate stronger
laws to prevent this and we must enforce the legislation.
Prisoners held in China for alleged common crimes
(including Americans) are just as much victims of human rights abuse as
China's own political and religious prisoners. The scale of this abuse
is immense. In a system where every prosecution is political, all
American prisoners are de facto political prisoners. America needs to
recognize this and to act and legislate accordingly.
Not a single prosecution case in China would survive the
scrutiny of a court in America, the UK, or any other country under the
rule of law. This postulation is very simple to put to the test in a
simulated courtroom or even on a college campus.
Countries which uphold the genuine rule of law, such as
America, should abandon their practice of non-intervention in Chinese
judicial cases involving U.S. citizens.
In every case of a U.S. citizen being detained in China,
the U.S. Government should challenge the processes and practices and
the lack of transparency. America should intervene robustly both
legally and politically in the cases of its citizens in China. This
requirement should be contained in legislation.
America owes this duty of care to its passport holders.
This must not be only the privilege of one or two selected prisoners on
the SPEHA hostage list. It must be the government's response to all
such cases, regardless of skin color, class background, or the nature
of the alleged crime.
Congress should bring pressure on the USG to fully test
the 2018 Chinese law on foreign prisoner transfers outside and beyond
any bilateral treaty.
America must impose mandatory due diligence requirements
on all its firms to make them drill down their supply chains to ensure
that there is no prison labor or other unsocial labor or illegal
practices in the chain. Where China erects barriers to adequate due
diligence, American firms must be legally required to abandon said
business projects.
Legislators and government should internationalize the
issue of prison abuse and arbitrary and wrongful detention in China as
a systemic concern. It is no less a human rights issue than political
and religious persecution, and the scale is enormous.
America should actively consider negotiated swaps for
prisoners held for alleged ``common crimes,'' or even a mass swap,
exchanging Chinese prisoners held in American jails for American
prisoners held in China. Past experience (in China and Russia and
elsewhere) shows this is a possible avenue.
[Recommended media docs for reference--internet links appear on the
next page.]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
______
Prepared Statement of Katherine Swidan
Mr. Chairperson, distinguished members of the Commission, thank you
for allowing me to share some thoughts with you today. My name is
Katherine Swidan from Luling, Texas, and I am the mother of Mark
Swidan, an American citizen who has been unjustly detained in China for
12 long years.
Mark is not just a statistic; he is a son, a brother, and a friend
whose absence has left a gaping hole in our hearts and family. We are
grateful for the congressional resolutions passed by the House and
Senate last year. I thought he would be home by now, but 12 years into
this, I am concerned that I will never see him again.
I wish I could be with you today, but my health is failing, and I
need to remain strong and heal for the day Mark finally comes home.
Over a decade has passed since Mark was taken from us, and every day
without him is a day too long. Despite overwhelming evidence of his
innocence and the arbitrary nature of his detention, Mark continues to
languish in a foreign prison, deprived of his freedom, his health
deteriorating, and his hope fading. I do not want my son to become
another Otto Warmbier or James Foley.
I understand that diplomacy is complex and that negotiations with
foreign governments can be delicate. However, the Chinese government
has expressed a willingness to resolve my son's case, presenting
proposals that, regrettably, have been met with reluctance or outright
rejection by the Biden-Harris administration. Time is not a luxury that
Mark or our family can afford. Every moment lost is a moment Mark is
denied justice, a moment our family cannot regain.
Despite all the talk about human rights abroad and the U.S.
taxpayer funding annual reports on human rights abuses around the
world, there are no such reports about Americans like Mark unjustly
detained overseas. We rightly highlight the suffering of the people of
Tibet, the Uyghurs, and repressed Christians in China, but what about
the rights of Americans who are wrongfully imprisoned? Who speaks for
them?
Who ensures that the human rights of our citizens are not
overlooked or forgotten while we champion those of others? The U.S.
Government must remember that its first duty is to its own people, to
defend their rights and bring them home. Do you realize that every time
we issue reports condemning human rights in China, that is used against
Americans and others who help or love our country? I support defending
human rights, but we must focus on our people first. The Chinese may
get upset about your reports, but they ignore these reports, but not
when they talk about abuse of our people, such as Mark. Why is that?
While I am distraught with China for what they have done, I am even
more upset with my own government. How many more Presidents must take
office before action is taken? President Obama, President Trump,
President Biden--none has brought Mark home. Why is that? Why do the
well connected seem to have their cases resolved more quickly while
families like mine are forgotten?
Mark is innocent. Even the United Nations Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD) has issued a report declaring his
detention arbitrary and in violation of international law. The UN WGAD
found no evidence to justify the charges against him and called for his
immediate release.
Despite this, Mark remains imprisoned, his rights trampled upon
daily, subjected to what this Commission knows is ``white torture'' and
his innocence disregarded. How long must we wait while the world
acknowledges what we already know: that Mark should be free and back
home with his family? His case is a clear injustice, yet it continues
to be ignored by those with the power to act. We need our leaders with
moral and political courage to do right and use our power to bring Mark
home.
I am here today not only as a grieving mother but as a voice for
every American family with loved ones wrongfully detained abroad. I
plead for your help. I urge the Biden-Harris administration to
reconsider its stance and to engage earnestly with the Chinese
government's proposals. Our loved ones are not bargaining chips or
political pawns; they are human beings whose rights and freedoms must
be upheld and protected.
As leaders of this great nation, I implore you not to let
diplomatic complexities stand in the way of human decency and justice.
I am pleading for my son's life, his freedom, and the chance to bring
him home. Let us show the world that the United States of America does
not abandon its citizens and that we will fight for their rights and
their return, no matter the challenges.
A few months ago, Bishop Strickland from Texas visited me. We
talked and prayed for Mark, a devout Catholic who, even in captivity,
has stood up for fellow prisoners when they were abused by Chinese
guards. Mark's Bible has been confiscated and his rosary destroyed, but
as I shared with Bishop Strickland, he has not lost his faith in God,
family, or country.
I also want to thank Mel Gibson, who did a video for Mark and a
Mass, and many Members of Congress from Texas, such as Representative
Cloud and Senator Ted Cruz, for not forgetting Mark and his plight. Of
course I thank the Commission, Chairman Chris Smith, and Senator Jeff
Merkley and the staff for helping raise awareness about Mark's plight
and that of other Americans.
In closing, I ask for your immediate action and commitment to
engage in meaningful dialogue and negotiations for Mark's release. Our
family is counting on you, as is Mark. Please help bring my son home.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Chris Smith
We open today's hearing knowing that Pastor David Lin is back in
the United States after nearly two decades unjustly detained. Pastor
Lin's crime was that he worked to strengthen the Protestant Chinese
``house church'' movement. For this, he received a life sentence.
We are overjoyed for the Lin family. This Commission has pressed
the past two administrations to prioritize David Lin's case. We
acknowledge the efforts of the Biden Administration to gain Pastor
Lin's release and are hopeful that his release creates space for more
releases, like of the family members of our witnesses today.
