By Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – A US citizen who has been prevented for decades from leaving China was released by the U.S. government. This release happened just hours before leaders of both countries met this week.

Daniel Hsu’s departure coincided also with seven Chinese citizens being deported by the United States. These included at least one person who had been wanted in Beijing for fraud. An American government official denies that the people were involved in an exchange.

A U.S. official was authorized to talk to Reuters, but on condition of anonymity. He confirmed that Hsu who has never been convicted for a crime or been subject to an exit ban of more than 4 years – was allowed to leave China by Chinese authorities.

He returned home Monday night just as President Joe Biden was holding a 3-and-1/2 hour video conference (with Chinese leader Xi Jinping)

Hsu is a Chinese American and was among an undisclosed amount of U.S citizens that the United States claims China holds illegally under its “coercive exit bans.”

One of the many issues that has strained relations between U.S. and Sino is the exit bans. Due to China’s exit bans this year, the U.S. warned Americans to avoid traveling to China. China claimed that they can “gain bargaining power over foreign governments”.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, NYSE:)) stated separately that it returned to China three Chinese nationals. This included two women and individuals convicted of photographing a defense system and fraud, and one woman who tried to get into the Mar-a-Lago resort owned by former President Donald Trump.

The U.S. government described their return as “initial steps”, to settle a long-running feud between Beijing & Washington, over China’s refusal to repatriate tens to thousands of Chinese nationals who are subject to removal orders.

The official stated that “We welcome Daniel Hsu’s return to America” and denied that seven people were involved in an exchange related to the meeting of leaders.

They are not what we think they should be. The PRC is reversing actions that shouldn’t have been done in the first places,” the official stated, using the acronym for People’s Republic of China.

We will work hard to ensure their release. The official stated that they will press the PRC for additional repatriation flights.

Hsu could not be reached by Reuters for comment.

Hsu said to the Associated Press that he has been effectively held hostage since 2017 by Chinese authorities in order to lure him father back to China for decades-old embezzlement cases.

Hsu’s situation has been ignored by the Chinese authorities.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately reply to my request for comment about his release and deportation.

‘ESCALATED CONSEQUENCES’

ICE informed Reuters by releasing a statement saying that Xu Guojun (a former President of a Bank of China Bank branch) was one of the deported Chinese nationals. He fled China under suspicion of embezzlement and had been in hiding in China since 2001. China confirmed the return of Xu Guojun on Sunday.

Zhang Yujing and Lu Jing were also sent back, having both attempted to enter Mar-a-Lago this year. Wang Yuhao, Zhang Jielun and Sun Yong were sentenced to 10 and 12 month, respectively, after photographing a U.S. defence installation in Florida.

According to Reuters’ sources, the U.S. government approved the operation as a way to demonstrate goodwill in advance of the virtual summit.

However, the source said that some officials are concerned by the appearance of the exchange and worried about Beijing’s desire to increase exit bans.

Beijing has released the two American sisters who have been banned from China for their citizenship since 2018, days after an agreement that enabled Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer to leave Canada and return to China.

The White House stated at the time that her return to China, and her near simultaneous release of two Canadians shortly after her arrest were not prisoner swaps.

China’s Foreign Ministry praised the “major accomplishment” of Xu the former president of a bank branch as part its fugitive hunt.

Some of these others were among more than 40,000.

DHS spokesperson stated that they hope to partner with China for the removals. But, the DHS noted that last year it placed visa sanctions against Chinese officials because of their refusal to allow repatriations to be facilitated.

DHS spokeswoman said that “as the PRC government continues flout international obligations and disregard U.S. Law, DHS will continue seeking escalated consequences whenever necessary.”