China allows American brother, sister to leave after three years

China has allowed a pair of American siblings to return to the United States after being held for three years.

In a statement to The Hill, a State Department spokesperson said the agency’s consular staff in Shanghai helped facilitate the departure of Cynthia Liu and Victor Liu on Sunday.

“We welcome Cynthia and Victor Liu’s return to the United States on Sunday. Our consular staff in Shanghai helped facilitate their departure,” the spokesperson said. “We made this confirmation only after close consultation with the family.” 

The statement further said that the U.S. “oppose[s] the use of coercive exit bans against people who are not themselves charged with crimes.”

“We will continue to advocate on behalf of all American citizens in the PRC subject to arbitrary detention and coercive exit bans,” the statement said. 

In a travel advisory to China, the State Department warns that China uses exit bans and arbitrary detentions for a variety of reasons, such as pressuring family members to return to China from abroad and to gain bargaining leverage over other foreign governments.

In most cases, U.S. citizens become aware of exit bans when they attempt to leave, the advisory warns. There is “no reliable mechanism or legal process” to find out how long the ban lasts or how to contest the ban in court.

Cynthia Liu had worked at a New York consulting firm, while Victor Liu was a student at Georgetown University when they visited China in 2018, according to CBS News. 

The siblings went to visit their grandmother but were later barred from returning at every border point. Their father, Liu Changming, was linked to a $1.4 billion fraud case and had fled in 2007, CBS noted.

The release comes after China released Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor after the U.S. struck a deal to drop its extradition case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.