Despite the release of David Lin, there are more Americans detained
in the People's Republic of China (PRC) than anywhere else in the
world. Wrongfully detained U.S. nationals are serving long prison
sentences--an average of 8 years. The families of Mark Swidan, Kai Li,
Nelson Wells, Jr., and Dawn Michelle Hunt know these hard facts all too
well. They have all languished far too long in Chinese prisons.
The Foley Foundation identifies 11 wrongfully detained Americans in
China, including those subject to ``exit bans.'' John Kamm, the
preeminent expert on political prisoners in China, estimates that there
are 200 or more American citizens ``coercively detained,'' with 30
Americans being held in China under exit bans--where U.S. citizens are
stopped from leaving China to settle economic disputes or to coerce
their relatives to return to China to face alleged crimes.
This is unacceptable. If the Chinese government wants to improve
relations with the United States, they should release Americans who are
wrongfully imprisoned without condition and unilaterally end the use of
exit bans, a form of de facto hostage-taking that violates article 12
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty
that the People's Republic of China has signed--though not yet
ratified.
But I'll go further than that. The release of American citizens
should be the first thing President Biden says 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 has 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. It's that simple.
All Americans detained in China deserve robust diplomatic
assistance to gain their transfer out of prison or at the very least,
to have more frequent U.S. consular officials visit, more frequent and
longer visits with their families, and better access to legal
representation and health care. Given the legal system in China, and
the poor prison conditions--more Americans should be considered to be
unjustly detained by the State Department.
How many Americans currently in Chinese prisons received a
transparent trial, with a genuine legal defense, in an impartial
Chinese court? In China's rule-by-law system, where the Party can
dictate sentences of guilt or innocence--none.
How many detained Americans face serious health challenges because
of the poor conditions in PRC prisons--
where Chinese and foreigners alike are forced to work
long hours?
where they are often tortured or mistreated by guards and
other prisoners?
where they suffer from insufficient medical care and
nutrition?
Your testimony about what you and your families endured while
jailed should be submitted as evidence of torture to the Committee
Against Torture for the upcoming review of China. I will instruct our
staff to work with you to submit your testimonies to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights and the U.S. Mission in Geneva.
But that is just a start. Given the number of Americans detained
and the Chinese Communist Party's willingness to engage in hostage
diplomacy, there should be more creative diplomatic approaches to
counter the threat. To that end, I will introduce a bill with Rep. Tom
Suozzi that will, among other measures,
Direct the State Department to create a strategy for
gaining the release of your family members;
Gain insight into the diplomatic tools the State
Department is using for your family members, including the use of
designations and sanctions authorized in Executive Order 14078
``Bolstering Efforts to Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United
States Nationals Home.''
Seek more transparent information from the State
Department about the cases of your loved ones, including gaining access
to the resources Congress allocated to assist families with the
financial burden of advocacy.
I know this is a tough and emotional day for our witnesses. No
amount of words or sympathy from us can replace your missing loved
ones. I hope you know that our purpose here today is to listen to your
stories and to learn about your loved ones and their ordeal.
You must all know that we are here today because we are committed
to bringing your loved ones home. As a Commission, we will continue to
press the U.S. Government to do more for your loved ones. For my part,
I promise to remain a tenacious advocate for their release. They have
suffered too long. They will not be forgotten.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Jeff Merkley
Thank you so much, Chairman Smith, for convening this hearing, and
much appreciation to each of you for coming to share your stories.
For more than two decades, Members of Congress and executive branch
officials on this Commission have sought to shine a light on the
prisoners of conscience who have been unjustly jailed by Chinese
authorities for seeking to exercise their basic human rights.
Our Commission maintains a Political Prisoner Database that
currently has 2,764 nationals of the People's Republic of China known
or believed to be detained, and as the Chairman pointed out, the Foley
Foundation has a list of about a dozen American individuals wrongfully
detained in China. But human rights organizations' estimates go up to
about 200. We don't know the exact number. What we know is this: Even
one American detained as a political prisoner in China is one too many.
If an American breaks the law in China, that individual can be
prosecuted just as a Chinese national would be here in the United
States. But here is the problem. Many laws of the PRC are not
consistent with human rights standards. Due process is routinely
denied. And the rule of law is undermined by political considerations.
Our U.S. Government has been developing some tools to counter this.
In 2015, President Obama issued directives to implement an
interagency response to overseas hostage-taking, including creation of
a Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State
Department. In 2020, President Trump signed into law the Robert
Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act. In
2022, President Biden issued an Executive Order to authorize sanctions
against foreign government officials and others who are complicit in
hostage-taking.
With these tools and under President Biden's leadership we have
seen a 42 percent decrease in the number of detained Americans overseas
since a peak in 2002, according to the Foley Foundation. Among these
was the recent high-profile return from Russia of Paul Whelan, Evan
Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and others.
But not every American in detention overseas gets a spotlight.
Today, we are putting a spotlight on three individuals: We will hear
from the family members of three Americans--Kai Li, Nelson Wells, Jr.,
and Dawn Hunt--who have been unjustly detained in China for eight or
more years.
We want to hear their story from their family members today.
Because in hearing your story we're then able to tell the story. We can
tell the story to the Administration and to the media. Most important,
we can carry that message to, and work toward their release with, the
government of the People's Republic of China.
Our Americans in detention suffer from illness and mental anguish.
We want to make sure they get proper care and counsel. But most of all,
we want them united with their families.
We are joyful that David Lin has been released and is now reunited
with his family. What a celebration that is. But we want a celebration
for each of your families. 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
shed light on the details of the circumstances and help us ponder what
more we can do, as Chairman Smith has suggested.
We look forward to hearing from you.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. James P. McGovern
My thanks to Chairman Smith and Co-Chairman Merkley for convening
today's hearing on the People's Republic of China's detention of
American nationals. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend in person, and
so I submit my remarks for the record.
According to the Foley Foundation, there are 11 U.S. nationals
wrongfully detained in China. Others believe there could be as many as
200. Wrongful detention is a human rights violation. Even one wrongful
detention is too many.
The Biden Administration has demonstrated a clear commitment to
obtaining the release of wrongfully detained Americans around the
world, with some notable successes. In March 2023, the Administration
brought Paul Rusesabagina home from Rwanda. In April 2023, Russia
released Brittney Griner. In September 2023, five Americans jailed for
years by Iran were finally freed. In December 2023, 10 Americans held
by Venezuela came home.
And just a few weeks ago, the Administration achieved the release
of 16 individuals, including 3 U.S. citizens and 1 green-card holder,
who were unjustly detained in Russia. It was wonderful to welcome home
Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and Paul
Whelan, and to see them reunited with their families. This is what we
want for every wrongfully detained American.
