The U.S. and China carried out a prisoner exchange.

Washington and Beijing conducted a prisoner exchange, during which three Americans convicted by Chinese courts returned to the U.S., while the States handed over four citizens of China who had been held in American prisons.

This was reported by The Associated Press, as conveyed by Ukrinform.

Of the three American citizens who spent several years in Chinese prisons and have now returned to the U.S., one faced a death sentence on drug trafficking charges, while the other two were imprisoned for espionage.

The United States government did not recognize the legality of the detentions of its citizens by Chinese authorities or the court sentences imposed.

Their release was the result of a rare diplomatic agreement between President Joe Biden's administration and Beijing in the final months of its time in power.

The Chinese side confirmed the return of those convicted by American courts, asserting the illegality of the actions taken by the United States.

“Three Chinese citizens who were illegally detained by the American side have returned to China,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a briefing.

She characterized the prosecution of Chinese citizens by the U.S. as politically motivated, but did not specify the crimes for which the Chinese who were exchanged had been convicted.

Mao also noted that as part of the exchange, a citizen of China who had fled to the U.S. many years ago and was wanted by Chinese law enforcement for crimes related to corruption and the illegal appropriation of state funds was repatriated to China.

As reported by Ukrinform, Chinese law enforcement recently detained citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who had just been released from prison in May after four years behind bars for her reports on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in December 2019.