China frees American pastor David Lin who US claims was wrongly jailed
China has released American citizen David Lin, a pastor who has been held in the country for almost two decades, the US State Department confirmed on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the State Department said the US welcomed Lin's release from prison.
"He has returned to the United States and now gets to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years," the spokesperson said.
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Lin is one of several Americans whom the US has deemed unjustly detained in China. His release, coming weeks after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, marks notable progress in a persistent source of bilateral tension.
Lin's daughter, Alice Lin, told Politico that Sullivan raised her father's case in Beijing.
"I dream of him meeting my husband and my 8-year-old son for the first time," the younger Lin wrote in a letter published by the Wall Street Journal in April.
"I wish for my mother, a caretaker by nature and trade, to care for the one she loves most instead of living as a widow. I yearn to hug him again myself."
Lin, who entered China in 2006, was given a life sentence in 2009 on a charge of contract fraud after trying to open a Christian training centre in Beijing, according to his daughter. He was due for release in 2029.
According to human rights group Dui Hua Foundation, contract fraud is a charge "frequently used against house church leaders who raise funds to support their work". The organisation estimates that there are over 200 Americans "under coercive measures" in China.
Lin's release comes just days ahead of a scheduled hearing by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China focused on detained US citizens in China. That hearing is expected to feature testimony from family members of three Americans held in China: Dawn Michelle Hunt, Kai Li and Nelson Wells.
The State Department maintains a "level 3" travel advisory for mainland China, cautioning Americans to "reconsider travel" due to "the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions".
The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment.
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