The Administration is making good use of available tools, including
those authorized in the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-
Taking Accountability Act, and President Biden's 2022 Executive Order
intended to bolster efforts to bring wrongfully detained nationals
home. Roger Carstens, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs,
has led the delicate diplomacy, often with staunch adversaries of the
United States, that has made releases possible. But there are still
many U.S. nationals wrongfully detained around the world, held on
dubious charges, and denied due process--like the cases the Commission
will hear about today. My heart goes out to the families of Kai Li,
Nelson Wells, Jr., and Dawn Hunt, all unjustly detained in China for
eight or more years.
Today is the opportunity to hear their stories, and their ideas for
what more the U.S. Government should be doing to free their loved ones.
I understand that U.S. officials have raised the cases with the Chinese
authorities. We also know that, so far, the Chinese government has
failed to respond.
I hope this hearing serves to identify additional approaches that
could help bring these Americans home. Thank you.
Submissions for the Record
Submission of Jason Ian Poblete,
President, Global Liberty Alliance
Chairman and Members of the Commission, I want to thank you again
for the opportunity to address this critical issue, not just as a
lawyer and advocate but as someone who has witnessed firsthand the
devastation that these unjust detentions bring to American families.
Today, my brief remarks are focused primarily on discussing the
case of Mr. Mark Swidan, a U.S. citizen who has been unjustly detained
in China for close to 12 years. Mark's case is an alarming example of a
broader and more disturbing pattern of American citizens being caught
in the web of China's deeply flawed and in-
humane legal system.
You heard from Mark's mother, Ms. Katherine Swidan, through a
prepared video statement recorded at her home in Luling, Texas. Her
health challenges, sadly compounded by the strain of her son's
prolonged detention, prevent her from being here in person. She carries
her physical burdens and the emotional weight of this injustice that
has continued for many years. For the Swidan family, every day Mark
remains in detention is another day of unimaginable anguish.
I became involved with Mark's case just two years ago, and frankly,
I was shocked--not only by the details of Mark's unjust detention--
recognized by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention--but by how
little had been done for him up until that point.
Even though Mark is an American citizen who is held under
conditions that violate basic international human rights standards, his
case has received little attention. There was minimal public awareness,
and the focus was scattered and in-
adequate within government circles.
What I quickly realized, though, was that Mark's case is not
isolated. It is just the tip of the iceberg. As I dug deeper into
Mark's situation, I was stunned to learn that many other Americans are
suffering similar fates in China--imprisoned under dubious
circumstances, subjected to an unfair legal process, and cut off from
the protection they should be entitled to as American citizens. This
problem extends far beyond what is typically covered in human rights
reports prepared by the State Department.
Mark and Katherine are grateful that Congress has passed two
resolutions on this matter, one in the House and another in the Senate,
and of course, this hearing. They appreciate the work done by many in
the executive branch and civil society to help in this case. Yet Mark's
case and others like it should never last a decade or more. It is
unconscionable that Americans are locked up in Communist China for this
long. That is a national failure, and we can and must do better.
For years, I have read countless human rights reports funded by
U.S. taxpayers and U.S. assistance to NGOs that do essential work on
human rights issues in China, Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, and
many other nations. The Global Liberty Alliance has also done that work
and continues to do so. However, these reports overwhelmingly focus on
the human rights abuse of foreign nationals in faraway lands, not the
plight of Americans and other U.S. nationals unjustly detained in these
nations.
While advocating for human rights in China is essential, our first
responsibility must be protecting our citizens. If we fail to
prioritize the safety and freedom of Americans and U.S. legal permanent
residents, it becomes much harder to secure their release and
undermines our credibility as a global advocate for human rights. We
cannot effectively tell others how to address their injustices when we
neglect to care for our people.
Chinese diplomats see this perceived lack of focus on our nationals
as a weakness, and they exploit it, knowing we are distracted by
broader issues. Protecting our people first strengthens our position to
hold others accountable for their actions and influence fundamental and
individual rights globally.
American citizens like Mr. Swidan should be at the forefront of our
human rights and foreign policy agenda. Too often, we see the rights of
U.S. citizens sidelined in discussions about broader geopolitical or
humanitarian issues. This must change. The U.S. Government, including
the State Department, needs to refocus its priorities to ensure that
Americans wrongfully detained abroad, especially by hostile regimes
like China, receive the highest level of attention and advocacy.
China's legal system is not comparable to our own. It lacks
transparency, due process, and the rule of law. These are basic
principles that the United States upholds, and we must hold China
accountable for its failure to do the same. When American citizens are
detained in China, they are subjected to a system that we, by our own
assessments, have deemed abusive and unjust.
Therefore, every American detained in China, regardless of the
alleged crimes, must be treated as unjustly detained under U.S. law. We
cannot afford to accept Chinese court rulings at face value, especially
when we know their legal process is fundamentally broken.
One of the most troubling aspects of this issue is the tendency to
equate the plight of Chinese nationals imprisoned in the U.S. with
Americans detained in China. Let me be clear--these are not the same.
The U.S. legal system, while not perfect, is governed by the rule of
law, fairness, and transparency. China's system is arbitrary,
politically motivated, and often used as a tool of state control. We
must stop treating these two situations as morally or legally
equivalent. Americans detained in China deserve better, and we must
advocate for them with that understanding firmly in mind.
Additionally, it is time for a more aggressive approach to holding
Chinese officials accountable for these unjust detentions. We must
impose real consequences on those responsible, including sanctions and
visa bans for Chinese diplomats and officials involved in these cases.
But sanctions and visa bans are tools, not a policy. We must redouble
efforts to make clear what it means to ``bring Americans and other U.S.
nationals home.'' It must be more than slogans, or a routine oversight
and reporting issue.
We must also reconsider the privileges regime officials and their
families enjoy in the United States. Far too often, we see the family
members of these same officials vacationing in the U.S., conducting
business here, or even accessing our healthcare system. This is
unacceptable.
Access to the United States should be considered a privilege, not a
right, and those who are complicit in the unjust detentions of
Americans should not be allowed to enjoy the benefits of our country
while denying fundamental rights to our citizens. Reciprocity is
earned, not freely given.
The U.S. Government must protect its people, both at home and
abroad. This means enforcing and perhaps improving current law, and not
throwing more money at the challenge. Some political and moral courage
can do wonders.
While we continue to champion human rights in China and elsewhere,
we must maintain sight of the fact that our citizens are suffering
under regimes that do not respect the rule of law. The time for half-
measures and cautious diplomacy is over. We must take decisive action
to bring Mark Swidan and other Americans home.
In conclusion, Mark's case exemplifies a much larger problem and,
perhaps, a crisis. I say probably since we do not have complete
information about the scope of the problem. Yet there is no doubt in my
mind that the U.S. Government must commit itself fully to protecting
its citizens abroad. This has yet to happen in Mark's case and many
other cases like it in China, Venezuela, Cuba, and other nations.
