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Cynthia and Liu Changming’s father is Liu Changming, a fugitive from China, who was prevented from leaving for three years.
According to a U.S. official, the two U.S. brothers and sisters who have been prevented from leaving China since 2018 have returned to the U.S. shortly before the U.S. concluded the extradition case of senior Huawei executives.
Cynthia and Victor Liu were not allowed to leave China because of the weekend’s “exit ban”-even though they themselves did not face criminal charges.
Their father, former bank official Liu Changming, is one of China’s most wanted criminals and faces fraud charges.
After the US prosecutors reached a deal on a corruption case against her, Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou reached an agreement to allow Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou to return to China from Canada.
Within a few hours after the deal was concluded, Canadians Michael Cumming Kay and Michael Spavor were arrested shortly after Meng’s arrest and detained in China for more than 1,000 days. They were released and returned to Canada.
Critics accuse China of “hostage diplomacy” in the treatment of the two men accused of espionage after months of initial detention. Beijing denied that the arrests were connected.
The White House said on Monday that the release of Canadians was not an exchange of prisoners, but a case raised during a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 9.
The Ministry of Justice stated that its decision on the Meng case was made independently.
A State Department spokesperson said: “We welcome Cynthia and Victor Liu to return to the United States on Sunday,” adding that the staff of the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai facilitated the brothers and sisters’ departure.
“We will continue to advocate on behalf of all U.S. citizens who have been subjected to arbitrary detention and forced exit bans in China.”
The White House declined to comment on Americans leaving China.
Sandra Han, the mother of Cynthia and Victor Liu, continues to be detained on criminal charges in China.
Analysts said that the release of Cumming Kay, Spavor, and brother Liu shortly after Meng’s departure from Canada may be a disturbing sign of a new era of confrontation between China and Western countries.
Australian news anchor Cheng Lei of China National Television was formally arrested after being detained in China for six months and charged with “illegal provision of state secrets overseas” [File: Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)/Australia Global Alumni via AFP]For example, China still has Australian Cheng Lei, who is known as the spokesperson of the Chinese English news channel CGTN.
In August last year, Cheng Lei was suddenly removed from his post and detained by the Chinese authorities. Later, she was accused of “endangering China’s national security.”
In October 2020, Australian writer Yang Hengjun was also detained and charged with espionage. He was tried in May, but the outcome of the case is still uncertain.
During the same period, China-Australia diplomatic relations also deteriorated due to political repression in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and tensions in the South China Sea.
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