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Free Kai Li, American held in China | Pod Hostage Diplomacy
Manage episode 304477074 series 2966778
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The detention and recent release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have alerted the world to China’s hostage diplomacy. American citizen Kai Li from New York has been unjustly detained in China since September 2016. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has stated that his detention is arbitrary and has called on the Chinese government to release Kai Li immediately. Kai Li’s family believe that he is being held as a bargaining chip to extract concessions from the United States – this would be hostage diplomacy. We speak to his son, Harrison Li to find out how we can help free his father.
We discuss Kai Li’s arrest, the conditions of his detention including what the Chinese authorities call ‘residential surveillance at a designated location’, Kai Li’s numerous health conditions, being held without access to his lawyer, trumped up security charges, a secret trial, forced labour in prison, China’s hostage diplomacy as well as what US President Biden, the Senate, House of Representatives, businesses, journalists and the public can do to help bring Kai Li back home to New York.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Kai Li, please check out the following:
- Free Kai Li website
- Free Kai Li petition
- Free Kai Li Twitter account
- Social media hashtag: FreeKaiLi
Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.
Chapters
1. Intro (00:00:00)
2. What happened to Kai Li? (00:04:12)
3. Kai Li’s background (00:15:17)
4. What can the US government do to help? (00:18:32)
5. US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) (00:22:24)
6. No in-person visits since January 2020 (00:24:50)
7. What can the US Senate and House of Representatives do to help? (00:29:53)
8. What can US President Joe Biden do to help? (00:32:41)
9. What can journalists do to help? (00:33:34)
10. What should US businesses in China do to help? (00:36:07)
11. Keeping up with the Free Kai Li campaign (00:37:29)
12. Outro (00:42:17)
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