We need more transparency about how many Americans are currently
detained in China, and we must ensure that all of them are treated as
unjustly detained under U.S. law because there is no rule of law in
Communist China. This demands a shift in priorities at the State
Department and across the government, placing the safety and freedom of
American citizens above all else. Our ambassadors and diplomats are on
the front lines as America's strongest advocates in these cases. Are
they receiving the training and resources they need? What can we
improve to support their efforts better?
While the SPEHA office or process is a topic for another hearing,
the success or failure of these cases ultimately hinges on political
will and moral courage from the highest levels of leadership--the
President and Congress. Their commitment is what truly makes a
difference, as does listening to people who have worked on these cases
a long time, including experts in the private sector. Simply growing
the government or throwing more money at the problem is not the answer.
Solutions come from effective leadership, not expanding bureaucracy. If
the President prioritizes it, good things will happen sooner rather
than a decade or more later.
We also need real accountability for the Chinese government, which
means imposing sanctions, visa bans, and other measures on those
responsible for these injustices. Until we stand firm and demand
justice for Americans detained in China, we will continue to see our
people used as pawns in an increasingly dangerous geopolitical game.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. I look
forward to working with the Committee to bring about meaningful change.
______
Submission of Benedict Rogers,
Co-founder and Trustee, Hong Kong Watch
Chairman Smith and Co-chairman Merkley,
I am a writer and human rights activist specializing in Asia,
particularly China and Hong Kong as well as Burma/Myanmar and North
Korea. I am a co-founder and trustee of Hong Kong Watch, an advisor to
the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and the Stop Uyghur
Genocide Campaign, co-founder and Deputy Chair of the UK Conservative
Party Human Rights Commission and author of many articles and reports
on the human rights situation in China, and of a book, ``The China
Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party's
Tyranny,'' published in 2022.
I warmly welcome the hearing you are holding on unjustly detained
Americans in China and thank you for doing so. In June 2023, the UK
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission held a hearing which I
helped to organize in the British Parliament, chaired by Tim Loughton
MP, Chair of the Commission at the time, focused on foreign prisoners
detained in China and the abuse, forced labor and denial of human
rights which they face. The hearing drew on testimony from Mr. Peter
Humphrey, a British citizen detained in prison in the People's Republic
of China (PRC) from 2013-2015, and Mr. Marius Balo, a Romanian citizen
imprisoned in the PRC from 2014-2022.
Rather than repeat or quote from the report published by the
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission in July 2023, following the
Commission's hearing, I would prefer to attach the report in full--
available also on our website here:
https://conservativepartyhumanrightscommission.co.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2023/07/CPHRC-Foreign-Prisoners-in-China-briefingFINAL.pdf.
The report details the complete lack of justice in the PRC's legal,
judicial, and prison system, the complete absence of judicial
independence or fair trial, the lack of fair or proper police
investigations into alleged crimes, and the widespread use of prison
labor, including by foreign prisoners, in the production lines of major
international corporations. I hope that the Congressional-Executive
Commission on China (CECC) will study this report carefully as part of
the hearing and inquiry being held, and that the full report by the
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission may be entered into the
Congressional Record.
In conclusion, I respectively urge the U.S. Congress and the CECC
to call on the government of the United States of America to do more to
seek the release of prisoners incarcerated in China who have not
undergone fair and transparent trials, and especially to intervene more
robustly to protect the human rights of U.S. citizens and other foreign
nationals detained in the PRC. In particular, I highlight the cases of
three American citizens, David Lin, Kai Li and Mark Swidan serving long
sentences in China.
The PRC's use of arbitrary detention is widespread and systematic,
and much more needs to be done to call it out. I wholeheartedly support
calls for the use of Magnitsky sanctions against those involved in
arbitrarily detaining prisoners, including foreign nationals, and
against those within the PRC system involved in torture, mistreatment
or other cruel or degrading treatment of prisoners and in the use of
forced labor.
I thank you, Chairman Smith and Co-chairman Merkley, for your focus
on this urgent and critical topic.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Submission of Cedric Witek
Dear Mr. Chairman, dear members of this Commission,
I make this statement at the suggestion of Peter Humphrey, a friend
and former colleague also testifying to this Commission. I am a French
national and a corporate-crime investigator of 25 years' standing with
a long experience of Asia and especially China, where I lived and
worked for many years investigating all manner of wrongdoing including
fraud, corruption and human-rights abuses both on behalf of private
clients and pro bono. I am fluent in the Chinese language.
I write this in my capacity of having helped Peter advocate for
David McMahon, an American citizen imprisoned in China. Peter first
contacted me about this in the fall of 2016, when he first told me of
McMahon and his conviction in Shanghai three years previously for the
alleged sexual abuse of children at the French School of Shanghai.
At the time, Peter asked me as a personal favor to review materials
relating to McMahon's conviction in Shanghai and provide analysis and
input on any potential actions that might help raise awareness of what
Peter believed was McMahon's wrongful imprisonment. Repulsed by the
routine Chinese-regime practice of imprisoning the innocent, I agreed
to do this.
In doing so I came to believe--as Peter himself did--that McMahon
was innocent of the charges levied against him, which seemed to me
poorly supported by questionable allegations and evidence gathered in a
sloppy and partial manner. My belief in McMahon's innocence has only
been strengthened by his behavior ever since: despite spending over a
decade in the hell of the Chinese prison system, he has always refused
to make a confession even though it is the surest way to leniency and
even release.
But I also became convinced that McMahon was denied due process at
every stage, and perhaps even deliberately framed by parents who were
utterly convinced of his guilt, acting in collaboration with French
government authorities. The materials I reviewed suggested deliberate
collusion between the families accusing McMahon of sexual abuse in
making sure he was convicted, for example, to the extent of arranging a
so-called ``secret meeting'' to plot a legal offensive against McMahon
and even contacting the FBI.
What also struck me was the sheer amount of effort that seemed to
have been put in by the French consular authorities in Shanghai to help
convict David McMahon. Not only did the French Consul-General in
Shanghai get involved, but so did the Ambassador as well as the Agency
for French Schooling Abroad (``AEFE''), a French government organ under
supervision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I understood
from the materials given to me that French consular officials went as
far as to threaten staff at the French School of Shanghai, including
its principal, into withdrawing their support for McMahon and
withholding statements that might have exonerated him.
This seemed to me unusual as well as highly improper. The consular
authorities of a third country have of course no business actively
prejudging the merits of a criminal case on Chinese soil, much less
threatening witnesses or otherwise tampering with the investigation and
influencing the outcome of the case.
What I believe really happened based on the materials at my
disposal at the time is that the parents of the allegedly abused
children, already deeply traumatized by their children's prior abuse at
the hands of convicted sex offender Hector Orjuela at the same school
the previous year and acting under the mistaken belief that McMahon was
a friend of his, overreacted to their children's routine manifestations
of affection to McMahon, a common reaction in parents of victims of
sexual abuse. The parents then likely raised the matter with the school
in terms brooking no opposition, and probably even threatened to go
public.
