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China denies detention of two American teachers has ‘concrete link’ to tensions with US

South China Morning Post

發布於 2019年10月17日16:10 • Keegan Elmer and Sarah Zheng
  • Beijing confirms Alyssa Petersen and Jacob Harlan were held on suspicion of illegally moving people across borders
  • Pair were owner and director of China Horizons programme, which has been sending teachers to the country for 17 years
Alyssa Petersen’s family said she was “doing OK” after being detained in Jiangsu province. Photo: Handout
Alyssa Petersen’s family said she was “doing OK” after being detained in Jiangsu province. Photo: Handout

China confirmed on Thursday that two American teachers had been detained on suspicion of "illegally moving people across borders" but denied there was any "concrete link" to the ongoing tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Beijing, said Alyssa Petersen and Jacob Harlan had been detained by the public security bureau in the eastern province of Jiangsu on September 27 and 29 respectively and were still under investigation.

When asked if their cases were linked to tensions between China and the US, Geng said he did "not see any concrete links".

He did not elaborate on their current location or condition.

Chinese authorities had informed the US consulate general in Shanghai and arranged for consular visits for the pair and their rights were being protected, he continued.

Two US teachers detained in China on 'bogus charges', company says

Harlan and Petersen were the owner and director of the Idaho-based China Horizons, a programme that has been arranging for foreigners to teach English at Chinese schools for 17 years, according to its Facebook page.

China Horizons posted on Saturday that the programme was shutting down at the end of October due to the detentions and the "bogus charges" that Harlan and Petersen were facing.

"Unfortunately, because of increasing political and economic problems between the US and China, we are no longer able to send teachers to China safely," the post read.

"We hope that one day the relationship the United States has with China will be in a better place."

Jacob Harlan was taken from a hotel with his eight-year-old daughter. Photo: Handout
Jacob Harlan was taken from a hotel with his eight-year-old daughter. Photo: Handout

Both Petersen and Harlan have GoFundMe pages set up by family and friends to pay their legal fees with details of their cases.

According to Harlan's fundraising page, he and his eight-year-old daughter were taken by police from their hotel in China.

His daughter was later allowed to board a flight home to Utah accompanied by a family friend.

Harlan's fundraising page, which raised over US$26,000 over the past week, said on Thursday that enough money had been raised for the "first round of legal proceedings that Jacob will be facing".

Beijing says US policy change for Chinese diplomats violates international law

The page set up by Petersen's family said she had detained by police on September 27 and was being held in jail in Zhenjiang city and was said to be "doing OK".

The page announced on Monday that Petersen had secured legal representation after bringing in over US$12,000 in donations.

It said the charge against her was unfounded since she had been helping foreign college students attain visas to teach English in China for over eight years with no problems.

The US consulate in Shanghai referred questions to the embassy in Beijing, which said it was aware of the detention of two American citizens in China and the charges brought against them by a provincial government.

"We take seriously our responsibility to assist US citizens abroad and are monitoring the situation," the embassy continued.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he did
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he did

Large numbers of foreigners are employed as language teachers in China, but often face difficulties securing visas and navigating the country's legal landscape.

Dan Harris, founder of the international law firm Harris Bricken, wrote in a June blog post that his firm had received an increasing number of inquiries about the problems foreign teachers were experiencing this year as relations between China and the West "started going into straight line decline."

"The China employment relationship is complicated and if done wrong, employees can and do end up in jail," he wrote.

"Living and working and doing business in China is way more legally complicated than 10 years ago, and tolerance of foreigners in China (particularly for Americans) is way down. That means that the likelihood of you going astray of Chinese law is considerably higher as well."

Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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