The French School of Shanghai, like most French international
schools, was affiliated to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
received partial funding from the French government. The reputation of
French schools abroad is generally seen to be tied to that of the
French state itself. It is clear that a second child abuse scandal at
the school in less than a year would not have served French interests
as the Consulate understood them.
So I believe the French Consulate may have set out deliberately to
build a case against McMahon and then delivered an entirely prejudged
and prejudiced case to the Chinese government, which would have been
only too eager to take receipt of a pre-packaged foreign scapegoat and
be seen as a resolute enforcer of justice.
Needless to say, the Chinese regime's actual record in enforcing
justice is wholly laughable. The overriding objective of the
prosecution process in China is to vindicate its judiciary, which is
controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party and operates entirely
at the discretion of the executive. Nearly a hundred percent of the
cases end in conviction and criminal lawyers are largely there for
window-dressing, deliberately denied access to the materials necessary
to mount a proper defense. No conviction in China is sound.
I believe that McMahon's accusers, some animated by a sincere
belief in his guilt and others by a simple urge to head off a looming
scandal, took full advantage of this fact. If that is indeed what
happened, then I am deeply ashamed that the authorities of my country
colluded in this dishonorable outcome. France was birthed in the
struggle against despotism and then gave the world the first
declaration of human rights. True French values--my values--prize the
life of an innocent man above the reputation of an institution, let
alone some warped conception of national prestige that would involve
sandbagging the powerless in cahoots with a heinous dictatorship which
still today harvests the organs of political prisoners and sells them
to the highest bidder.
In conclusion, I am making this statement so that it might help a
man, and others like him, who was denied the most basic due process and
then left to rot in a prison manned by one of the world's worst
autocracies. Yet it is only fair to recognize that for many years now
and despite the always praiseworthy efforts of certain virtuous
individuals, the record of Western governments as a whole in standing
up for the rights of their citizens wrongfully imprisoned by
dictatorial regimes has been poor. Beset by what the retired Australian
general Mick Ryan recently called ``strategic timidity,'' a polite term
for cowardice, Western governments in the past generation have
preferred to avoid awkwardness in their relations with outright
tyrannies.
In rolling over for those despotic regimes in the past and taking
their spurious convictions of our citizens at face value by default, I
believe we in the democratic West have weakened ourselves and emulated
the dictatorships. The most essential role of the state is to protect
its citizens, and the most fundamental mark of a democracy is that it
honors the inherent dignity of the individual. Unlike the tyrants of
Russia and China who see their own people as nothing more than faceless
kindling to be heaped on the bonfire of their twisted ambitions,
democracies recognize that the individual is endowed with unique and
unquantifiable worth. We recognize that the rights of the individual,
even and indeed especially when naked against the lofty designs of the
mighty and the hulking machinery of the state, are paramount.
Yet as things stand, unless a Western victim of the Chinese regime
happens to be famous or connected, they stand little chance of their
government rallying forcefully behind them. They too become faceless
kindling. And it then befalls their distraught friends and relatives--
ordinary people with ordinary lives and means, some of them ill,
elderly or barely adults--to fight long, grim and lonely campaigns only
to face the cold, slippery marble of their own government, at times so
remote and Olympian that it can feel little different from the
heartless mandarinate of Communist China. Meanwhile the months and
years pass. And the victims and their loved ones can hardly be blamed
for emerging from the ordeal as embittered about their own country as
they are about the thuggish regime that mauled them in the first place.
Being wantonly attacked is bad enough. Being left to bleed by the
roadside is a moral injury.
I write this in humble hope for change. Many thanks to all of you
for reading my statement and for choosing to work for this change.
Submission of the Foley Foundation
______
Executive Summary
China is currently holding the most wrongfully detained Americans
of any other country.\1\ A substantial portion of this number is driven
by China's use of exit bans. The length of detention is concerning, as
the Americans wrongfully detained in China today have been held for, on
average, more than 8 years. Other western countries have also struggled
in recent years to address China's use of hostage diplomacy.\2\ The
United States has traditionally relied on diplomatic engagement to
secure the release of Americans from China.\3\ Given the number of
Americans detained in China, the length of prison sentences, and
China's apparent willingness to engage in hostage diplomacy, more
creative and coordinated international approaches are needed to better
counter this threat.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Loertscher, C. (2024). Bringing Americans Home 2024: A non-
governmental assessment of U.S. hostage policy, family engagement, and
the hostage and wrongful detainee landscape. James W. Foley Legacy
Foundation. https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/hostage-advocacy/hostage-
report/.
\2\ Hostage diplomacy is defined as the use of a country's criminal
justice system to hold foreigners hostage. Gilbert, D. (2023, September
22). Biden's hostage diplomacy, explained. Center for Strategic &
International Studies. https://www.csis.org/analysis/bidens-hostage-
diplomacy-explained.
\3\ Loertscher, C. (2024). Bringing Americans Home 2024: A non-
governmental assessment of U.S. hostage policy, family engagement, and
the hostage and wrongful detainee landscape. James W. Foley Legacy
Foundation. https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/hostage-advocacy/hostage-
report/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Number of Wrongfully Detained Americans
The number of known Americans wrongfully detained in China has
climbed over the last 10 years. In 2014, six Americans were wrongfully
detained by China.\4\ That number grew to eight Americans in 2016,
reaching a peak in 2019, with 20 Americans assessed as wrongfully
detained by the Foley Foundation. Since 2022, we have not seen new
cases of Americans being wrongfully detained by China; however, until
this past weekend, releases have also stagnated.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Based on a database maintained by the James W. Foley Legacy
Foundation.
\5\ Loertscher, C. (2024). Bringing Americans Home 2024: A non-
governmental assessment of U.S. hostage policy, family engagement, and
the hostage and wrongful detainee landscape. James W. Foley Legacy
Foundation. https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/hostage-advocacy/hostage-
report/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The U.S. Department of State classifies Americans as wrongfully
detained in China: Mark Swidan (detained since November 2012) and Kai
Li (detained since September 2016). Pastor David Lin, held 18 years,
was recently released on Sept. 15 of this year. The Foley Foundation
assesses that an additional nine Americans meet the wrongful detention
criteria as specified in the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and
Hostage-Taking Accountability Act based on the publicly available
information.\6\ This number still likely underestimates the extent of
Americans wrongfully detained in China, as the Foley Foundation
monitors several other cases that might, with additional evidence, meet
the criteria for wrongful detention. Further complicating the problem
is China's refusal to recognize dual-national citizens. The State
Department warns that dual nationals may have their access to consular
services denied by China, limiting the assistance the U.S. Government
is able to provide.\7\ The problem of accurately reporting the number
of Americans detained in China is exacerbated by underreporting,
pressure on families to not come forward because of retaliation
concerns, and China's use of exit bans.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ The Foley Foundation includes three individuals placed on exit
bans in our count.
\7\ State Department. (2024, April 12). China travel advisory.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/
traveladvisories/china-travel-advisory.html.
\8\ Loertscher, C. (2024). Bringing Americans Home 2024: A non-
governmental assessment of U.S. hostage policy, family engagement, and
the hostage and wrongful detainee landscape. James W. Foley Legacy
Foundation. https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/hostage-advocacy/hostage-
report/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
China's Use of Exit Bans
China leverages exit bans to coerce cooperation with government
investigations, pressure family members to return from abroad, settle
civil disputes, and exert political leverage on foreign governments.\9\
In its investigation of China's use of exit bans, the Associated Press
noted that individuals do not receive an official notification that
they have been placed under a ban.\10\ Additionally, exit bans do not
have clearly defined time periods, nor a method for remediation.
Because China does not provide an official count of the exit bans in
use, it is difficult to ascertain an exact number. China President Xi
Jinping has expanded the authorities of and use of exit bans.\11\ A
perception that China is increasing its use of exit bans is shared by
diplomats from multiple countries.\12\
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\9\ Department of State. (2024, April 12). China travel advisory.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/
traveladvisories/china-travel-advisory.html.
\10\ Kinetz, E. (2020, May 5). `No remedy, no rights': China blocks
foreigners from leaving. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/
shanghai-suburbs-international-law-only-on-ap-china-
5d59ce2a8442d6511cb9e7d8a3494679.
\11\ Smith, A., & Austin, H. (2023, July 27). China's use of exit
bans leaves Americans at the risk of being arbitrarily detained. NBC
News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-exit-bans-detentions-
travelers-businesses-xi-jinping-covid-rcna95264.
\12\ Kinetz, E. (2020, May 5). `No remedy, no rights': China blocks
foreigners from leaving. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/
shanghai-suburbs-international-law-only-on-ap-china-
5d59ce2a8442d6511cb9e7d8a3494679.
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An International Problem
The United States is not unique in its struggle to secure the
release of its citizens from China. In recent years, Australia and
Canada have also seen their own citizens used as political pawns to
secure concessions favored by the Chinese Communist Party (e.g., the
release of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou).\13\ \14\ \15\
National security and foreign policy experts warn of China's
willingness to flout international norms and engage in hostage
diplomacy to achieve its aims.\16\ \17\ Given this international
threat, more creative thinking and tools are needed to counter it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ Needham, K. and Tian Y. K. (2023, October 11). Australian
journalist Cheng Lei back home after China release. Reuters. https://
www.reuters.com/world/australian-journalist-detained-by-china-arrives-
home-2023-10-11/.
\14\ McGuirk, R. (2024, February 21). China-born Australian
democracy blogger won't appeal suspended Chinese death sentence.
Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/yang-hengjun-china-
australia-espionage-d8ebca29783d0eae30a99b55f11c5b61.
\15\ Slisco, A, (2021, Septmeber 24). Canadian diplomats detained
in China since 2018 finally returning home, Trudeau says. Newsweek.
https://www.newsweek.com/canadian-diplomats-
detained-china-since-2018-finally-returning-home-trudeau-says-1632670.
\16\ Cecco, L. and Davidson, H. (2021, September 29). Meng and the
Michaels: Why China's embrace of hostage diplomacy is a warning to
other nations. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/
sep/29/meng-wanzhou-michael-kovrig-michael-spavor-china-analysis.
\17\ Klass, A. (2020, July 9). Michael Kovrig, Michael Spavor, and
China's history of hostage diplomacy. The China Project. https://
thechinaproject.com/2020/07/09/michael-kovrig-michael-spavor-and-
chinas-history-of-hostage-diplomacy/.
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Recommendations
The United States needs a robust strategy, using multiple tools, to
secure the release of Americans held in China. This strategy should
include cooperation with countries, as other nations are also working
to secure the release of their own citizens from China. Additionally,
after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, Dui Hua, a nonprofit focused
on political prisoners in China, noted that ``the Chinese government
often makes gestures when a new American president is elected.'' \18\
Dui Hua encouraged then President-elect Joe Biden to use his election
to request the release of Mark Swidan.\19\ The 2024 Presidential
election represents another possible opportunity for the president-
elect to request the release of Americans wrongfully detained in China
as an act of goodwill.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ Dui Hua. (2020, November 30). American citizen Mark Swidan:
Eight years in Jiangman detention center. Dui Hua. https://duihua.org/
american-citizen-mark-swidan-eight-years-in-jiangmen-detention-center/.
\19\ Dui Hua. (2020, November 30). American citizen Mark Swidan:
Eight years in Jiangman detention center. Dui Hua. https://duihua.org/
american-citizen-mark-swidan-eight-years-in-jiangmen-detention-center/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diplomatic engagement is still needed, and the State Department
should use the full range of its tools, including facilitating
humanitarian releases and prisoner exchanges, as appropriate. Finally,
the United States should evaluate how it can better leverage the
authorities and capabilities of Executive Order 14078, Bolstering
Efforts to Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States
Nationals Home (e.g., use of designations, and sanctions against
foreign government officials directly or indirectly involved with
wrongful detentions) against China.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ Loertscher, C. (2024). Bringing Americans Home 2024: A non-
governmental assessment of U.S. hostage policy, family engagement, and
the hostage and wrongful detainee landscape. James W. Foley Legacy
Foundation. https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/hostage-advocacy/hostage-
report/.
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Submission of Cynthia Sun
Thank you to Chairman Smith, Co-Chairman Merkley, and distinguished
members of the Commission, for holding this hearing. Today, I am
bringing before you the cases of four U.S. citizens whose families are
jailed or under house arrest in China.
In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a violent
campaign to persecute Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa. The ancient
spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition combines meditation and
gentle exercises (similar to yoga or tai chi) with a moral philosophy
centered on the tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.
A quarter century later, Falun Gong practitioners remain a large
proportion of prisoners of conscience in China. Included among them are
multiple relatives of U.S. citizens and residents. These individuals
have been unjustly imprisoned in China or barred from leaving the
country, simply for practicing Falun Gong, sharing information about
it, or exposing the rights abuses faced by others.
Given the tight censorship and brutality with which Chinese
security agents treat Falun Gong practitioners, their loved ones in the
United States are often unable to receive timely updates on their
condition and are fearful they are being tortured--or even killed--at
any moment. Indeed, since 2019, at least two Falun Gong practitioners
jailed in China with family living in the United States have died in
police custody with signs of abuse (Ms. Meng Hong from Heilongjiang
whose daughter lives in California and Ms. Ji Yunzhi from Inner
Mongolia whose son resides in New York).
The following four U.S. citizens reside in the United States but
suffer from the trauma of the CCP's persecution by being separated from
loved ones and fearing for their jailed relatives' well-being.
New York: Lydia and Steven Wang, a brother and sister who are both
U.S. citizens, live with their families in New York, where Steven has
worked for Shen Yun Performing Arts as a principal dancer since 2008.
Their mother, Ms. Liu Aihua, was sentenced in Hunan Province to 4 years
in prison on March 10, 2023. She was last seen at the No. 4 Detention
Center of Changsha City. Ms. Liu was likely sentenced for distributing
informational pamphlets to raise awareness about the persecution,
according to family. It is unknown whether she is facing torture in
prison. She has yet to meet her grandchildren in New York. Lydia and
Steven's father Wang Guanghui passed away in September 2009 after a
lengthy detention in China for practicing Falun Gong.
In a 2021 interview, Steven recalled visiting his parents in prison
during a prior detention before he left China for the United States.
``Every time we went to visit them, they looked like they'd been
starved,'' he said. ``They never told me what it was like in there.
They only told me they were doing fine. But you can probably imagine--
you could tell from their withered faces that they'd been tortured.''
Lydia Wang previously testified before a congressional briefing in
2023. Ms. Liu Aihua's case is included in the USCIRF prisoner database.
For more details, see a page dedicated to her case on the Falun Dafa
Information Center website.
Texas: Grace Chen, a 19-year-old U.S. Army medic and naturalized
citizen. Her parents, Mr. Yang Chen and Ms. Zhimin Cao, were sentenced
in Hunan Province in 2020 for an unknown length of time. According to
Grace, the extended family has been unable to reach the couple in
detention since their arrest. Lawyers hired by the family were
pressured by their law firms or provincial justice bureaus to withdraw
from the case and were stonewalled by the Liuyang Police Department and
the Liuyang Procuratorate from helping the couple. Mr. Chen is
currently imprisoned at Wangling Prison; Mrs. Cao is at Hunan Province
Women's Prison.
Grace Chen previously spoke on a panel at the International
Religious Freedom Summit. Her parents' case was also covered by the
Jubilee Campaign. For more details, see a page dedicated to their case
on the Falun Dafa Information Center website.
Texas/New York: Danielle Wang, a civil engineer from Texas and New
York and a U.S. citizen. Her father, Mr. Wang Zhiwen, was sentenced on
December 27, 1999 to 16 years in a show trial broadcasted live through
an international CNN newscast. Prior to the CCP's launch of the
persecution, Mr. Wang had been a volunteer coordinator in Beijing,
organizing meditation practice sites for teaching Falun Gong's
exercises. After his release in 2016, Danielle and her husband traveled
to China to escort her father to the United States. But CCP agents
surrounded the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou and followed them, taking
photos and even monitoring their movement inside their hotel. Before
the trio could board a ferry from Guangdong to Hong Kong, Chinese
customs officers cut up his passport and rendered it useless. Wang
remains under house arrest today.
Danielle Wang previously testified before a congressional hearing
in 2013 and a CECC hearing in 2016. Her father's case was also covered
by the USCIRF, Lantos Commission, ChinaAid, and the Houston Chronicle.
For more details, visit her interview with Friends of Falun Gong or a
short documentary about her story on Faluninfo TV.
Recommendations
It is vital that the U.S. Government do more to free these
prisoners of conscience. Doing so would reunite families of U.S.
citizens across multiple generations and demonstrate to the CCP that
the U.S. takes these cases seriously, potentially deterring future
prosecutions of Falun Gong practitioners with American relatives. Once
released, these individuals would be able to offer first-hand
information on detention conditions in China, including potentially
forced labor linked to exports to the United States. Moreover, their
release could inspire hope for millions of Falun Gong practitioners and
other religious prisoners in China, even those without U.S. ties who
would benefit from the increased scrutiny and advocacy for their
plight. Specifically:
1. The U.S. Government should urgently ask Chinese officials for
information about the whereabouts and expected release dates for Mr.
Yang Chen and Ms. Zhimin Cao, permission for relatives or lawyers of
Ms. Liu Aihua to visit her; and for Mr. Wang Zhiwen to receive a
passport. The U.S. should call for the immediate release of Ms. Liu
Aihua, Mr. Yang Chen, Mrs. Zhimin Cao, Mr. Wang Zhiwen, and for all
four of these individuals to be permitted to leave China and come to
the United States to reunite with their family. The U.S. should further
bar entry to Chinese official Zeng Qinghong, who was reportedly
involved in the decision to block Danielle Wang's father from leaving
the country.
2. Senators should schedule a vote and pass S. 4914, the Falun Gong
Protection Act, which would increase transparency, accountability, and
deterrence surrounding the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners
specifically, and lethal organ transplant abuses in China more broadly.
3. Members of Congress should write to the U.S. State Department
asking the Ambassador to China and top officials to raise these three
cases in meetings with Chinese counterparts, including at the highest
levels of diplomacy.
4. The CECC should add Ms. Liu Aihua, Mr. Yang Chen, and Ms. Zhimin
Cao to the Political Prisoner Database.
5. Ambassadors, government officials, and NGO experts on China
should meet with these U.S. citizens to better understand conditions in
China and identify ways to support their families' quest for freedom.
Include them in private hearings, events, or roundtables regarding
religious persecution, freedom of expression, or political prisoners in
China.
``I don't know if I will ever see my mother again,'' recalls Lydia
Wang. ``As long as the persecution of Falun Gong continues, my mother
remains at risk of further harm if she stays in China. I request the
United States Government's assistance in securing her release. We would
like to bring her safely home to New York.''
For more information on these and other family rescue cases in the
United States, please visit the Falun Dafa Information Center website.
______
Submission of Bill Browder, Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign
Dear Chairman Smith and Co-chairman Merkley,
My name is Bill Browder, and I am the head of the Global Magnitsky
Justice Campaign and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management.
Until 2005, I was the largest foreign investor in Russia. My firm
worked to expose corruption within Russian companies to improve
corporate governance. In retaliation for my efforts to shed light on
illicit activities in Russia through my shareholder activism, the
Russian authorities declared me a threat to national security and
banned my entry to Russia. The situation escalated with the wrongful
arrest, torture, and murder of my lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in 2009.
Since then, I have been deeply involved in advocating for human rights
and justice. This led to the establishment of the Magnitsky Act, a
piece of legislation that imposes visa bans and asset freezes on human
rights violators globally. I am honored to provide testimony for this
critical hearing on Unjustly Detained Americans in China.
First, I want to express my sincere gratitude to Chairman Smith for
his unwavering support and leadership in sponsoring the Global
Magnitsky Act. Your longstanding commitment to human rights and justice
has been instrumental in our shared efforts to hold human rights
abusers accountable worldwide. I commend the Congressional-Executive
Commission on China for organizing this bipartisan hearing on unjustly
detained Americans in China. It is a vital initiative that highlights
the plight of Americans arbitrarily imprisoned in China, and I fully
support your efforts to bring new light to this pressing issue.
This hearing highly resonates with my own experiences since Sergei
Magnitsky's unjust detention, as I have fought against wrongful
imprisonment and judicial abuse through the Global Magnitsky Justice
Campaign. The campaign successfully brought widespread global attention
to human rights violations, and led to significant legislative
outcomes, including the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act in the U.S. Since
then, I have successfully advocated for the adoption of Magnitsky Acts
in 35 countries. Through asset freezes and visa bans, Magnitsky Acts
seek to hold accountable those who commit human rights abuses and
corruption worldwide.
The issue of arbitrarily detained individuals is not complicated,
and democratic governments' response to this ongoing issue highlights
the difference between right and wrong. It is more important now than
ever for legislators across the aisles to defend the rights of citizens
wrongfully detained abroad in authoritarian regimes such as China and
Russia. At the core of the values of a rule-of-law democracy is the
fundamental belief in justice and due process, including the right to a
fair trial in an impartial court. Uniting to protect these principles
is not just a matter of policy, but a reaffirmation of what a democracy
like the U.S. stands for.
Congress must exert sustained and significant pressure on the U.S.
Government to ensure the protection of Americans detained in China, who
have long been overlooked at the political level. While consular
support, such as welfare visits, is beneficial, it falls short of what
is truly needed. There must be a firm commitment and active
intervention to confront and challenge the unjust judicial system in
China.
Just as in Russia, which I have experienced firsthand on numerous
occasions, in China there is no such thing as a free and transparent
trial in front of an impartial judge in an independent court. This is
because there is no separation of powers within the judicial system.
The Chinese Communist Party controls the entire judicial system,
including the police, prosecution, judiciary, and penal system and even
the legal profession, making fair and transparent trials impossible.
Verdicts are decided by party committees, not independent judges,
leaving no opportunity for a proper legal defense. Chinese judgments
would not withstand scrutiny under the rule of law, and most Chinese
prosecutions would fail if retried in a Western court.
I urge the U.S. Government to set aside diplomatic niceties and
take decisive action by intervening in the judicial cases of all
Americans detained in China. Research by former prisoner Peter Humphrey
indicates that up to 300 Americans are currently detained in China
under various conditions, often on dubious charges. Some American
prisoners have already been held in China for over 10 years on opaque
and unjust convictions.
The arbitrary enforcement of local laws and the potential for exit
bans without clear legal processes pose significant risks to American
citizens. It is therefore crucial for the U.S. Government to move
beyond standard diplomatic protocols and actively engage in protecting
its citizens, challenging the unjust system, and advocating for fair
treatment and due process for all detained Americans.
Governments committed to the rule of law have a moral and legal
obligation to defend their citizens, especially those considered by the
State Department to be arbitrarily detained, affording them the
diplomatic attention of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage
Affairs (SPEHA). Many of these people are detained for the sole reason
that they are Americans, effectively handing China a vast supply of
prisoners to use as diplomatic leverage whenever they please.
All citizens deserve unwavering support from their home government.
The large number of Americans arrested on allegations of minor offenses
merit the same level of advocacy as the select few who have been placed
on the SPEHA list of arbitrarily detained persons. In China, American
prisoners often receive disproportionately long sentences for their
alleged crimes and endure cruel and inhumane conditions, including
inadequate nutrition, lack of medical care, and restricted access to
fresh air and sunlight. Their communication with loved ones is
obstructed or censored entirely.
For many years, American administrations from both parties have
shied away from intervening directly in the unfair and biased Chinese
judicial system on behalf of U.S. citizens caught in legal ordeals. The
U.S. Government seems to overlook--or deliberately ignore--a crucial
fact: the 2018 Chinese International Criminal Judicial Assistance Law
provides a clear mechanism for transferring ``convicted'' prisoners
from China to their home countries, even without a bilateral prisoner
transfer agreement. This law offers a potential pathway for action that
has been largely unexplored. It is time for a change in approach--the
U.S. Government must leverage this legal framework to more actively
support and potentially repatriate American citizens unjustly held in
Chinese prisons.
The Chinese government is not stopping their practice of arbitrary
detention anytime soon and has no intention of complying with
international legal standards. I urge the U.S. Government to take
seriously the cases of all Americans imprisoned in China, in addition
to the three Americans, David Lin, Kai Li, and Mark Swidan, on the
SPEHA list, and to consider Magnitsky sanctions against those
responsible for these injustices. The U.S., as a global leader, must
set an example in upholding human rights and the principles of justice
globally.
Thank you for your attention to this critical issue.
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Witness Biographies
Nelson Wells, Sr., father of detained American citizen Nelson
Wells, Jr.
Nelson Wells, Sr. is the father of Nelson Wells, Jr., and a native
of New Orleans, Louisiana. He and his wife Cynthia now live in
Haughton, Louisiana. Mr. Wells is a 20-year U.S. Army veteran,
stationed all over the country and globally, including a stint in the
Middle East during the Gulf War. His wife Cynthia worked as an Army
recruiter for the Department of Defense for 28 years. Both are retired
and are now advocating full-time for their son's release.
Harrison Li, son of detained American citizen Kai Li
Harrison Li is a doctoral student studying statistics who has
begrudgingly had to become a political advocate for his father, Kai Li.
He is originally from Long Island, New York and currently lives in the
San Francisco Bay area. He serves on the steering committee of the
Bring Our Families Home Campaign, an advocacy group of families of
Americans wrongfully detained around the world working together to try
to cut through the bureaucratic obstacles to getting assistance and
information for the families of wrongfully detained Americans. His
greatest wish is for his father to be home and in good health to see
him graduate next spring, after missing his college graduation in 2018.
Tim Hunt, brother of detained American citizen Dawn Michelle Hunt
Tim Hunt is the brother of Dawn Michelle Hunt and a native
Chicagoan. He attended Whitney Young Magnet School and DePaul
University and served as a Chicago police officer for 28 years, working
on the beat, and in plainclothes, bicycle, mounted, and forensic unit
roles. Serving and protecting the public is a family business, as his
mother, father and three uncles were all Chicago police officers as
well. Tim retired in 2017 and has been advocating tirelessly for his
sister's release from prison.
Peter Humphrey, journalist, due diligence specialist, Sinologist,
and former prisoner of China
Peter Humphrey is a British sinologist who has spent half a century
working and studying China and who has lived there for 25 years, as a
student, teacher, journalist, philanthropist, corporate due diligence
detective--and prisoner. In 2013 Peter and his American wife Yingzeng
Yu were wrongfully imprisoned on false charges of illegal information
gathering--their only ``crime'' was to have offended someone with
connections in the Chinese Communist Party.
Upon his release in 2015, Peter created a support network for the
families of foreign prisoners to lobby for their welfare and release.
Through his work he has become a specialist on justice and imprisonment
in China and is undoubtedly the leading authority on foreign prisoners
in China.
In addition to his work with families of the wrongfully detained,
he is also an external research affiliate of Harvard University's
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, an occasional columnist and
documentary adviser, and has been a guest speaker at universities and
think tanks on China's judicial and penal system.
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